Quote:
Originally Posted by DNSB
Sadly, the first payment model for Kindle Unlimited was pretty much what you are advocating for. To put it mildly, it was a disaster for most authors. You might want to check articles such as A History of Kindle Unlimited for more on this. |
Authors might do well from sales (less than 1% of them), but never from libraries. KU is essentially a subscription library and the incessant "Free on Kindle Unlimited" is dishonest for a subscription library. Our local library is free (unlike KU), yet no-one talks about free books, not even the Library, because they (paper, ebook, audio book or whatever) are only borrows. So the KU marketing is doubly dishonest and takes away from real sales of books, but it's automatic income for Amazon even if someone doesn't borrow and unlike other libraries they pay nothing up front. No wonder Archive Org thinks they should be able to run their Open Library (which pays nothing).
So almost everything about every version of KU is hearsay or propaganda. Amazon decides the rules, the money etc. This
A History of Kindle Unlimited is interesting, but a lot is speculative in terms of the percentage of authors that benefit significantly. Each change was because the model was fundamentally broken and none would have been needed if it had worked like UK or Ireland library in the first place. Also the people that benefited at each stage (apart from when subscriber number were too low) were not the authors giving a good deal to readers, but Amazon and scammers. Of course Amazon wants to make a profit and in the UK & Ireland Libraries make no profit. They are loss making by design. Amazon with KU has a broken version of late 18th C / early 19th C British Subscription libraries, so stupidly designed that it can only work by invasion of the privacy of the reader. My local library, apart from not using the info commercially, has no idea if I read any of the paper books or ebooks or audio books I borrow, without me taking any mitigating steps. If you do implement privacy with Amazon, no-one gets paid. That's the Emperor with no clothes, the elephant in the room. KU is inherently broken and wrong.
The model of tracking is fundamentally wrong, even if it achieves Amazon's aims (which are not fairness for consumers or authors/publishers) but boosting Amazon. The exclusive nature is also wrong. I know there are "libertarian capitalists" here, but their views on not regulating corporate entities only benefit the rich and powerful. Eventually the EU will ban the KU system (no upfront payment, tracking of people and exclusivity) because it's exploitive, monopolistic and dishonest marketing.