Hello from KDP!
We're excited to introduce KDP Select - a new option dedicated to KDP authors and publishers worldwide, featuring a fund of $500,000 in December 2011 and at least $6 million in total for 2012! KDP Select gives you a new way to earn royalties, reach a broader audience, and use a new set of promotional tools.
Here's how KDP Select works:
When you make any of your titles exclusive to the Kindle Store for at least 90 days, those with US rights will automatically be included in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library and can earn a share of a monthly fund. The monthly fund for December 2011 is $500,000 and will total at least $6 million in 2012. If you haven't checked it out already, the Kindle Owners' Lending Library is a collection of books that eligible US Amazon Prime members can borrow for free once a month with no due dates.
You'll also now have access to a new set of promotional tools, starting with the option to promote your KDP Select-enrolled titles for FREE for up to 5 days every 90 days.
How your share of the monthly fund is calculated:
Your share of the monthly fund is based on your enrolled titles' share of the total number of borrows across all participating KDP titles in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. For example, if total borrows of all participating KDP titles are 100,000 in December and your book was borrowed 1,500 times, you will earn $7,500 in additional royalties from KDP Select in December. Enrolled titles will remain available for sale to any customer in the Kindle Store and you will continue to earn your regular royalties on those sales.
What this means to you:
KDP Select gives you access to a whole new source of royalties and readers- you not only benefit from a new way of making money, but you also get the chance to reach even more readers by getting your book in front of a growing number of US Amazon Prime customers: readers and future fans of your books that you may have not had a chance to reach before! Additionally, the ability to offer your book for free will help expand your worldwide reader base.
So, basically, Amazon is now offering a pool of money for authors who are willing to participate in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. This means your book will be available for free to anyone who subscribes to Amazon Prime. In return for adding your book to this library, you will get a portion of the money pool depending on how many times your book is downloaded. The caveat is that your book has to be an Amazon Kindle exclusive for at least 90 days.
This is a very interesting move on Amazon's part. They are basically trying to buy exclusive titles. I'm usually a skeptic when it comes to things like this, but I am still thinking of putting my next book into this program. Honestly, while I do like Smashwords, I get more sales from the Kindle Store. And it's not a permanent agreement, so I can always publish it with Smashwords later.
My question is just how much money could be earned in exchange for doing this? My expectation is that a few authors will do very well, and then the lending library will be flooded with titles, and the available money will be spread so thin that it will no longer be worth enrolling books in the program. Or someone will file an antitrust suit, because, in all seriousness, this move is a potential threat to every other ebook retailer out there. And yet, in the short term, I think it's worth trying if you have a book that is ready to be published.
I'm a bit skeptical as well. I love what Amazon has done for self-published authors. Unlike many of the writers I know, I believe self-publishing is a legitimate route to take. And Amazon has facilitated it more than anybody else. But this feels a little too power-hungry to me. Most of my sales are on the Kindle too, but I can't ignore Nook and iPad readers, not at this stage in my career. I wonder in most readers will go after big titles anyway. Why borrow a $2.99 from and unknown when you can get the new Stephen King?
ReplyDeleteYes, I expect most readers perusing the Lending Library will go after books from authors they are already familiar with. And I agree this seems like a power grab.
ReplyDeleteWhat I expect to happen with this KDP Select program is something akin to class action lawsuits: $500,000 spread amongst 100,000 people equals $5 each, on average. If more authors sign up for this, the average goes down further. If one or more books have an impressive borrow rate, the average goes even lower. So, taking their example, if my book is borrowed 1500 times, I doubt I'll get $7500. The $5 I'm more likely to get is less than one penny per copy. Meanwhile, Amazon (the lawyers, to continue the comparison) walk away with lots of exclusive titles, many more subscribers, and they probably won't even miss the $500k they just spent.
I'm still interested in the program, but I'm not going to pull my existing books from Smashwords, iTunes, etc. I think that would do far more harm than good.
Thanks for posting this, Cindy. You all make good points. As a marketing guy I can assure you this is a brilliant move on the part of Amazon and it most definitely will not land them in any kind of lawsuit. The authors they're preying on will freely make their books exclusive to Amazon for those 90-days or 90-months (if Amazon asks it) all because most self-pubbed authors only earn $2-4 per-month, anyways.
ReplyDeleteLet them. Smarter authors will grab a larger market share elsewhere. (Unless no one buys our stuff, because the evil empire is too busy peddling their library.)
Amazon does not make this move to help authors. They do it to help sell other aspects of their services, such as Prime or who else knows what they have up their sleeves. If I were working for Amazon, I'd tell them, this is how we make more titles available to Kindle users and finally put down B&N.
As for authors, we have to watch our backs. Never ever ever close off your options for retailers. The more stores peddle your stuff, the more successful you are.
Thanks for commenting on Jamie's post, Ron. I like how you point out both sides of the situation. Especially that we authors must always watch our back!
ReplyDelete