Amazon is testing “Kindle Unlimited,” an ebook subscription service for $9.99/month

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

That's cool. However, there is no undo for app purchases.



Warranty - my credit card (as do many others) offers a free 2nd year on the warranty, provided the ENTIRE price of the item is made with the card; not some of it or most of it, but ALL of it.

Haha
Of topic, but I am waiting for a replacement card for one of mine that offers that as I want to buy an expensive item.

Have you used the extra card warranty and is it painful.

Helen

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Haha
Of topic, but I am waiting for a replacement card for one of mine that offers that as I want to buy an expensive item.

Have you used the extra card warranty and is it painful.

Helen

I used it on a flip phone once and had my purchase price refunded via a credit on my statement. Price was under $200, so they didn't require me to send it back. I think I used it another time, but can't remember.

The second year is great piece of mind and saves having to buy extended warranties.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

One author's early results on KU:
http://noorosha.com/kindleunlimited/






More, plus pretty charts at the source.

Yeah, they give new programs a lot of ad time and it can really boost sales for those who participate -- initially. It's a carrot and Amazon is very good at the carrot! When they show people products, they sell.

[soondai]

I really wish there were a way to filter by publisher. No offense to the self-pub crowd intended, but particularly with nonfiction I would really love to just see the "real" books.

I've found the browsing process difficult in general. Just wading through a lot of garbage in both fiction and nonfiction, but there are certainly some gems in there that could justify the $10 a month so long as you are in a "netflix" type mode where you will accept something that looks fine (instead of hunting for particular things)

I doubt I'll keep it past the trial, but I might have if I did not have a couple huge Overdrive libraries and a personal backlog to choose from.

Very curious how this will all play out.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by soondai

I really wish there were a way to filter by publisher. No offense to the self-pub crowd intended, but particularly with nonfiction I would really love to just see the "real" books.

I've found the browsing process difficult in general. Just wading through a lot of garbage in both fiction and nonfiction, but there are certainly some gems in there that could justify the $10 a month so long as you are in a "netflix" type mode where you will accept something that looks fine (instead of hunting for particular things)

I doubt I'll keep it past the trial, but I might have if I did not have a couple huge Overdrive libraries and a personal backlog to choose from.

Very curious how this will all play out.

In general, without the self-pub folks to get these thing started (by agreeing to do it and providing the initial books) there isn't much pressure on the BHPs to participate. I think it's the self-pub'd and backlist authors that provide the incentive for the BHPs to branch out. To keep readers happy, I think you really do need both.

All in all, I think self-pub's are the reason we see the 1.99 and 2.99 sales out of the BHPs (at least in genre books). And of course, a lot of that came about because Amazon tried various marketing techniques.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by soondai

I really wish there were a way to filter by publisher. No offense to the self-pub crowd intended, but particularly with nonfiction I would really love to just see the "real" books.

I've found the browsing process difficult in general. Just wading through a lot of garbage in both fiction and nonfiction, but there are certainly some gems in there that could justify the $10 a month so long as you are in a "netflix" type mode where you will accept something that looks fine (instead of hunting for particular things)

I doubt I'll keep it past the trial, but I might have if I did not have a couple huge Overdrive libraries and a personal backlog to choose from.

Very curious how this will all play out.

I agree that the browsing process is difficult for discovering the gems. By publisher is how I'd prefer to search too. I found that it works ok by typing the name of the publisher into the search box rather than an author or title.

[soondai]

Thanks, bookworm. I will try your tip.

And you make good points, BearMountain. I'm no fan of how the big publishers handle ebooks. But I am a big fan of their authors. Have had no luck when I've tried some of the self-pubbed indies for fiction. And a lot of the nonfiction seems semi-crackpot, though I've run into some good stuff from bloggers, etc.

It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by soondai

Thanks, bookworm. I will try your tip.

And you make good points, BearMountain. I'm no fan of how the big publishers handle ebooks. But I am a big fan of their authors. Have had no luck when I've tried some of the self-pubbed indies for fiction. And a lot of the nonfiction seems semi-crackpot, though I've run into some good stuff from bloggers, etc.

It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

It will be interesting! And don't think I have anything against readers of BHP or of authors with BHPs. I'm a big fan of authors across the board.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

In general, without the self-pub folks to get these thing started (by agreeing to do it and providing the initial books) there isn't much pressure on the BHPs to participate. I think it's the self-pub'd and backlist authors that provide the incentive for the BHPs to branch out. To keep readers happy, I think you really do need both.

All in all, I think self-pub's are the reason we see the 1.99 and 2.99 sales out of the BHPs (at least in genre books). And of course, a lot of that came about because Amazon tried various marketing techniques.

After the fiasco that was the Kindle TTS intro, pretty much every major ebook innovation from Amazon has been spearheaded by indies in general and self-pubbers in particular. Part of it is that they are more willing to experiment, more involved in day to day promotion of their titles, and more agile in thought and deed. And less constrained by contractual obligations.

Whether it be discount pricing, serials, Matchbook, or subscriptions... Self-pubbers' kneejerk reaction tends to echo Gregor Vorbarra: "Let's see what happens..."

They don't mind taking a few arrows in the back to see how things play out on the frontlines.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

After the fiasco that was the Kindle TTS intro, pretty much every major ebook innovation from Amazon has been spearheaded by indies in general and self-pubbers in particular. Part of it is that they are more willing to experiment, more involved in day to day promotion of their titles, and more agile in thought and deed. And less constrained by contractual obligations.

Whether it be discount pricing, serials, Matchbook, or subscriptions... Self-pubbers' kneejerk reaction tends to echo Gregor Vorbarra: "Let's see what happens..."

They don't mind taking a few arrows in the back to see how things play out on the frontlines.

We mind the arrows, but we are hungry and have a drive to succeed. And, as you said, we are not constrained. The only unfortunate part of what is going on with Amazon now, is that Amazon is becoming part of the constraint with its insistence on "exclusivity." I understand the business reasons for it, but I loathe the practice.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

We mind the arrows, but we are hungry and have a drive to succeed. And, as you said, we are not constrained. The only unfortunate part of what is going on with Amazon now, is that Amazon is becoming part of the constraint with its insistence on "exclusivity." I understand the business reasons for it, but I loathe the practice.

Well, with KU I'm thinking the exclusivity part might be to *discourage* publishers from jumping enmasse into KU. The idea is for KU to supplement and reinforce sales without seriously cannibalizing them, which it can do nicely at 20% the size of the full Kindle catalog. For all the handwringing in the publishing press, there is no indication Amazon intends or even wants to replace sales with subscriptions.

Even a cursory glance at the available numbers says it's not doable: best estimates have Amazon at about 50M active accounts generating $1.5-1.8B in sales which is a lot closer to $30 per account than $120. Assuming a nominal pareto distribution (80/20) suggests that at most 20% of readers would benefit from KU if it offered the full 3Million book Kindle catalog, which would only bring in $1.2B in subscription revenue. Added to the $300M or so in sales from the rest of the accounts would make it, at best, a wash. At worst, a $200-300M decline in revenue. And that assumes the heavy users stay subscribed all year long instead of popping in and out a few months at a time.

No way does Amazon want all kindle ebooks on KU.

What they want, in the best case, is a representative sample of every author and series. And for that purpose, exclusivity pays off in spades for both sides.

(It is like the exclusive pre-order bonuses many of the high profile console games offer: pre-order at Best Buy and get one set of optional DLC, pre-order at Walmart, Amazon, or Gamestop and get a different one at each. The basic games, of course, is exactly the same everywhere.)

[BearMountainBooks]

I don't know. It's not getting a lot of positive reaction in the forums I'm on, specifically because it doesn't offer enough. The exclusive books were already available via Prime if you wanted to bother to search and have a list ready to borrow. Most of the KU choices are under 5 dollars. That means to be worth a subscription, you have to read 3 or more books each month (approximately).

For a sub to be worth it for me, it would have to be the expensive books--not the cheap ones. In my cozy group only one person signed up or really showed any interest.

I think indies do lead the way in experimentation, but right now the advantage for them is that Amazon might advertise their books because they play the latest game.

I really do think that other retailers--Kobo and SCRIBD come to mind--are doing more to be competitive. They're working at it, at least.

The KU effort is a bit half-hearted on Amazon's part.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

The KU effort is a bit half-hearted on Amazon's part.

Half-hearted? Maybe.
More limited, definitely.
But I think it is more limited because Amazon's service seems coldly calibrated for sustainability. To ensure it outlives it's competitors. Or at least their current terms.

Their competitors pay 60% royalties so a subscriber can put them in the red just by reading $15 worth of ebooks. Which could be as little as two tradpub titles. How many of their subscribers are burning through 2-3 times that much?

It's a great deal for both sides, today, but what happens when the investor funds dry out? Do they cut royalties? Raise prices? Put ads between chapters? Run a kickstarter? Go belly up?

KU isn't for everybody but that is pretty clearly by design.
As they say in the IT business: "That isn't a bug--it's a feature."

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

The exclusive books were already available via Prime if you wanted to bother to search and have a list ready to borrow. Most of the KU choices are under 5 dollars. That means to be worth a subscription, you have to read 3 or more books each month (approximately).

My biggest complaint about my Prime subscription is that they allow me unlimited video streaming but restrict me to only one book per month. Since I read on average 12 books per month, I've been borrowing omnibus editions through KLL to help me out.

I've also joined a library which has an Overdrive subscription -- though with seriously limited catalog compared to the big libraries. My tiny rural library offers Freading -- and many of the books available through Freading are also offered in KU. While these are back list titles and mid-list authors, I'm finding plenty to read through Freading, so I won't be jumping on KU right away. My big complaint about Freading is that they only offer ePub/ADE format. Fortunately, I own a BeBook reader that is authorized to my ADE account. Moving to KU would allow me to read these same titles on my Kindle Keyboard.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

My biggest complaint about my Prime subscription is that they allow me unlimited video streaming but restrict me to only one book per month. Since I read on average 12 books per month, I've been borrowing omnibus editions through KLL to help me out.

I've also joined a library which has an Overdrive subscription -- though with seriously limited catalog compared to the big libraries. My tiny rural library offers Freading -- and many of the books available through Freading are also offered in KU. While these are back list titles and mid-list authors, I'm finding plenty to read through Freading, so I won't be jumping on KU right away. My big complaint about Freading is that they only offer ePub/ADE format. Fortunately, I own a BeBook reader that is authorized to my ADE account. Moving to KU would allow me to read these same titles on my Kindle Keyboard.

If you read that many books, you are bound to get your monies worth from overdrive (even if you had to pay the fee for out-of-state) or KU! My library has overdrive, but not much selection. I haven't opted to join the Houston library system which has more books available. It's still cheaper right now for me to buy what I want to read--but I read one to three books a month.