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Originally Posted by jhowell
They do try new things occasionally, mostly attempting to replicate successes that others have had.
Vella was their attempt to copy Wattpad. In Japan they now have Fliptoons, their version of WebComics. I don't know how that is going so far.
Kindle Unlimited has been successful for them, but I wonder how long that will last. The content there is almost all self-published and the good books are being crowded out by webscrapers and AI generated garbage. They really need to make it harder for scammers to publish books there.
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KU will last unless regulators kill it. It's profitable because:
1) A subscription
2) Unlike any other libraries, they get the content up front for free.
3) Exclusive except big publishers. You can't even give away your novel by email, or they will cancel the title if they find out.
4) Only an advantage to a minority of readers (subscription)
5) Only an advantage to a minority of authors, because Amazon decide the total pot to be split on basis of pages read.
Why might a Regulator kill it or want it changed?
1) Exclusive clause for KDP Select uploaders (doesn't apply to bigger publishers not using KDP).
2) Invades privacy more than any library as it tracks pages, not just if you borrowed the title.
KU could be done differently.
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So I know from articles that AI generated garbage clogs KU
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Not really more so than non-KU based KDP and all other free access Self publishing platforms (Google, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Tolino etc), except that KDP-Select originated KU isn't on the the competitors due to the Exclusive clause.
If a KU title via KDP Select is garbage then only a few pages are read and no income. In reality most titles read are by authors the reader already knows. While it's a lottery with few winners to get an Agent and then Trad Published, getting noticed as a new author on Amazon (or any SP outlet) via KDP or KDP Select (KU) is mix of luck and hard work, very difficult.
Really, while LLM AI is a mix of con and plagiarism, it's not a huge threat to creatives when Self Published. It's only a threat if the House of Random Penguins (or Record Labels) puts a fortune into promoting it, or if TV & Hollywood write scripts with it instead of paying for rights of a novel and/or hiring scriptwriters.
Ask any real authors without corporate marketing how hard it is to break in. Don't ask the successes, because they are the less than 1% and are outliers who are mostly lucky.
Average UK income for FULL time authors is thought to be about £7,000 p.a.
The people spinning out the AI junk are more likely to make money studying horse form or taking their clothes off on Only Fans.