Speed of reading on Kindle Unlimited

[Shykat]

Okay, I'm not really sure where to put this type of question so I thought to try here.

I know in Kindle Unlimited, they pay the authors by pages read in the book. Do they also take into consideration if you are a faster than usual type reader?

I basically want the author to get their pay for the book they have written but is it truly calculated ONLY by how many pages in the book were read and the speed of reading/completing the book is NOT taken into consideration.

Hope that makes sense.

[issybird]

Moved from the Lounge.

[j.p.s]

I suspect that reading speed has no effect on author pay unless it is so fast that they suspect scamming. (And they have years of reading data from millions of people to consider when they
consider where to set the limit.)

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by issybird

Moved from the Lounge.

That must be a first.

[DNSB]

So far, Amazon has shown all the KU books I've completed as having been read.

There was some discussions years back (Quora and a couple of other sites) about the algorithm used for calculating valid pages read and the conclusion in one discussion that after some automated page flipping tests, you needed to spend an average of 5-6 seconds on a page for them to count as read (the number seemed to vary a bit with font size and margin so they may use a number of words per page calculation). If you read at 4000 WPM, this might be an issue.

[Quoth]

If you really want authors & publishers paid properly, just buy the ebooks. Don't use Kindle Unlimited. Actually some/many books are not in it. It benefits Amazon much more than creators.

It also interferes with privacy. No 3rd party, especially an giant corporation, should know anything more than if they sold you a title.

However reading speed won't be a problem.

[Loosheesh]

In the Kindle iOS app, I downloaded and opened for the first time a book I bought last week; from the first page, I went directly to the last page, and the book is now marked as Read. With a KU book, what would happen in this scenario - will it be considered as Read and the author gets paid? Or does Amazon have a way to throw out/bypass these types of actions when considering the number of pages read?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Loosheesh

In the Kindle iOS app, I downloaded and opened for the first time a book I bought last week; from the first page, I went directly to the last page, and the book is now marked as Read. With a KU book, what would happen in this scenario - will it be considered as Read and the author gets paid? Or does Amazon have a way to throw out/bypass these types of actions when considering the number of pages read?

The number of page flips would not qualify that book for payment. It used to work and was a reason that many books had the ToC as the last file in the ebook. You have to flip to each page and rest on the page for a certain amount of time before it is considered as a read page. For any payment, I think you need to read at least 20% of the pages.

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by Quoth

If you really want authors & publishers paid properly, just buy the ebooks. Don't use Kindle Unlimited. Actually some/many books are not in it. It benefits Amazon much more than creators.

It also interferes with privacy. No 3rd party, especially an giant corporation, should know anything more than if they sold you a title.

However reading speed won't be a problem.

You sing this mantra every time KU is mentioned. Authors aren't forced to have their books in KU. This past week, I read 3-4 books in a series from an author who has her books in KU. I could never afford to buy all of these books that I read each month, but using KU and the public library keep me in books in a manner I can afford. It supports the authors as well.

I don't care that Amazon knows what I'm reading, or that Giant Eagle knows what I'm eating. I want my financial info kept secure and private. What I read isn't an issue for me.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

That must be a first.

[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The number of page flips would not qualify that book for payment. It used to work and was a reason that many books had the ToC as the last file in the ebook. You have to flip to each page and rest on the page for a certain amount of time before it is considered as a read page. For any payment, I think you need to read at least 20% of the pages.

So it goes by timed page flips; good to know.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by Quoth

It also interferes with privacy. No 3rd party, especially an giant corporation, should know anything more than if they sold you a title.

That's one of the reasons why my Kindle never leaves airplane mode. All books - purchased, KU, or library borrows - are "downloaded for USB transfer" and that's the way they get on my Kindle. Amazon knows what titles I have acquired, but not about my reading habits or speed. If they want that kind of data from me they can ask and I'll sell it to them. But they can't just take it without asking and have it for free to use for their marketing purposes or whatever they do with it.

I think my practices mean that KU authors are not paid for any of the books I download through KU. But that's not my problem. I am not obligated to take my Kindle out of airplane mode. There are other benefits to this mode beyond just the privacy concerns discussed here.