Authors unhappy with Kindle Unlimited

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by howyoudoin

I have never based my decision to purchase an ebook off the samples on Amazon since they are usually comprised of just the contents table, introduction/preface/acknowledgements and a handful of pages from chapter

Standard advice used to be to put all that stuff at the back, so it gave a longer sample. But with KU, the advice is to load as much stuff at the front as you can to reduce the amount that needs to be read before you get your borrow credit. It also seems to reward people for putting out very short books, since the payment is the same regardless of length. So releasing a longer book in lots of very short segments and calling it a serial is likely to become common. And maybe have the whole book available for sale outside KU for everyone else.

[DiapDealer]

As foolish as I think it would be for an author to opt out of KU, they should have every right to do so if they desire. Provided, of course, that they hold the rights to their own work (and didn't sign a contract that gives Amazon the legal right to include their work as part of KU).

[Barty]

This does not seem like a good idea for authors as the entire pot is capped.

Which means if I want my fav author A to do well I'll end up resenting all the rubes who prefer author B.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by booklover6

It's a book mark, basically, that just knows the last page opened.

So if I read a book and then go back to someplace before 10%, close the book, then send the log to Amazon, the author gets screwed because Amazon's system for payout is crap.

This sounds like a worthless system to me. One that has the possibility to screw authors. Well done Amazon.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by howyoudoin

If you had the wifi off, you wouldn't be able to download the book to begin with, making your point moot. If you intend on borrowing ebooks, you would necessarily need to switch on your wifi at some point, unless you could borrow via computer transfer too.

Kindle for PC

[DiapDealer]

I'd bet dollars to donuts that if Amazon would have been in the least bit exclusionary about the works that were eligible for KU, the clamor from authors complaining about NOT being able to participate would have been just as loud.

"Harrumph, harrumph, harrumph, harrumph!"

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Atunah

I have no issues putting my purchased ebooks into Calibre. But KU titles just like library titles are not mine. They are just borrowed. So they never go anywhere near calibre.

Although I don't always have wifi on either. I am not cancelled with KU, but when I had it, I only turned on wifi when I needed to get new books. I assumed that Amazon has a way to know how much I read of the KU title. If not, I don't really care that much. If wifi wasn't such a drain on the battery, I wouldn't mind having it on all the time, but it is a drain, so I have to turn it off.

As to author whining. Would be nice to hear something other than whines and complains from them.
Not holding my breath.

I love being a part of SCRIBD. I'd be in KU as well, but it requires exclusivity. I also love being in libraries and am thrilled that it's possible. With KU, even though I'm not in it, I do sell less on Amazon. Now whether that is because Amazon no longer provides as much visibility for my books or because many readers are using KU and not buying as much, I have no idea. I'm not complaining. Fifteen years ago, I wasn't published at all. I was only selling a short story here or there. I sell well now and very well at certain venues. Would I like to sell more? Sure.

As a reader, I'm not complaining either. I have a lot of choices. I also have books available to me at under 5 dollars.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'd bet dollars to donuts that if Amazon would have been in the least bit exclusionary about the works that were eligible for KU, the clamor from authors complaining about NOT being able to participate would have been just as loud.

"Harrumph, harrumph, harrumph, harrumph!"

Depends. If I had to make my book exclusive to them only, I probably still wouldn't participate. But I get your point and you are probably right in general.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Depends. If I had to make my book exclusive to them only, I probably still wouldn't participate. But I get your point and you are probably right in general.

Yeah, I wasn't really thinking in terms of contract concessions and granting exclusivity. I was thinking more of the bouncer dropping the red-velvet rope to let only his favorites into the club. "Whattaya mean I can't get in to KU? This place sucks!"

[shalym]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Kindle for PC

So...if you're downloading with Kindle for PC, you must be using Kindle for PC to read, right? Because we've already established that you shouldn't be removing the DRM from a borrowed book.

I'm curious...all this talk about how Amazon is being unfair to authors because they only get paid when the book is read to at least 10%...how do Scribd and Oyster pay the author? Do they just get a flat rate every month for being included in the service? Do they get paid when someone borrows the book, whether the book is read or not?

Shari

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by shalym

So...if you're downloading with Kindle for PC, you must be using Kindle for PC to read, right? Because we've already established that you shouldn't be removing the DRM from a borrowed book.

I'm curious...all this talk about how Amazon is being unfair to authors because they only get paid when the book is read to at least 10%...how do Scribd and Oyster pay the author? Do they just get a flat rate every month for being included in the service? Do they get paid when someone borrows the book, whether the book is read or not?

Shari

SCRIBD works a bit differently and it's an important difference: We get paid a percentage of the list price if the reader only reads 10 percent, but once the reader goes past...I forget. 20 percent? We get paid the LIST PRICE minus SCRIBD and distributor cost. So for a 2.99 book, if the book is read, we'd make approximately 2 dollars. This is very approximate. If you want me to actually calculate a real book percentage I can go look it up, but that's ballpark.

If I'm in KU, I would get paid from a single pot of money that is distributed across ALL READS for the month. That pay rate is running about 1.35 per read right now. Popular authors who were pricing their book at 2.99 and up, were making more per book BEFORE KU. A 2.99 book that is purchased on Amazon, for example, would yield about 2 dollars for the author. Many popular authors price their books at 3.99 or more so they would make more for a sale. But the price of the book doesn't matter. If it's read on KU, each read right now is yielding about 1.35 because there is a capped pot of money and it gets divided across all reads (minus some bonus payouts that Amazon invented to try and keep the most popular authors--but there are very few bonus payouts.)

The problem, of course, is there is no real data that says the author would be SELLING each book being BORROWED. That is the author claim--that because of KU, people are borrowing instead of buying and their income is down.

Now it could be that people are just buying less, period. It could be that book sales have slowed down or that Amazon isn't providing indies with the same visibility that they have in the past. But the general thought pattern is that for some of those lends, the author would have had a sale--and a sale would have yielded some authors with a larger payout. Getting out of the program doesn't help an author because readers who are subscribed are going to look within KU for the most part in order to "get their subscription's worth."

SCRIBD bases their payout on list price, while Amazon bases it on the total amount of books borrowed during a month.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

SCRIBD bases their payout on list price, while Amazon bases it on the total amount of books borrowed during a month.

There is a price point I won't borrow - and that is each time a free book in KU looks interesting. Instead of borrowing, I purchase it. Is that screwing the author as well? There shouldn't be so many different especially different price options.

It also depends who reads the books - my wife's PW probably goes through 15 or more KU books each months. I don't have that much time to read, and usually the books I borrow tend to be longer per book. So my authors get screwed since they are in the minority compared to my wife's authors. But they get screwed too, because we are well below the $1.35 that Amazon has through our $9.99 subscription. But I guess it evens out, as many books my wife borrows are series with many smallish books - but then the author gets much less per book, but still more per series. Unless, of course, we are infact typical KU subscribers and every author gets a lot less than the $1.35 per read.

In a way the authors do not get lost sales from us - if it wasn't for KU, they would get paid even less. Per read it is less, but a lot more is read when you never have to worry about spending too much - already budgeted ahead of time.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

As foolish as I think it would be for an author to opt out of KU, they should have every right to do so if they desire. Provided, of course, that they hold the rights to their own work (and didn't sign a contract that gives Amazon the legal right to include their work as part of KU).

I don't think it would be even slightly foolish. For a series writer, put the first book on KU. Opt out with the rest.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

There is a price point I won't borrow - and that is each time a free book in KU looks interesting. Instead of borrowing, I purchase it. Is that screwing the author as well? There shouldn't be so many different especially different price options.

It also depends who reads the books - my wife's PW probably goes through 15 or more KU books each months. I don't have that much time to read, and usually the books I borrow tend to be longer per book. So my authors get screwed since they are in the minority compared to my wife's authors. But they get screwed too, because we are well below the $1.35 that Amazon has through our $9.99 subscription. But I guess it evens out, as many books my wife borrows are series with many smallish books - but then the author gets much less per book, but still more per series. Unless, of course, we are infact typical KU subscribers and every author gets a lot less than the $1.35 per read.

In a way the authors do not get lost sales from us - if it wasn't for KU, they would get paid even less. Per read it is less, but a lot more is read when you never have to worry about spending too much - already budgeted ahead of time.

It's a smaller ecosystem where some authors have a chance to be noticed, so I agree, it's quite possible they would not see the equivalent "sales" without it. For a popular author they may be seeing less sales than before and seeing borrows instead of purchases. But they made the decision to opt in. I think largely the expectation was that amazon's ability to market and get books in front of readers would be enough to ensure enough lends to make up any difference or to at least keep momentum going. I'm not sure Amazon did a lot to help the authors in the program. They may, in fact, be getting no special visibility.

It's tough to decide where to place books--which retailer will I partner well with, which one is too big to care, how do I reach readers? When KU came out as exclusive, I was pretty bummed because it's another lost op for me. I don't want to give up SCRIBD and Kobo and Apple and Smashwords...and there is never any guarantee on any platform. In the past, I didn't want to play Amazon's "Freebie" game. I think that cost me visibility. There's never one right answer and the game is always changing.

[Atunah]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

I love being a part of SCRIBD. I'd be in KU as well, but it requires exclusivity. I also love being in libraries and am thrilled that it's possible. With KU, even though I'm not in it, I do sell less on Amazon. Now whether that is because Amazon no longer provides as much visibility for my books or because many readers are using KU and not buying as much, I have no idea. I'm not complaining. Fifteen years ago, I wasn't published at all. I was only selling a short story here or there. I sell well now and very well at certain venues. Would I like to sell more? Sure.

As a reader, I'm not complaining either. I have a lot of choices. I also have books available to me at under 5 dollars.

As whining, I meant more like authors that end up on such articles and they are often the loudest. There are some that seem to do very well with KU, others not at all and then there are those that would do it, were it not for the reasons you mentioned, exclusivity.

Just seems that lately, this year especially there have bee a lot of complaints by authors. KU, Amazon, reviews, readers not acting like they "should", etc.

There was a time were there were more positive stories about authors. Maybe that isn't enough click bait anymore. Just the tone this year has become quite negative a lot with self publishers. Overall, not all of course.

Maybe a side effect of the sea and competition getting larger and larger.

I think overall sales have to go down if there are more and more books being published. Just a sheer numbers game I think.

When I had KU, I read books I would not and didn't buy. I read books I didn't want to own. It wasn't an either or. I would not have bought those books by those authors period. My borrowing was additional income, not loss of income because I borrowed. I think that is where these authors go wrong, like the article.

I still bought books that weren't in KU or in Scribd. I am sure there are some readers that just read KU stuff, but I don't think that is sustainable for long term for any serious voracious reader. Most of us have series we follow, authors we follow. The more years one reads, the longer that favorite author list goes and KU just doesn't have much of those authors and books in it. So I think it goes in waves. 3-6 months subscriptions seems to be about where I see readers start cancelling. Of course then Amazon refreshes that pot with the offers of 6 month of KU with Fires like they had recently. Not sure how long that will hold.

Its just sometimes tiring as a reader to see all these demands by some indy authors, sometimes comes across as entitlement. Loss of sales do not always have anything to do with KU. Sometimes readers also get burned out by authors that just keep churning out book after book, one a month, 2 a month, 1 a week etc. Those are often the authors I hear the most complaining from. That relates to the authors cited in the article posted.