Dealing with Kindle ebooks in calibre

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by shalym

. . . So there *is* hope for those on 5.16.2.1.1

Interesting. Thanks for reporting. I have updated the first post.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

At least my personal docs are still downloading. Those are articles and short stories that have nothing to do with Amzn, i.e. licensing.

[Rellwood]

Originally Posted by odamizu

When they sunset Kindle for Mac in favor of the Apple Store Kindle app, they disabled Kindle for Mac entirely. K4Mac is completely dead, you can't download or read anything.



I presume you will be able to get your Send-to-Kindle docs and entire Kindle library on the the new Windows Store Kindle app, which is what's replacing Kindle for PC desktop app.

This is assuming I have a windows 11 PC. I am still running Windows 10.
Im slow to update. It's not even been a year since Windows 10 went out of commission, but I will eventually get around to it. Most likely in June

[m_pluto]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I would just give up on those authors you read who only publish at Amazon. By continuing to buy from Amazon, you feed into their ecosystem which is not a good thing to do.

Originally Posted by maddz

If you have a contact for those authors, then it's also worth writing to them explaining that Amazon's policies are costing them sales because you are unable to access your purchased content on the device of your choice.

The problem with that, is that there is a massive amount of self-published indie authors who are exclusive to Amazon because they are in the KU program. If KU didn't have them locked into amazon only, I'm 100% sure they'd diversify where they sell their books, but Amazon is extremely punitive to any authors found to be offering their books outside of amazon in anyway (even for free). These authors are unlikely to give up being in the KU program as the difference in making an income on only sales vs page turns in KU is the difference between doing writing as a small side gig/hobby vs being able to make a comfortable living income from it.

To put it into perspective I was watching one of my favourite booktok creators earlier with a video giving recommendations, and out of 35 books they recommended, only 4 or 5 were not exclusive because of KU. Not to mention that currently probably 80% ish of the authors I read are amazon exclusive.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by m_pluto

The problem with that, is that there is a massive amount of self-published indie authors who are exclusive to Amazon because they are in the KU program. If KU didn't have them locked into amazon only, I'm 100% sure they'd diversify where they sell their books, but Amazon is extremely punitive to any authors found to be offering their books outside of amazon in anyway (even for free). These authors are unlikely to give up being in the KU program as the difference in making an income on only sales vs page turns in KU is the difference between doing writing as a small side gig/hobby vs being able to make a comfortable living income from it.

To put it into perspective I was watching one of my favourite booktok creators earlier with a video giving recommendations, and out of 35 books they recommended, only 4 or 5 were not exclusive because of KU. Not to mention that currently probably 80% ish of the authors I read are amazon exclusive.

The problem is that if you read authors on Amazon that are not available elsewhere, then Amazon has you. The idea is to be able to get away from Amazon. So only read the authors you are currently reading only if you are in the middle of a series. Don't read any more standalone books and when the series is done, so is that author. Eventually you will get away from Amazon and you'll bet better off for it. Also, tell this reviewer to stop being a shill for Amazon.

[m_pluto]

Originally Posted by theducks

Paid by pages read on KU vs paid per book on all platforms? Do the really thing they are coming out ahead?
Is there work so poor that being paid for 1 chapters pages (and the rest is abandoned) by many or a full book because it is worth reading by loyal readers?
(Not a KU customer. I have bought hundreds of Kindle books and converted to my current device until they put up a higher wall. Those authors can no longer have a chance to get a sale from me because they think KU makes them MORE )

I've seen some authors share the actual numbers of their profits via KU vs purchases, and for self published indie authors, it's the difference between only able to write as a side gig/hobby vs being able to make a living income from it, or at least have it be self-sustaining. To give an example one relatively small/new indie author who shared her earnings over a 15 month period with two books published during that timeline, and her royalties (from digital sales) was $350 vs her income from KU which was a little over $1000, and ~$640 from print royalties. Obviously she is an author on the much smaller side, but it gives you an idea of the ratio difference between the royalties from ebook sales vs KU.

Part of what makes KU so lucrative, especially for smaller indie/self-published autbors is that readers are a lot more likely to give a new author a chance, vs if they had to purchase the book, and even if a reader DNFs the book, the author is still able to make an income from the pages the reader did read.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Amzn may now also push the idea that their DRM is more robust (?) and will prevent pirating while "the others" have breakable DRM. Might draw in more authors.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by m_pluto

Part of what makes KU so lucrative, especially for smaller indie/self-published autbors is that readers are a lot more likely to give a new author a chance, vs if they had to purchase the bookd, and even if a reader DNFs the book, the author is still able to make an income from the pages the reader did read.

That is nothing to sneeze at. My guess was wrong. My previous experience was talking to a tradpub author, who got a few $ Royalty after all the expenses were deducted.

[lkmiller]

If an author is self-published, Amazon-exclusive, and in KU, are all their books available to borrow? Or do they only put the first in series in KU?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

If an author is self-published, Amazon-exclusive, and in KU, are all their books available to borrow? Or do they only put the first in series in KU?

Depends. Some have only the first book, but most have more than that or the entire series.

[Chocky]

It's a shame because I really like the travel books this one guy writes, (motorcycle tour related), but as they are only available on Kindle I will not read any more of his books.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by Chocky

It's a shame because I really like the travel books this one guy writes, (motorcycle tour related), but as they are only available on Kindle I will not read any more of his books.

If you can find a contact for the author (FaceBook or a website), write and tell him you can't buy any more of his books because of Amazon policies. If enough people do that, then things may change in the future.

[Chocky]

Originally Posted by maddz

If you can find a contact for the author (FaceBook or a website), write and tell him you can't buy any more of his books because of Amazon policies. If enough people do that, then things may change in the future.

I did, he says he uses KU because of the per page read payment.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Chocky

I did, he says he uses KU because of the per page read payment.

Kobo Plus pays authors per minutes read and it has no exclusivity clause.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

If an author is self-published, Amazon-exclusive, and in KU, are all their books available to borrow? Or do they only put the first in series in KU?

I've found several authors whose first book in a series is not in KU making it easier to give a free copy to attract readers.