As any author knows, Amazon has taken a stand against some types of books by changing the way they pay authors who belong to KDP Select. Some authors are screaming Armageddon and running for the hills.
Not me. I’m jumping back in. This is exactly what I’d hoped would happen. Why? Because it’s closer to being fair. Exactly fair? Not yet, but they’re working on it. That’s why I like Amazon. They’re always working on it and trying to make things better.
Authors will be paid based on the number of pages read in your novels. Unfortunately, we don’t know the actual number we’re to be paid yet, and I understand how that can stress people. The most common guess is a penny a page, thus a 200 page novel (based on their normalization process) will make $2.00. I think the payout will be less than that-somewhere around 3/4 of a penny (.0075).
To pay me what they wanted to pay me with their first payout formula, they would have paid me about a half a cent per page for my books (all between 70,000-80,000 words). But I think we’ll get more.
More, you ask? Why? Because people won’t be paid for unread pages. All those novels thrown up in a hurry, carefully edited for the first 10% to game the system, aren’t going to get finished.
I belong to Kindle Unlimited. Why? I love to read, and I do research for my books. Amazon has not made money on me during most months, because I love to take books out. I like to try new things that I would never try if I had to pay for the whole book. I read a chapter, say this isn’t for me, and return it.
Authors will be shocked to see how many novels aren’t completed in this world of short attention spans. In fact, I am sure Amazon will be accused of not being truthful, but many times, the truth hurts.
So back in Kindle Unlimited I go with all my novels. I sold very little on the other platforms, but I tried. I can’t wait the one or two years it takes to build a substantial following in the other retail places when Amazon pays me very well. As I’ve said before, Amazon has been very good to me, and has made it possible for me to write fulltime. And I’m loving it.
Here’s to more great books! And thanks for listening, Amazon.
Keira