Limited Kindle Unlimited

[Mistyfarm]

Originally Posted by shalym

Is that verification enough?

Shari; Now that is champion and useful information! Thank you.

Yes I’m sure it is very helpful to more than just me.

This is great networking amongst many users that haven't yet learned these details.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

I queried the "payments" because it does not make sense to me that Amazon can programme reams and reams of code to provide their mega billion corporation with great profits and power but I'm asked to believe they can't filter out a 1 page "book" and are then also dumb enough to pay the "author" because everyone who clicks on it has technically read the whole book??

How is it dumb?
They pay authors per page read.
If a book is only one page long, they only get paid for one page read.
An author who posted ten one page books, which were all read fully, would earn the same as an author who posted one ten page long book which was read fully.
An author who posted ten one page books, only one of which was read, would be paid the same as an author who posted one ten page book, only one page of which was read.
One of the reasons Amazon switched to the page by page model was exactly to stop authors fiddling the system by breaking books up into multiple parts:

The previous (author remuneration) model (for KU program) was based on a 10 per cent reading rate. If a subscriber to the service read up to the 10 per cent level, then the author got paid. Authors responded creatively to the previous model. Thompson says, "Some authors responded to that system by writing really short books, like 10 pages. Somebody reads one page, the author gets paid. Authors are a smart lot. They were figuring it out. We were responding to that and switched over to this per page system."

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...w/50829518.cms

[Mistyfarm]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

How is it dumb?
They pay authors per page read.

Ummm ……

Originally Posted by shalym

........... since the per page rate (for April) is $0.0046601941747573. So the book has to be at least 3 pages for the author to make a penny each time it's read to the end.

I really don’t need to say too much more surely??

OK then, if you insist……So if I publish my secret Deconstructed Vegemite and Avocado Crumpet recipe ….. and it becomes an Amazon best seller overnight, selling 5,000 copies - I’ve earned a King’s Ransom sum of $23.30c (before tax) …. Woohoo! How much to cut that cheque?

And thanks for the link, it all adds to the cause.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

Ummm ……



I really don’t need to say too much more surely??

OK then, if you insist……So if I publish my secret Deconstructed Vegemite and Avocado Crumpet recipe ….. and it becomes an Amazon best seller overnight, selling 5,000 copies - I’ve earned a King’s Ransom sum of $23.30c (before tax) …. Woohoo! How much to cut that cheque?

And thanks for the link, it all adds to the cause.

Ah...but notice that the author who published those two recipes you posted has *many* recipes. If someone finds a recipe they like by that one author, they will probably look at others by that author, and download them, as well. That's how they make money. Also, remember that once an author puts up one of these "books", they don't have to do anything else, except wait for the checks.

For a while, authors were publishing small pieces of books in KU and getting paid by the piece, then publishing the whole book later and getting paid for that, as well. There are many ways for authors to scam KU, and Amazon is constantly tweaking and trying to stop the scams.

One of the scams that is prevalent now is to hire someone on fiver to page through your books to the end so that you get paid. Amazon has set up an algorithm to search for that behavior, and apparently that is what you got caught in. We all understand that this is NOT what you were doing, but...unfortunately the automated algorithm kept getting triggered by the way you were doing your search.

Shari

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

I'm saying that your suggestion is not as simple as it sounds.

No, it is exactly as effective and simple as it sounds. So you get a false negative on a book that is actually good. Not a big loss. You were complaining of having too many bad books, you didn't complain that you couldn't find ALL good books. That is impossible, by the way. Not enough time to read all worthy books anyway.

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

But you raise a good side point …….. Hands up everyone here who actually has an active KU subscription?

Here is my hand. Had it since about a month after it started approximately. On Prime Day this year I will need to get a new 2 year sub to make it even cheaper. It is also shared with my spouse. Much better value than the scams many authors were running before by luring you in with free first book in a series. They still have incomplete series in KU, but it is easy to avoid them.

[darryl]

I also have a KU subscription and find it great value.

[Deskisamess]

Here's my hand...

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

I really don’t need to say too much more surely??

OK then, if you insist……So if I publish my secret Deconstructed Vegemite and Avocado Crumpet recipe ….. and it becomes an Amazon best seller overnight, selling 5,000 copies - I’ve earned a King’s Ransom sum of $23.30c (before tax) …. Woohoo! How much to cut that cheque?

Yes, and?
I don't understand the surprise. Yes, some authors will make very small amounts of money.
The payments will all be automated, noone is writing cheques.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

But you raise a good side point …….. Hands up everyone here who actually has an active KU subscription?

I'm NOT a subscriber, because in general, I agree with your opinion:

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

Of course it’s in Amazons interest for you to take ages finding good books and I even venture the temerity to suggest that it may be akin to the intermittent payoff, similar to slot machines.

All the while debiting your account for as long as you remain subscribed, Amazon are also harvesting the data of what subjects and how interested you are in particular titles. I’m already getting targeted full price emails from Amazon based on my downloads so far. And any purchases in that time are pure “value added” profit for them.

I'm just realistic enough to know that that is my problem, not theirs.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

…So if I publish my secret Deconstructed Vegemite and Avocado Crumpet recipe ….. and it becomes an Amazon best seller overnight, selling 5,000 copies - I’ve earned a King’s Ransom sum of $23.30c (before tax) …. Woohoo! How much to cut that cheque?

You are mixing up being a best seller with payouts for Kindle Unlimited.

If your secret Deconstructed Vegemite and Avocado Crumpet recipe becomes an Amazon best seller overnight, selling 5,000 copies, you will be paid whatever your book sold for (minus taxes and fees).

Now, if your recipe is read 5,000 times in a month in Kindle Unlimited, then yes. Be on the lookout for that fabled $23.30c cheque (before tax).

[binaryhermit]

I have a kindle unlimited subscription and am happy with it, just saying.

[Atunah]

I have had a KU subscription since its introduction. I only stopped for a bit when all the scamlets of 10 pages took over the store. Once they started paying by pages I resubscribed. I read pretty much only fiction though with the occasional cookbook thrown in. I vet those books the same I would the ones I buy or get from the library. I vet before I do any downloading. I also do not read samples. I don't download more than one human could possibly read.

And once in a while I get a dud and return. If everything I got was a dud, I would reconsider having KU. I rather read books than reading samples and bits and get all out of shape. But then I read for leisure, not research or school.

On the other hand I didn't know they had a limit, so that is interesting.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

Ummm ……



I really don’t need to say too much more surely??

OK then, if you insist……So if I publish my secret Deconstructed Vegemite and Avocado Crumpet recipe ….. and it becomes an Amazon best seller overnight, selling 5,000 copies - I’ve earned a King’s Ransom sum of $23.30c (before tax) …. Woohoo! How much to cut that cheque?

And thanks for the link, it all adds to the cause.

Well, if you insist:

"The only basis to use is that Amazon calculates a page to be about 187 words and for every 1,000 pages read; authors get between $4.00 and $5.00. On average Amazon pays around $4.78 per 1,000 pages."

Source:
https://justpublishingadvice.com/is-...r-for-authors/

So your 1000-word recipe book on cooking chicken gizzards earns you approx. $4.78.

BUT, because 5000 people borrowed your book (you write) and absolutely LOVE the way you behead chickens [Disclaimer: no chickens were injured in my post], you now have earned a whopping $239.00 for this ONE title!

BUT WAIT! There's more:

Being a prolific cook, you decide to write 20 more books and 5,000 people borrow THOSE books, too. Twenty-one books (don't forget that first one!) of 1000 pages each. Well, at that point, you can no longer write ANYTHING FOR FREE. (Your time is too valuable. In fact, you no longer have time for Kindle's program OR for Mobileread's forums, because there's way too much MONEY involved.)

And that means two losses due to your success.

--- I'm tired. Somebody hand me a beer.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Well, if you insist:

"The only basis to use is that Amazon calculates a page to be about 187 words and for every 1,000 pages read; authors get between $4.00 and $5.00. On average Amazon pays around $4.78 per 1,000 pages."

Source:
https://justpublishingadvice.com/is-...r-for-authors/

So your 1000-word recipe book on cooking chicken gizzards earns you approx. $4.78.

BUT, because 5000 people borrowed your book (you write) and absolutely LOVE the way you behead chickens [Disclaimer: no chickens were injured in my post], you now have earned a whopping $239.00 for this ONE title!

BUT WAIT! There's more:

Being a prolific cook, you decide to write 20 more books and 5,000 people borrow THOSE books, too. Twenty-one books (don't forget that first one!) of 1000 pages each. Well, at that point, you can no longer write ANYTHING FOR FREE. (Your time is too valuable. In fact, you no longer have time for Kindle's program OR for Mobileread's forums, because there's way too much MONEY involved.)

And that means two losses due to your success.

--- I'm tired. Somebody hand me a beer.

You must be tired or else you had some of your beer ahead of time.

Your math makes absolutely no sense. It looks like you are confusing words and pages, then you multiply 4.78 by 5000 and get $239?

[Dr. Drib]

Well, I'm pretending that his one book is 1000 pages (based upon that quote of earning approx. $4.78). If one copy was borrowed...and read...then that would be $4.78 he made.

Now, since he admits to 5000 copies having been borrowed...and read...then that would be 5000 copies x $4.78 = $239.00 for this one title.

But he's a prolific son-of-a-gun, as we say here in the South...and the rest is history.

If I've missed something, then someone gave me too many beers!