# Kindle Unlimited: Is it a good place to make $$$



## Ralph Rotten (Jun 17, 2018)

I used to be in KDP, Kindle's unlimited plan where members can read unlimited books, and writers get paid based on page count read, the funds coming from a monthly pool based on customer revenues...

Anyhow, I left the program because they require exclusivity.  You cannot digitally publish that work anywhere else (but they don't care about print publishing.)  So essentially with KDP you are agreeing to not only sell your books at a deep discount, but you have to give them exclusive access to the content, you cannot sell the book on Nook or GooglePlay.

But the deal is; I actually made money on KDP.  I got a few reviews from those readers too.

So now I am trying to decide if I want to put a book or two back into KDP, not just for the $$ but for marketing.  I have a sequel coming out and getting people to read it in KDP may be a way to help sell the new book.

But I hate the idea of the exclusivity clause.
So I'm interested in hearing from anyone else who is enrolled in KDP.  How do you like it?  Are you making any money?  How are they paying these days; by the page?  Are they treating writers square in there?


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 23, 2018)

So based on the overwhelming flood of replies to this post, I think it is safe to conclude that no one is making any money on Kindle Unlimited.
That's a bummer, it used to pay okay. It was mostly self-pubs in there so it was easy to stand out and get good reviews in KDP. 
I just don't like the exclusivity clause.


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## SueC (Jun 23, 2018)

Ralph - LOL. I am using KDP too. I wish I could say I am raking it in, but no. Friends and family can purchase on Amazon, of course, but as far as getting notorious, I must not be doing anything right. I get paid a couple of dollars just about every month, but that's about it. I am not sure how they calculate things.


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## Bayview (Jun 23, 2018)

I make roughly as much each month from KU page reads as I do from selling the books on Amazon. But in neither case is it serious money - I rarely get over $150 a month total from all Amazon channels.

This is for self-publishing, obviously, and I don't have that many self-published titles. And many of the ones I do have are reprints of old books. And I do no promo. So there are certainly ways to do better. But, no, current sales are not exciting.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 23, 2018)

What do you think about the exclusivity clause? Do you feel like you may be losing money by not being able to sell that work in other digital venues?


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## Bayview (Jun 23, 2018)

Ralph Rotten said:


> What do you think about the exclusivity clause? Do you feel like you may be losing money by not being able to sell that work in other digital venues?




I do. I'll be honest - in my case the laziness of only having to upload to one place and only having to monitor sales from one place kind of balances out the negatives of exclusivity, but... for someone with a bit more drive/organization, I think it might be a bigger factor!

I know quite a few authors who are leaving KU because of the endless cheats - at first the super-short books getting paid the same as the read of a full novel, and now, with the newer rules, the stuffers. It starts to feel like a good platform for scammers, but maybe not a great one for writers...


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## Anita M Shaw (Jun 23, 2018)

I did it once long ago with all of my books. Made absolutely nothing from it. I had been making more off sales from my websites at the time. I couldn't wait for the three months to end so I could sell from my sites again. 

So if it's exclusive, does that mean publishers can't list those books on their publishing site? That's another reason I haven't tried it again. Kind of crazy to have a publishing site you can't sell from.

I went wide with Draft2Digital, and while I have only two sales to report from there, my free downloads seem to be picking up a bit. I haven't been able to get Amazon to list my short stories as permanently free so they are still .99. I wish I were doing $150 a month but it's more like $1.50 to 2.00. Pretty sad. Have decided to figure out how to market and promote . . . I really really suck at that stuff!


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## SueC (Jun 24, 2018)

Anita, that's what I say too. I am a writer - we are sometimes reclusive, thoughtful people and the skills required for marketing, etc. are not those!  LOL. It's nice to hear someone else say that.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 24, 2018)

My understanding of the TOS for Kindle unlimited is that even after the 3 month trial you are not allowed to sell digital copies of your book anywhere but on KDP.  They even have bots that go looking to see if you are selling it somewhere else, then they send you reminders. 

But those other places (Nook & GooglePlay) make crap for revenues.  Granted, I point all my marketing at Amazon...but they don't really sell very well compared to Amazon.  And I used to make $$ on Kindle unlimited but I wanted to see other people...

I dunno.  mebbe I'll add books 1 & 2 to KDP as leaders to get people to read the new book...  

My other complaint with KDP was that the pool of money they put in every month is just some made-up number.  It is not a percentage of the fees & revenues they make.  They just add a few mil to an account and let 40,000 books fight over it.  Like BV said, it is a highly managed system, and that means they manage it to make money for themselves, not the writers.

Still, it can be exposure, and I'd only risk books that are no loner generating appreciable revenue on other channels...
Arrrggghhh. I'm gonna go fly the simulator.


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## Anita M Shaw (Jun 24, 2018)

My two sales and most of the downloads are mainly from Barnes and Noble. A few from Kobo and a few through Tolino which is a European aggregator I think for it in turn distributes to other online retailers over there. But the vast majority is from Barnes and Noble. That was a real eye opener for me.

I really wish people would actually review the stories and books they bought/downloaded. That would help so much! But so far, I have just the one review on Amazon for all but the book I did with Larry. That one had hundreds until Amazon stripped it down to about four. Didn't make anything on that book either. Lost money in fact . . . 

I hear you, Sue! i could only do a book event if I did it with another author. A friend told me I should do some sort of event at the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester VT. Celebrities have had book signings there. I'm an ebook author . . . who's going to care about that? He worked there, though, so . . . maybe I'm just too chicken to go ask. I _am_ too chicken to go ask! 

If KDP Select had worked for me, I'd probably still be in it. I'll stay as I am, and see if I can learn to be a little more confident in getting the word out. And I guess, I just don't want to be told where I can or can't sell my stuff from.


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## moderan (Jun 25, 2018)

KDP was a loser for me and I opted out after selling more ebooks at Smashwords than Amazon. Not even sure if my stuff is available at B&N. Such a complete waste of my time and effort. I sold more books through the rack I put up at my doctor's office than through that medium.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 26, 2018)

Doh!
I just left fingerprints all over the screen.
Forgot this laptop does not have a touchscreen. 
That's the kinda stupid stuff I do when I'm sober.

Anyhow, pretty cool range of responses.  I was surprised to hear anyone was making money at Nook/B&N. I make very little money on B&N, but then again, I don't market to B&N so that could have something to do with it.  I've tried, but digital marketing seems to not work as well on B&N customers as it does Amazon customers.  Could there be a tech difference between the two?

I really wouldn't mind KDP except for that exclusivity clause.  I wanna be able to sell my books wherever I wanna sell my books.


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## MatthewSteele (Jun 27, 2018)

Ralph Rotten said:


> My understanding of the TOS for Kindle unlimited is that even after the 3 month trial you are not allowed to sell digital copies of your book anywhere but on KDP.  They even have bots that go looking to see if you are selling it somewhere else, then they send you reminders.
> 
> But those other places (Nook & GooglePlay) make crap for revenues.  Granted, I point all my marketing at Amazon...but they don't really sell very well compared to Amazon.  And I used to make $$ on Kindle unlimited but I wanted to see other people...
> 
> I dunno.  mebbe I'll add books 1 & 2 to KDP as leaders to get people to read the new book...



In my research I have seen that putting in multiple books leads to better results. Not only does it give you more books in the running, but KU users often read other books from authors they like because it's an easy way to find books that they will probably enjoy.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 27, 2018)

I may do that, put the first 2 Calizonas on KDP in order to drive interest to the new book.
I'd have to deactivate them elsewhere tho. 
Last time I looked revenues from B&N were sparse. I predict they'll close their doors in the next 3 years.


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## bulmabriefs144 (Jul 6, 2018)

Kindle Unlimited basically makes money for Amazon. It's a way to scam Kindle authors out of money by offering books for free if they pay Amazon a subscription. 

Honestly, if you want to make money, I recommend doing Lulu self-publishing and being smart about advertising.


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