Amazon listens to authors; changes KU pay to per-page model

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by twowheels

Please tell me that you made that up and didn't quote it from a real book!

A real book would not have used "shadow" quite this often.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

This is new to me...I didn't realize kindle tracked how much I read in each book....I always assumed they tracked how many books, and what kinds....but page-by-page!! Intrusive much?!?!?

If that freaks you out you'd better not look up what else Kindles track

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

If that freaks you out you'd better not look up what else Kindles track

Or most commercial websites.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Shrug. I'm not saying it's a bad idea. I don't really know. So long as Amazon requires exclusivity it's a deal killer for me as an author.

.

I've been arguing for a while that people are misreading KU and badly.
KU is not intended as a substitute for discrete sales. That would be stupid of Amazon. KU is intended as a substitute for free. Especially permafree.

Think in terms of commitment: there are millions of unread ebooks cluttering ereaders and reader collections because at some point they were free and caught the reader's eye. No commitment needed. (A discrete sale needs more than a passing fancy; it requires a commitment of cold cash, often after sampling--for free--up to 10% of the title.)

A good thing, the visibility from FREE!.
But because FREE! requires zero commitment, there is also zero pressure to follow through. At some point, the downloads may be sampled, or not. If sampled, they might lead to sales of other titles, or not. If they do, the price of the visibility and future sales is one full sale. Not a bad deal, generally... but...
Amazon doesn't really like free ebooks. They tolerate them but discourage them. (30% of zero is zero, after all.) KU is their answer to permafree.

With KU, Amazon addresses the commitment issue with the 10 book checkout cap. Subscribers have to sample the book and judge it to free up the slot for another checkout. And, since subscribers have to pay to get into KU, they want to sample as many titles, preferably to completion, as possible.

Amazon bills KU as a discovery tool for readers.
That means it is a marketing tool for authors.
It is meant to provide a visibility boost to titles in KU by getting heavy readers (willing to pay the subscription fee) to sample the author's wares. And generate a trickle of revenue from the sampling, which is something that FREE! doesn't do.

One way KU boosts visibility is through a simple numbers game: KU features 800K titles while the full Kindle catalog runs 3.2M. So, just by being in KU a title gets a booster seat before an audience of avid readers. And, since BPHs don't play that game, there are few mass market "brand" authors standing in front.

What is the value of that?
Well, that is up to each author/publisher to decide.

Amazon lets *them* decide how badly they want that boost, 90 days at a time.
They don't demand a life of copyright commitment.
They don't demand a non-compete or that all the titles from the author go into KU.
They don't demand anything more than 90 days exclusivity for each title featured on KU.
Again, it is up to each author to decide.

Seems to me, a viable strategy is to use KU the way BAEN used their free library: to use select titles from their catalog to expose readers to their brand and their authors. Loss leaders, if you will, but paid ones. Putting in the full catalog may not be a good idea (or it might be, for some) but rotating titles through it? Might result in a net gain...

Sure beats permafree, no?

I find this to be an interesting experiment.
It doesn't fit my reading habits but it so annoys Amazon foes it is worth tracking just to see the culture clash.
And it's already produced some interesting side effects.
I expect the second year to be worth watching.

[howyoudoin]

Originally Posted by murg

"The shadow from the lamp cord cast a pall over the shadow from the lamp itself, barely illuminating the framed picture on the wall, while the doorway remained in deeper shadow, with just shadowy hints of what was in the shadows beyond. The victim had obviously committed suicide, or at least that's what someone wanted the world to believe. There was no stool or chair or anything for the victim to have propped themselves on before taking the leap into a shadowy death, although that it could have been kicked aside into the shadows at the periphery of the room. The victim's bruises stood out as shadows of an attempt at defending itself. The fact that the noose had a right-hand twist to it, and the victim was the last remaining orphan from its hand added yet another clue that this was no simple suicide, but a murder staged in the shadows of a dark, sad, shadowy room, by perpetrators who clearly crawled out of the shadows of the shadowy underworld, slithering this way and that ion the shadows to avoid the clear light of the day."

Do you mean like that?

Yup.

Also this - https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...8&postcount=61

An accurate enough paraphrasing of the book.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Lets pretend I'm an indie writer.... I write a 30,000 word book filled with:


I then go into the settings and create a TOC and put it at the end of my book - and designate it as the "start reading".

I then create 10-15 fake accounts and rate my book with 5 stars.

People get my book, open it, it opens to the last page, I get credit for people having "read" my book...I get paid max amount.

repeat multiple times with different author names....

I'm RICH!!!

There's a 60 day delay in payment so you wouldn't make a dime. Amazon would figure it out and close the account before you were paid.

If you want to pad things, the way to do it is write children's books with images or even adult books with several images. You can buy stock art for the book and use black and white so it isn't too bloated (bloated by size which you then can end up having to get your commissions cut). The images may help add some "pages" although I don't know how much credit an image gets versus text.

Or you could just write your heart out and hope someone loves your stuff enough to spread the word.

If you really, really want to make money, I'd suggest just about any other job than writing books!!!

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I've been arguing for a while that people are misreading KU and badly.
KU is not intended as a substitute for discrete sales. That would be stupid of Amazon. KU is intended as a substitute for free. Especially permafree.

I expect the second year to be worth watching.

I'm not arguing your point at all--BUT, it isn't working because the authors are not really using it that way. Those authors who do well with free do much better by permafree in Amazon combined with other retail markets--because they get noticed everywhere. KU is a pretty poor substitute for that. KU gets advertised as a whole, but individual titles really don't get noticed enough to matter to an author. And yes, I agree, it was not meant as a sub for sale, but just like free, it can cut into sales.

There are different audiences for subscriptions and it can be separate from the buyer market and the "Freebie" market. From what I've seen those who have latched onto the "free" hard aren't about to get a subscription or start buying again.

Those who like free to sample an author's work (like me) are still occasional buyers--and KU does not help me there because I"m not paying 9 dollars to sample--I can use the regular sampling!

Yes, it will be interesting to see where it goes!

[conan50]

Originally Posted by howyoudoin

A disadvantage of paying per page is that it incentivises the author to write long drawn out novels where the reader has to wade through tedious descriptions of the furniture and layout of rooms.

This is the traditional publisher model also. They wanted huge tomes that they could charge more for. And lots of filler in books that could have been better told with fewer pages.
I have mixed feelings about this new model. While someone who wrote a 500 page book should get paid more than someone with a 100 page book, I'm not sure value of a book should rest on page numbers.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by disconnected

"Amazon typically sets SRL at chapter 1 so readers can start reading the core content of your book as soon as they open it."

That's interesting. I always assumed it was the publisher that decided that. I don't like it, personally; I'd rather start at the cover.

What about books that have a Preface or Forward?

For many years I used to just flip to chapter 1. Then I discover that many times I was missing the backstory that would have made current story events way more clearer

Is this another case of 'We know best'?

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by theducks

What about books that have a Preface or Forward?

For many years I used to just flip to chapter 1. Then I discover that many times I was missing the backstory that would have made current story events way more clearer

Is this another case of 'We know best'?

You have to use a special marker/command to get it to open at a foreward/preface/anything other than Chapter 1.

[Atunah]

I am keeping an eye on this as a reader. I had a KU subscription when it first came out and ended up cancelling it the end of 2014 when it had gotten flooded with shorts, porn which often gets stuffed into romance for bypassing the adult filter, scamlets, chopped up books and many regular books were pulled out of the program. I had some books on a wishlist to access with KU and each week there would be less and less on it.

Since there are no publishers other than Amazon imprints in the program right now, I was paying $10 to read amazon publisher titles and the occasional good indy book. Those were often back list titles. Many other indy books were books that either had been free for years already before, or continued to go free it seemed like every week.

I don't know about others, but KU was not reading "free" books for me. $10 a month is not free in my world. So unless I get some value out of it, its just not going to work. I read to read what I want, not for the sake of reading something just to make me feel better about the $10.

I have a Scribd subcription and although the content is fantastic, once I got my Voyage, I am finding myself using it less and less. I just don't enjoy reading on a tablet with the backlight. As sad as I am, I might have to cancel Scribd if I don't use it more in the next couple of months.

If this change to KU can get actual books back into the program, that is the first step in getting me to subscribe again. But, they will still need some publishers. I haven't checked lately whats in the program as you can't browse the selection anymore now without signing up, I think I saw some Kensington titles.

As someone that just prefers reading on e-ink, I would love to have a KU subscription, but there has to be stuff in it I actually want to read.

I said it before, I'd pay more for a KU that has all the publishers that Scribd has. I'd pay double for that selection.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

There are different audiences for subscriptions and it can be separate from the buyer market and the "Freebie" market. From what I've seen those who have latched onto the "free" hard aren't about to get a subscription or start buying again.

Those who like free to sample an author's work (like me) are still occasional buyers--and KU does not help me there because I"m not paying 9 dollars to sample--I can use the regular sampling!

Yes, it will be interesting to see where it goes!

Amazon hasn't stopped samples nor free days under KDP.
Those definitely appeal to a different customer base than KU.

KU is really a different creature from everything else, targetting a very specific audience, which is something the anti-amazon axis doesn't get.

Check this mis-read:

http://www.mhpbooks.com/you-dont-get...ted-royalties/

They "conveniently" forget KU titles are also available for sale in the Kindle store.
Or that since Amazon is not licensing your IP, they don't pay royalties; they *charge* a distribution fee or pay a share of a funding pool.

Or that under the old model, people who read 9% and stopped didn't generate payouts so it was possible for people to "read your book" without paying.

(Do you remember the flaps when Amazon introduced "look inside" and samples?)

They keep pretending Amazon is a publisher when (by and large) it isn't.

[eschwartz]

My favorite is (at the end of that article):

What if, like Judd Apatow, KU subscribers have convinced themselves that buying a book and reading a book are the same thing? Amazon will pocket the subscription rate, and KU authors will not receive a royalty if subscribers are taking out books without getting around to reading them.

Acting like that is a bad thing...


Of course, the source is extremely biased.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Of course, the source is extremely biased.

Ya think?

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Amazon hasn't stopped samples nor free days under KDP.
Those definitely appeal to a different customer base than KU.

KU is really a different creature from everything else, targetting a very specific audience, which is something the anti-amazon axis doesn't get.

Check this mis-read:

http://www.mhpbooks.com/you-dont-get...ted-royalties/

They "conveniently" forget KU titles are also available for sale in the Kindle store.
Or that since Amazon is not licensing your IP, they don't pay royalties; they *charge* a distribution fee or pay a share of a funding pool.

Or that under the old model, people who read 9% and stopped didn't generate payouts so it was possible for people to "read your book" without paying.

(Do you remember the flaps when Amazon introduced "look inside" and samples?)

They keep pretending Amazon is a publisher when (by and large) it isn't.

Most subscription models are based on "not being used" as part of their success. Even the buying model is based on habitual buyers--they buy but don't read a lot. It took me a few years of selling books to learn this. You want habitual buyers--you don't need them to read! Now honestly we all want to be read, but an author can't really make it without those who just buy on impulse or out of habit. The subscription model is a way to cater to people who "shop" a lot--whether they read or not is irrelevant. But they do have to feel it is a good value...somehow or they will cancel.

Amazon will package, repackage, and package again--to hit all the "buyers." They don't care at all whether the books are read. But by restructuring the deal the way they just did, it's going to give them a very, very good idea of which books are read all the way through--and if they want to add that book to their publishing arm, they may make an offer.

Best sellers don't mean they are the most read book out there. They are just the most bought book. People buy for a plethora of reasons: To be in the in crowd, because they've heard of the book, because they want to read it, etc.