How Kindle Unlimited is killing off authors — and what you can do to protect yourself

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Last summer it became public knowledge that scammers were earning big money gaming Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited. The scam arose out of Amazon’s decision to pay Kindle Unlimited publishers by the page instead of by the download: the more “pages” of an ebook the consumer reads, the more the publisher gets paid. Scammers began uploading fake books with a “click here for something awesome” link at the front that linked to an ad or some other such nonsense at the back of the book; the consumer quickly realized the book was Read More …

KDP Select ups the ante for authors’ exclusivity with All-Stars perk

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Amazon have announced the continuation of KDP Select All-Stars, a perk for authors who enroll in KDP Select in the U.S., UK, and Germany: the chance to earn bonus cash if you or your book falls in the top 100 for the month of October. The top 10 most-read authors on Amazon.com will each be paid $25,000; the top 10 on Amazon.co.uk will receive £2,000; and the top 10 on Amazon.de will receive €3,000. In theory, an author can be top selling on all three sites and be paid for Read More …

Kindle Countdown – just another example of Amazon extortion?

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Earlier this month Amazon announced Kindle Countdown for authors wishing to put their ebook(s) on sale. The service allows the author to set a specific time frame for an ebook to go on sale, and advertises the original price alongside the sale price. However, similar to Amazon’s free book promotion and their Kindle Owner Lending Library, the service is only available for titles enrolled in KDP Select. By way of reminder, KDP Select is only available to authors who agree to give Amazon exclusivity on a title; the exclusivity is Read More …

Amazon open Kindle in Mexico but there’s a downside

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Amazon have just announced the opening of Kindle in Mexico, and authors can now set a separate price in pesos. Mexico remains a 35% royalty territory but, as with India, authors who elect to give Amazon exclusivity by way of KDP Select will be paid 70% for sales in Mexico. This, to me, points to two alarming trends on Amazon. The first is that, in my opinion, the payment of only 35% to authors who do not give Amazon exclusivity amounts to blackmail: give us exclusivity or else. The second Read More …