Limited Kindle Unlimited

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

Now I have to state the obvious because it doesn't seem to be so for some.

Anyone wanting to KNOW exactly how many books before lockout ...... why don't you try it for yourselves? Waste your own time.

You now know they'll just lock you out for a time and then let you back in like they did with me.

I've already got 1 strike and I don't trust their algorithms and practices.

I look forward to your results!

That is the easy cop out. I see you are not even trying to say what portion of all the 250 was other than it was at least 25% off. Won't matter anyway if it wasn't spaced out over the whole month.

Have a great day. Maybe count some Koalas, I hear they are supposedly marked as endangered for being extinct.

[Mistyfarm]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

..... I hear they are supposedly marked as endangered for being extinct.

Not around my place they’re not but I haven't eaten one in ages.

A quick Google would have shown you; "Although not listed as endangered by any Australian state, the koala population has been devastated ....."
https://www.australiazoo.com.au/cons...cies/koala.php
…… just sayin’

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

That is the easy cop out.

Not a cop out of any sort at all. You've been vigorously critical, questioning and dubious of almost everything I've said so far and particularly by things I haven't said!! I've provided very many links, you haven't.

Obviously you won't believe anything til you see it for yourself.

Put your money where your fingertips are and go nuts, borrow to your hearts content! It's the weekend, you got time. Then let us know what number you get to before their "Server Error" message.

If you don't accept the challenge well, well ...... then you're a whippersnapper and your mother wears sneakers!!!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

I'll assume you're either trolling OR maybe you drink more than I do

Moderator Notice
Members are reminded that accusing another member of being a troll or engaging in trolling is not permitted at MobileRead.

[Mistyfarm]

Thanks issybird,

I apologise and take it back.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

So straight off the bat we've found 256 "suspect" books out of the "Kindle Unlimited is a new service that allows you to read as much as you want, choosing from over 1 million titles and thousands of audiobooks."

Why are they suspect?
There is nothing wrong with having books with very small number of pages.
The reason Amazon changed to paying per page rather than per book was so that these books wouldn't be an issue.

So why would they flag me for reading too many 1 - 20 page titles rather than delete those books as per their own rules, the offending “too short” books that they pay out on? I can only think of one reason, it keeps their "available title" number over 1 million.

What rule? Why should they delete the books?

I think that even after all this discussion, you still don't really understand how this works.

And again, you didn't read the books, did you?
You checked them out, flicked to the end and checked them back in again.
That isn't reading, and is almost certainly what triggered the fraud detection.

I'm happy to play by whatever their rules if they simply let me know what they are but it seems they won't even play by their own rules, doesn't it?

Those 1 page "books" have been online for 3 years!!!!!!

And? There is nothing wrong with them.

They won't let you know the exact numbers that trigger their detection algorithms, as if the details were public, scammers would use 'read' exactly that number minus one titles.

[Mistyfarm]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Why are they suspect?
What rule? Why should they delete the books? ......
There is nothing wrong with having books with very small number of pages.
..........

Sigh ….. am I the only one that’s gonna reference?

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/to...#disappointing

Disappointing content

We do not allow content that disappoints our customers or creates a poor shopping experience, including but not limited to:

• Content that is either marketed as a subscription or redirects readers to an external source to obtain the full content
• Content that is freely available on the web (unless you are the copyright owner of that content or the content is in the public domain). For more information, you can refer to the sections titled "Illegal and Infringing Content" and "Public Domain and Other Non-Exclusive Content" in the Content Guidelines.
• Content whose primary purpose is to solicit or advertise
• Content that is not significantly different from content in another book available in the Kindle Store
• Content that is too short
• Content that is poorly translated
• Content that does not provide an enjoyable reading experience
• Bonus content that appears before a book's primary content
• Content that is excessively reused, recycled, or repeated within or across books

I could bold more but that might get confusing for some …….

Originally Posted by murraypaul

What rule? Why should they delete the books?

I think that even after all this discussion, you still don't really understand how this works.

So, how am I doing now? (the members with the least to say have educated me most!)

Originally Posted by murraypaul

And again, you didn't read the books, did you?
You checked them out, flicked to the end and checked them back in again.
That isn't reading, and is almost certainly what triggered the fraud detection.

Again with the reading thing.... go back and read my earlier posts.

Originally Posted by murraypaul

And? There is nothing wrong with them.

Amazon’s rules? Except that sanctioning and keeping these titles on the “over 1 million titles” list and letting unsuspecting schleps continue to click on them and pay the scammers doesn’t hurt Amazon’s “percentage” because they take their cut before allocating the remainder to the royalty pool. It ONLY hurts the genuine authors! And eventually when they wise up and leave, readers will have NO decent works to access.

Amazon don't honour their own rules by encouraging this to continue.

And don’t argue over the definition of “too short”, you can’t get shorter than 1 page of text!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (it doesn’t have to be full)

Tag! Righto, who’s next?

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

Amazon’s rules? Except that sanctioning and keeping these titles on the “over 1 million titles” list and letting unsuspecting schleps continue to click on them and pay the scammers doesn’t hurt Amazon’s “percentage” because they take their cut before allocating the remainder to the royalty pool. It ONLY hurts the genuine authors! And eventually when they wise up and leave, readers will have NO decent works to access.

What scammers? Why are they not a genuine author?
Posting recipes as single pages rather than an entire book isn't a scam.
The author gets paid the same amount as if someone had downloaded the whole book and only read one page.
If you mean actual scam books, then say so, and report them to Amazon, but the recipe example you gave is no problem, IMO.

And don’t argue over the definition of “too short”, you can’t get shorter than 1 page of text!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (it doesn’t have to be full)

If you think it is, report it to Amazon.

[Mistyfarm]

Hands up everyone that thinks Dreammakers Liquidations (author) is a genuine author? ....... anyone???

Google it kids!!!

[Mistyfarm]

..... OK I'm going to bed again ........ in preparation for tomorrow's bruising ..... yawn.

[Mistyfarm]

"The time has come", the Walrus said -

Perhaps this thread should have been called Limited Kindle Unlimited Limited but I didn't know at the time that it was both the Reader and the Writers that had the unstated limitations and the only Unlimited part was for the "middle man", Amazon.

I purchased a subscription after using a Trial late last year where I just slowly browsed to see what was available.

After the unfortunate demise of a friend and colleague due to his work related PTSD, I looked up some relevant subjects on KU and saw that there were quite a few listed. So quickly loaded up my 10 allowed per shelf, skimmed, browsed, noted for future reading and reloaded more quite a few times over that month. Turns out there were very many 1-50 page “books” that were drivel so I just flicked thru those and kept going – after all it was Unlimited right?

After a while I started getting “Server Errors” and no more books would load up. After a couple of days I contacted Amazon Helpdesk and was told “no, all is in order” and we tried cancelling the sub and immediately re-subscribing a couple of times to no avail. It wasn’t til about a week or so later that I got "I have checked the details and I see that you have reached maximum number of books you can borrow per month. You will be able to borrow books in a few days once the borrow books goes below the limit in last 30 days” and then no further contact from them since.

I came here and began by asking in this MobileRead forum thread "Has anybody else been locked out?”

You can read the progression and side trackings for yourselves but it quickly became bigger than Ben Hur and some feathers seemed to get ruffled in the discussions. But through it all enough details were revealed that will help many people now understand at least roughly, how Kindle Unlimited works.

Many thanks to those of you who bothered to and weren’t offended that I asked for, the helpful references to the “facts” and “quotes” you didn’t actually just pluck out of thin air. Those references/links are repeated below for everyone’s benefit.

It was a feisty and difficult time getting to the core of this issue but I don’t regret spending that time. In fact I get a special feeling in that place, having been described by the great American Philosopher: Dr Denis Leary as “Maybe in the sub c*ckle area”.

Summary;

So this is how I understand KU to work so far, from the links I’ve been able to follow and given below.

A Kindle Unlimited subscription costs US$9.99 (AU$13.99).

From subscription revenue, Amazon puts money into a pot to pay authors participating in KU, on a month to month calculation basis. What percentage or amount of the subs are retained by Amazon is not disclosed but the model seems to be similar to Australian lotto where 60% of subscriptions are returned as prizes ***** I’m not saying that Amazon keeps 40%, I’m saying that is the Aust Lotto model.

Out of the “pot”, authors are paid for being read on a per page basis. April’s rate was $0.0046601941747573. A page is assumed to be 187 words in length.

To “protect” legitimate authors Amazon provides for rules covering the size, quality and content of books in it's Ts & Cs particularly Disappointing Content provisions. But Amazon is soundly criticized by some for not enforcing their own rules, thereby disadvantaging both Readers and Authors but not Amazon’s bottom line.

Scammers are always adaptable and exploit any perceived lack of action or will by Amazon to close loopholes and/or system failings.

My example of Dreammakers Liquidations with 247 x 1 page recipes is an example of “too short”. They’ve been up for 3 years now and just loading them onto your shelf will mark them as fully read. A 20 page book will pass the 10% mark (if it’s still counted) just by getting to the index. Just browsing can reveal sooooooooo many of these brochures and pamphlets, not books by ANY description. This is what’s ripping off genuine authors. ****** I’m not accusing Dreammakers Liquidations of being a scammer, I'm just observing that the recipes don’t meet the guidelines as set out.

I’m guessing, that a primitive algorithm was tripped by my high borrow rate and I have no beef with that. What narked me was no contact or followup to check my account after being locked out. (It didn’t stop them processing my purchases though). For anyone wanting to know what that exact number is can find out for themselves by trying it, I’m already on strike 1.

So I'd like to leave this thread with no hard feelings and I’d like to say that I apologise to anybody who felt offended by any unintended sleight I may have inferred along the way;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KniUNdVZvH4

So I shall now dismount from my High Duck and leave this pond hopefully even just slightly better for having been here …………..

https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/help/cu...deId=202002080
https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,311845.0.html
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/to...0?tag=mr060-20
https://justpublishingadvice.com/is-...r-for-authors/
https://justpublishingadvice.com/kin...t-count-words/
https://www.mhpbooks.com/you-dont-ge...ted-royalties/
https://davidgaughran.com/2017/06/03...-book-problem/
https://davidgaughran.com/2016/03/11...-hits-authors/
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/to...0?tag=mr060-20
https://davidgaughran.com/2016/04/15...-ebook-charts/
https://justpublishingadvice.com/how-thick-is-an-ebook/
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/to...#disappointing
https://www.lotterywest.wa.gov.au/lo...the-money-goes

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

Not around my place they’re not but I haven't eaten one in ages.

A quick Google would have shown you; "Although not listed as endangered by any Australian state, the koala population has been devastated ....."
https://www.australiazoo.com.au/cons...cies/koala.php
…… just sayin’

Congratulations, you found a reference that your government is in denial by not officially declaring them endangered. The Australian Koala Foundation disagrees. Unless, of course, they are running a scam.

https://www.savethekoala.com/koala-a...y/licence-kill

Just to quote the first 2 paragraphs of the press release:

The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) believes Koalas may be functionally
extinct in the entire landscape of Australia.

In letters to Prime Minister Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten,
Deborah Tabart OAM, Chairman of the AKF said the Koala’s fate is in their
hands. The AKF has received no response.

[Mistyfarm]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Congratulations, you found a reference that your government is in denial by not officially declaring them endangered. The Australian Koala Foundation disagrees. Unless, of course, they are running a scam.

https://www.savethekoala.com/koala-a...y/licence-kill

Just to quote the first 2 paragraphs of the press release:

Tigger, Tigger, Tigger!

I know that you’re loyal to cartoons and that’s admirable. But just to confirm …. is this your selected savethekoala link below in the pics?? Really? (biting my tongue now).

I’ve NEVER heard of the Koala Army but I have heard of the respected Australia Zoo, the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin and his eco warrior family and organisation.

More links from the your selected “Charity” organisation website;
https://www.savethekoala.com/about-k...angered-or-not
https://www.savethekoala.com/about-k...s-1#endangered
“local populations”, “could be”, “were thought”, “Believes that”, ….

Top left of my current message is a REAL, wild, juvenile Koala, crawled up my veranda post when he realised he just walked past my sleeping dog. They are NOT endangered in my “local” area and I’m happy for you to challenge me to provide further proof pics that Koalas aren't scarce here in SA (I'll even put your Tigger avatar pics visible in shot if you like) If you’re prepared to swear and make a verified $100 donation to either Koala Army OR Australia Zoo and if I CAN’T provide suitable proof, then I will donate!!!

Fair enough, Sunshine?

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Mistyfarm

Fair enough, Sunshine?

Keep talking like that, and you will accidentally show your real face. Only because you are older than me does not mean that you automatically receive respect. You still have to earn it, and you lost all hope of ever recovering. Elders only get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to respect. You proved beyond any doubt that you do not deserve any respect regardless of your advanced age.

[Mistyfarm]

Here DuckieTigger,

Let me give you fair warning that you'll need a hammer for your piggybank!!

[Mistyfarm]

......... now go to your room!!!!