Amazon Kindle (Photo credit: agirregabiria)
Let’s talk about things that are game changers. From the Kindle publisher newsletter:
We recently shared February results for KDP Select and once again, it was a great month for participating authors. With the $600,000 February fund, KDP Select-enrolled authors earned $2.01 per borrow. Also, remember that we have set the KDP Select fund amount for March at $600,000.
The emphasis is mine. So, for a 99 cent book, where I would normally make 35 cents when someone actually purchases that book to own forever, instead I made $2.01 every time it was only borrowed all because I’m enrolled in the Kindle Select program? This seems insane.
OK, maybe they’ll change the terms in the future but, for now? This is a HUGE game changer. It’s a million times easier to get someone to borrow your book for free than it is to sell it and now I actually make MORE on those free borrows than I do when I actually sell a copy? In fact, I make more on a borrow than the book actually costs in the first place? OK, maybe if my book was priced very high this $2.01 amount may be lower than what I normally make on a sale but for the majority of us with super cheap eBooks, this is a fantastic opportunity. I took several of my books out of Select before I knew this and you better believe I’m thinking of putting them back. Suddenly Select isn’t just about exposure, it’s a viable way to make more profit on your books.
Every free borrow is literally worth over 5 sales of a 99 cent book! Do you realize how wild that is? At what point would giving Amazon this exclusivity result in more money in the end? How many sales do you have to be making on other platforms for it to be worth giving up this potential profit?
I realize I’m just asking a lot of questions here and not really making any points but this my reaction to this news. Suddenly, giving Amazon that exclusivity just got A LOT more attractive.
I’m going to go sit down somewhere and digest this. You guys go ahead and discuss it in a more intelligent, normal person fashion.
Related articles
- Actual numbers from my Kindle Select Free eBook experiments with Amazon (Part 1)
- Actual numbers from my Kindle Select Free eBook experiments with Amazon (Part 2)
- 4 reasons offer your eBook for free aka Take advantage of those 5 promotional days you got from participating in Kindle Select
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That is pretty amazing. Amazon obviously encourages authors to be in the Select program. They know that more books will be borrowed, which will increase sales of related titles or titles by the same author. We may not know the real reason why Amazon would pay this much for a borrow, but I’m pretty sure it has to do with their cross-promotion strategy.
I think you’re forgetting the fact that Amazon Prime members only get to borrow 1 book a month. So, while it’s free, are they more likely to borrow your 99-cent book or a 4.99 or 9.99 book? So I don’t think the equation 5 x your 0.99 royalty is the way to think of it. In fact, I’m more likely to buy one of your 0.99 books than waste one of my monthly borrows.
Read, that’s what I would have thought too but I was floored at the number of borrows on even my 99 cent books! It outpaced the sales by far!