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Mistyfarm · 05-27-2019, 12:41 AM

"The time has come", the Walrus said -

Perhaps this thread should have been called Limited Kindle Unlimited Limited but I didn't know at the time that it was both the Reader and the Writers that had the unstated limitations and the only Unlimited part was for the "middle man", Amazon.

I purchased a subscription after using a Trial late last year where I just slowly browsed to see what was available.

After the unfortunate demise of a friend and colleague due to his work related PTSD, I looked up some relevant subjects on KU and saw that there were quite a few listed. So quickly loaded up my 10 allowed per shelf, skimmed, browsed, noted for future reading and reloaded more quite a few times over that month. Turns out there were very many 1-50 page “books” that were drivel so I just flicked thru those and kept going – after all it was Unlimited right?

After a while I started getting “Server Errors” and no more books would load up. After a couple of days I contacted Amazon Helpdesk and was told “no, all is in order” and we tried cancelling the sub and immediately re-subscribing a couple of times to no avail. It wasn’t til about a week or so later that I got "I have checked the details and I see that you have reached maximum number of books you can borrow per month. You will be able to borrow books in a few days once the borrow books goes below the limit in last 30 days” and then no further contact from them since.

I came here and began by asking in this MobileRead forum thread "Has anybody else been locked out?”

You can read the progression and side trackings for yourselves but it quickly became bigger than Ben Hur and some feathers seemed to get ruffled in the discussions. But through it all enough details were revealed that will help many people now understand at least roughly, how Kindle Unlimited works.

Many thanks to those of you who bothered to and weren’t offended that I asked for, the helpful references to the “facts” and “quotes” you didn’t actually just pluck out of thin air. Those references/links are repeated below for everyone’s benefit.

It was a feisty and difficult time getting to the core of this issue but I don’t regret spending that time. In fact I get a special feeling in that place, having been described by the great American Philosopher: Dr Denis Leary as “Maybe in the sub c*ckle area”.

Summary;

So this is how I understand KU to work so far, from the links I’ve been able to follow and given below.

A Kindle Unlimited subscription costs US$9.99 (AU$13.99).

From subscription revenue, Amazon puts money into a pot to pay authors participating in KU, on a month to month calculation basis. What percentage or amount of the subs are retained by Amazon is not disclosed but the model seems to be similar to Australian lotto where 60% of subscriptions are returned as prizes ***** I’m not saying that Amazon keeps 40%, I’m saying that is the Aust Lotto model.

Out of the “pot”, authors are paid for being read on a per page basis. April’s rate was $0.0046601941747573. A page is assumed to be 187 words in length.

To “protect” legitimate authors Amazon provides for rules covering the size, quality and content of books in it's Ts & Cs particularly Disappointing Content provisions. But Amazon is soundly criticized by some for not enforcing their own rules, thereby disadvantaging both Readers and Authors but not Amazon’s bottom line.

Scammers are always adaptable and exploit any perceived lack of action or will by Amazon to close loopholes and/or system failings.

My example of Dreammakers Liquidations with 247 x 1 page recipes is an example of “too short”. They’ve been up for 3 years now and just loading them onto your shelf will mark them as fully read. A 20 page book will pass the 10% mark (if it’s still counted) just by getting to the index. Just browsing can reveal sooooooooo many of these brochures and pamphlets, not books by ANY description. This is what’s ripping off genuine authors. ****** I’m not accusing Dreammakers Liquidations of being a scammer, I'm just observing that the recipes don’t meet the guidelines as set out.

I’m guessing, that a primitive algorithm was tripped by my high borrow rate and I have no beef with that. What narked me was no contact or followup to check my account after being locked out. (It didn’t stop them processing my purchases though). For anyone wanting to know what that exact number is can find out for themselves by trying it, I’m already on strike 1.

So I'd like to leave this thread with no hard feelings and I’d like to say that I apologise to anybody who felt offended by any unintended sleight I may have inferred along the way;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KniUNdVZvH4

So I shall now dismount from my High Duck and leave this pond hopefully even just slightly better for having been here …………..

https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/help/cu...deId=202002080
https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,311845.0.html
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/to...0?tag=mr060-20
https://justpublishingadvice.com/is-...r-for-authors/
https://justpublishingadvice.com/kin...t-count-words/
https://www.mhpbooks.com/you-dont-ge...ted-royalties/
https://davidgaughran.com/2017/06/03...-book-problem/
https://davidgaughran.com/2016/03/11...-hits-authors/
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/to...0?tag=mr060-20
https://davidgaughran.com/2016/04/15...-ebook-charts/
https://justpublishingadvice.com/how-thick-is-an-ebook/
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/to...#disappointing
https://www.lotterywest.wa.gov.au/lo...the-money-goes

05-27-2019, 12:41 AM	#190
Mistyfarm “Tis but a scratch!” Posts: 87 Karma: 12 Join Date: May 2019 Location: South Australia Device: Mac 2007	"The time has come", the Walrus said - Perhaps this thread should have been called Limited Kindle Unlimited Limited but I didn't know at the time that it was both the Reader and the Writers that had the unstated limitations and the only Unlimited part was for the "middle man", Amazon. I purchased a subscription after using a Trial late last year where I just slowly browsed to see what was available. After the unfortunate demise of a friend and colleague due to his work related PTSD, I looked up some relevant subjects on KU and saw that there were quite a few listed. So quickly loaded up my 10 allowed per shelf, skimmed, browsed, noted for future reading and reloaded more quite a few times over that month. Turns out there were very many 1-50 page “books” that were drivel so I just flicked thru those and kept going – after all it was Unlimited right? After a while I started getting “Server Errors” and no more books would load up. After a couple of days I contacted Amazon Helpdesk and was told “no, all is in order” and we tried cancelling the sub and immediately re-subscribing a couple of times to no avail. It wasn’t til about a week or so later that I got "I have checked the details and I see that you have reached maximum number of books you can borrow per month. You will be able to borrow books in a few days once the borrow books goes below the limit in last 30 days” and then no further contact from them since. I came here and began by asking in this MobileRead forum thread "Has anybody else been locked out?” You can read the progression and side trackings for yourselves but it quickly became bigger than Ben Hur and some feathers seemed to get ruffled in the discussions. But through it all enough details were revealed that will help many people now understand at least roughly, how Kindle Unlimited works. Many thanks to those of you who bothered to and weren’t offended that I asked for, the helpful references to the “facts” and “quotes” you didn’t actually just pluck out of thin air. Those references/links are repeated below for everyone’s benefit. It was a feisty and difficult time getting to the core of this issue but I don’t regret spending that time. In fact I get a special feeling in that place, having been described by the great American Philosopher: Dr Denis Leary as “Maybe in the sub cckle area”. Summary; So this is how I understand KU to work so far, from the links I’ve been able to follow and given below. A Kindle Unlimited subscription costs US$9.99 (AU$13.99). From subscription revenue, Amazon puts money into a pot to pay authors participating in KU, on a month to month calculation basis. What percentage or amount of the subs are retained by Amazon is not disclosed but the model seems to be similar to Australian lotto where 60% of subscriptions are returned as prizes ** I’m not saying that Amazon keeps 40%, I’m saying that is the Aust Lotto model. Out of the “pot”, authors are paid for being read on a per page basis. April’s rate was $0.0046601941747573. A page is assumed to be 187 words in length. To “protect” legitimate authors Amazon provides for rules covering the size, quality and content of books in it's Ts & Cs particularly Disappointing Content provisions. But Amazon is soundly criticized by some for not enforcing their own rules, thereby disadvantaging both Readers and Authors but not Amazon’s bottom line. Scammers are always adaptable and exploit any perceived lack of action or will by Amazon to close loopholes and/or system failings. My example of Dreammakers Liquidations with 247 x 1 page recipes is an example of “too short”. They’ve been up for 3 years now and just loading them onto your shelf will mark them as fully read. A 20 page book will pass the 10% mark (if it’s still counted) just by getting to the index. Just browsing can reveal sooooooooo many of these brochures and pamphlets, not books by ANY description. This is what’s ripping off genuine authors. **** I’m not accusing Dreammakers Liquidations of being a scammer, I'm just observing that the recipes don’t meet the guidelines as set out. I’m guessing, that a primitive algorithm was tripped by my high borrow rate and I have no beef with that. What narked me was no contact or followup to check my account after being locked out. (It didn’t stop them processing my purchases though). For anyone wanting to know what that exact number is can find out for themselves by trying it, I’m already on strike 1. So I'd like to leave this thread with no hard feelings and I’d like to say that I apologise to anybody who felt offended by any unintended sleight I may have inferred along the way; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KniUNdVZvH4 So I shall now dismount from my High Duck and leave this pond hopefully even just slightly better for having been here ………….. https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/help/cu...deId=202002080 https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,311845.0.html https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/to...0?tag=mr060-20 https://justpublishingadvice.com/is-...r-for-authors/ https://justpublishingadvice.com/kin...t-count-words/ https://www.mhpbooks.com/you-dont-ge...ted-royalties/ https://davidgaughran.com/2017/06/03...-book-problem/ https://davidgaughran.com/2016/03/11...-hits-authors/ https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/to...0?tag=mr060-20 https://davidgaughran.com/2016/04/15...-ebook-charts/ https://justpublishingadvice.com/how-thick-is-an-ebook/ https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/to...#disappointing https://www.lotterywest.wa.gov.au/lo...the-money-goes Last edited by Mistyfarm; 05-27-2019 at 03:18 AM.