Kindle Unlimited subscribers, are you getting your money's worth?

[Xianxia]

For those who are subscribing to Kindle Unlimited, are you getting your money's worth?

What keep you from canceling your subscription?

How many KU ebooks do you read each month on average?

[booklover6]

I buy annual subscriptions when they are on sale. So I am not paying $10 a month. I'll reevaluate in November 2017, if I haven't extended my subscription before then.

I check out a lot more than I actually read---some I check out for the sole purpose of being able to buy the companion audio book for @ $2.00. Some I try and don't finish. Most I tend to read all the way through, but not necessarily in the same month during which they were checked out. I have 8 books out now, 1 of which I am hoping for an audio companion soon, the other 7, if I can, I would like to finish before the end of the month. Several of them I will, for sure. Then again, a lot of the books I check out are relatively short.

Completely worth it, for what I am paying, YES.

[GlenBarrington]

I love KU for finding new (to me) authors and self published authors. I love the idea that I can try out an interesting sounding book and read it until I start to think it's getting stupid.

Sometimes a book starts out strong, and then gets progressively dumber, page by page. I feel that I can abandon the book at any point, even at the last page, and the author will get something for his/her effort, and I won't feel cheated by bad writing, or poor 'authorial logic'. I usually read 3-5 KU books a month, but I will frequently start 8-10. I love the "all you can eat" format.

[copyrite]

Originally Posted by Xianxia

For those who are subscribing to Kindle Unlimited, are you getting your money's worth?

Oh yes... I have a 24 month discounted subscription that will turn over to a 12 month discounted subscription when it expires.

Originally Posted by Xianxia

What keep you from canceling your subscription?

I'm not paying monthly.

Originally Posted by Xianxia

How many KU ebooks do you read each month on average?

3-5 most months. I more than recoup what a monthly payment would cost. I've made sure since I began a KU subscription that I was reading my money's worth, else I would've cancelled when I was paying monthly. :0

[Tarana]

I get my money's worth because 3 family members are reading books during that period that I have KU. In addition, I take advantage of buying the audiobook, then return the book and get something else. I listen to the audiobooks later.

[Atunah]

I had KU when it first was introduced. I can't recall the year now. I cancelled after a while because of the market being flooded with porn shorts at the time. Because of the payout to authors that was per "book", no matter the length.
Lots of full length book authors pulled their books out of the program so I couldn't find enough to make it worth it to me.

Then they changed the payout system and I rejoined when I found lots of full length books being put in the program. I have a wishlist on amazon for KU books. Actually several lists, by genre/subgenre. So I can access those books any time from my kindle. This keeps the what to find next issue at bay in the KU program. I have 100's of books on those lists. I read the same type of books in KU than I do when I purchase or check out of library. Meaning I do the same vetting as any other and I don't randomly pick stuff. As I hate reading samples or partial books, I have to have such a vetting system. Books I put on my wishlists are already vetted. And most so far have stayed in the program. I also have a wishlist for those I wait for loan, also 100's and I go through once a week on the kindle and move them to the KU lists if they now have the KU logo.

I like to read about 4-5 KU books a month to make it worth. Sometimes I get more, sometimes a bit less. But it averages out to that.

Although none of the 5 big are in the program, some smaller publishers do have lots of books in it and of course all the amazon imprints and self publishers.

I suggest to start a wishlist. I add them when I get recommendations, or see reviews on blogs or such. I also use the goodreads recommendation that is integrated now to my kindle, its pretty spot on to me. And since it shows in one glance if a book is KU with a logo, its easy to spot them. Then I vet and add them to the list. If you have some books on a list, then its easier to see if it would be worth it for you. To see if what you like to read is in the program. Then if you piled up some, join. Good thing is you can join and cancel and join again as many times you want. So you can read for a few months, then cancel and then join again. All books will be gone of course in the meantime.

[cbb1430]

I've had it for about 6 months now... sometimes I only get one or two books, but like right now, I've got an entire series checked out (one "book" is a boxed set). And the only reason I got it was because I like the authors other books--this one is a different genre from those though.
Some months I feel like I'm throwing away money and some, I feel it's worth it. Not a lot of high demand books on there to choose from and unless I'm feeling adventurous to discover another author, it isn't of much use for me on a regular basis. I use lendle and booklending a lot too.

[DuckieTigger]

We got KU mainly for my wife. She will read 2 or 3 books a week most weeks, some weeks more when she feels like it. I usually add around 2-4 per month depending how busy I am with work. I consider the books I read as free as it already pays for the amount of books my wife reads. Since having KU (the start of it) both of us read more and we spend a lot less (some books we read are not through KU, most are though).

The real benefit is not having to make a decision per book (or series) if it is worth it. Very seldom does it happen that a book doesn't get finished. So we are either lucky with picking or easily entertained. But seriously, there is many books in KU that are not any worse than big5 books. It feels that the premium price doesn't always add any benefit.

ETA: We started off paying monthly, but never once considered stopping, so we went to prepaid to save even more, currently as 24 month.

[QuantumIguana]

I'm dropping it for a while. I signed up because there were a number of Arthur C. Clarke books available, but I've had enough of his books for now. I may want to read more of his books later, and then I will sign up again.

[sakura-panda]

Originally Posted by Xianxia

For those who are subscribing to Kindle Unlimited, are you getting your money's worth?

What keep you from canceling your subscription?

How many KU ebooks do you read each month on average?

I feel that I am getting my money's worth since I think of this as a subscription that gives me the option to read books I would not otherwise read. I think of it as a paid library membership fee, where I am paying more for the convenience than for individual items.

I don't cancel my subscription because I joined with the two year discounted deal a while back. I would feel more obligated to read a minimum number of books each month if I was charged monthly, so I suspect that if I lost the ability to pay annually, I would not continue to subscribe.

Looking at my books read list for 2016, I have read 21 KU books this year; I average about two KU books each month. I don't know what the books I read cost but I do know that I would not have bought and read them individually.

[Pomtroll]

I download quite a few each month. Some to see if I like them, some because they are from authors I've never read before. I don't end up reading all of them. Maybe 8 or 9 out at least 15 to 20.

[booklover6]

So I wake up to see New Prime Reading. Now every Prime subscriber can read books for free. Information is limited. But to my just-awake brain it looks like a smaller catalogue than what's in KU. Still, this puts a limit on people wanting to join KU, doesn't it?

I hope someone will be able to ferret out more information. I'd like to know the real details about the difference between Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by booklover6

So I wake up to see New Prime Reading. Now every Prime subscriber can read books for free. Information is limited. But to my just-awake brain it looks like a smaller catalogue than what's in KU. Still, this puts a limit on people wanting to join KU, doesn't it?

I hope someone will be able to ferret out more information. I'd like to know the real details about the difference between Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading.

No, not really putting a limit on those that want to subscribe to KU. The reason for it is to get one or two of two things accomplished. Well, actually three. First it is yet another reason to join Prime. Second and third to get either sales resulting from "sampling" a series and buying the rest of it outright or to "sample" KU, and joining KU.

You can check out the catalog yourself at https://smile.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/prime-pr . As of right now it is 1014 books and magazines that are all a subset of KU (1014 out of 1.4 million items). They advertise that you have Harry Potter in Prime Reading, but as with all series I have seen so far, it only includes the first book. If you want the second book, you either pay for it, or need a KU subscription.

So, my take of it is that it doesn't compete with KU, but is just a cheaper version of it for those that don't read a whole lot to make a full subscription to KU worthwhile.

[booklover6]

I see....it is like the expanded the Kindle Owners Lending Library, kind of......and all the books that I've looked at are first in series, so if you want to keep going, you have to belong to KU.

[issybird]

Hmm, there is one series I'm reading where all the books were in KOLL; I wonder if that window has closed.