New Kindle Unlimited -- Should Authors Opt In?

I received an email from Amazon announcing its new Unlimited program that provides royalties for books read by subscribers to this new service that allows readers unlimited access to all participating author's works for a monthly fee. The new subscription service is Amazon's answer to Scribd and Oyster. It did not take me long to find the usual Amazon catch though: exclusivity. Authors who wish to have their indie books listed in this new service must restrict distribution of their Kindle titles to Amazon--just like KDP Select. In keeping with the Select paradigm, Amazon will add $800,000 to its Select global fund for author's royalties under this new service.

While this may be a very welcomed addition for authors who distribute their books exclusively through Kindle, the exclusivity arrangement is unappealing to me and I will not participate, just as I no longer participate in KDP Select. I already enjoy access to Scribd and Oyster as well as BN, iBoks, Baker & Taylor, Library Direct, Overdrive and other retailers (including Amazon) through Smashwords.  Although I would gladly participate in this new Amazon subscription program as a reader and author if exclusivity were not required, giving up much more appealing distribution channels for an Amazon-exclusive  distribution is about as appealing as buying shares of the Brooklyn Bridge. Ayone feel differently about this?

I might give it a go, Victor. I'll check out Amazon's terms and get back to you.

I opted in.  It's for three months.  Worth a try.  It's a good deal for ebook readers - $120 for all you can read in a year - I'd hate those readers to miss Ghost Orchid....

Amazon is just changing the whole landscape.  Scarey.

Shelagh and DK,

I wish you both luck either way. It's just not for me. (DK--But your readers will miss Ghost Orchid on Scribd--the service Amazon is copying that is a cheaper monthly subscription cost and is not limited to Amazon titles--and numerous other sites. Fortunately, you can rethink the choice in 90 days if you change your mind and if you remember to uncheck the auto-renew box that is likely a prerequisite to opting out knowing Amazon . . .)

Amazon posted an announcement about the pricing of ebooks:

http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle/ref=cm_cd_tfp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdThread=Tx3J0JKSSUIRCMT

According to their data, ebooks selling at $14.99 sell 1.74 times as many copies when priced at $9.99. Presently, I sell very few ebooks on Amazon or anywhere else. I made good sales for a while, but without constant marketing the sales dwindle to almost nothing. Reducing the price from $2.99 to $0.99 should increase sales two-fold but even giving away books results in only 3 downloads per day (2 on Amazon US and 1 on Amazon UK). That's an average of 90 ebooks a month. At $0.99 with a royalty rate of 35%, those downloads would net me $31.5 dollars. At $2.99 with a 70% royalty, the same number of downloads would net me $188.37. As it is, my royalties for the 90 downloads per month total $0.00. 

I have reached the point where I don't want to spend time persuading readers to buy any of my books. I'm enjoying long hours working in my garden and returning my home to its former clean and tidy state.

I know what you mean Shelagh.  However, Cindy Sample wrote fluff books, first published them at L & L Dreamspell then self published and by constant promotion is selling tens of thousands of books - check out her web site www.cindysamplebooks.com  She is doing exceptionally well.  It is possible.  I was there when she started and thought her book was a piece of fluff - and still think so - as well as the others.  But she has a hook, and builds audiences and does promotions all the time.  She is a full-time salesperson for her books and it is paying off.

She has proven that a hot cover, a speaking platform and constant promotion can move anything that has some story line, some sex and a little murder mystery.  I'll bet she has a television series next - or a movie.  The books have no depth but are catchy.  She has launch parties attended by whole towns.  She travels to the locations to write the books (including Hawaii) and makes enough on her sales I'm sure to write off the travel as a bonified expense.

I admire her success, starting just after I did and moving way ahead.  I think I am just a touch envious of how well all the things I did with so so success have worked fabulously for her.  Some folks just have the knack!

We try to write literature.  Literature does not sell unless supported by a mainline publisher and their publicity departments.

dkchristi wrote:

We try to write literature.  Literature does not sell unless supported by a mainline publisher and their publicity departments.

I don't envy your friend. I didn't set out to make money. My talents for making money do not lie in writing books. I know what I need to do in the pursuit of money and it isn't through writing books! Romance writers are steeped in their art. They have been reading romantic fiction since their earlier teens; I have not. I read all the classics: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Somerset Maugham, to name just a few. I don't have the talent to match these great writers but I don't have a desire to write fluff. Writing something in order to make money is not my idea of fun.

Like you, Shelagh, I read the classics and never wrote a romance novel though what I write includes romance.  My editor cut most of the beautiful background prose that I love to read and write.

I believe that Cindy is just plain having a great time traveling, writing and being an author.  She has fun book launches in wine stores and visits the places she plans for her books. She invites her blog readers to suggest characters and titles for her books and has lots of prizes for those who comment on her blogs and participate in her contests.  She's making sufficient income to advertise, travel and simply enjoy her experience - the income supports the fun making it.

That's the part I envy.  I would like to imitate the traveling to promote and I'd love to do a tv ad!  But I haven't the surplus income to invest in hopes of an outcome to pay for the investment!  Whew!  That was a mouthful.

Another colleague just did one of those free Kindle promotions and her book went to #1 in the free Kindle books.  I wonder, though, how many of those free promotions actually become sales.  It didn't work well for me.

I've seen no bump, by the way, since I "Opted in."

I forgot to add, she sells lots of ebooks at B&N.

1. Kindle Unlimited is available only to US buyers at this time.
2. You don't "join" KU as an author. Only as a reader. All books enrolled in Select are automatically enrolled in KU.
3. There are exceptions to the exclusivity term of service. The Harry Potter e-books are in KU, and they are not exclusive to Amazon.

Al,

Joining KDP Select automatically enrolls titles in Unlimited, as you point out. But exclusivity is required for an automatically renewable 90 day period (unless authors specifically opt out of the automatic renewal). There may be an opt-in for authors with traditional publishers whose publishers negotiate inclusion into the program, or for indie authors with best-sellers. For the rest of us, exclusivity is a prerequisite to participating in the program. We'll see how many readers pay the $9.95 monthly charge to participate and how many sales result for our friends here who opt in. Select has not worked for me, and I am skeptical as to Unlimited at this point for me and for the average indie author. But I'll be pleased to be proven wrong when sales figures start coming in and people we trust report significant sales from the program.

I'm with you Victor.  I'm in select and the new thing and neither has made any positive difference.  In fact, I swear my sales are down!  My ranking certainly is.  I was always on Page 1 in Google Search for ghost orchid.  I can't even find my book searching just "ghost orchid."  I'm still page 1 with dkchristi - but apparently I'm the only dkcristi :-).  But I need people to search on "ghost orchid" and hit my novel, Ghost Orchid.  Instead older novels have risen to the top and mine has disappeared.

It may be because my publisher no longer publishes print copies and the only ones Amazon.com has are their stock.  I think Amazon.com has a major influence on Google search as does Google Play, Google Books, etc.

The games are just too complicated. Let's just find a few great celebrities to love our work and get it out there.

DK,

Agreed! One positive note, though, for those of you in Unlimited. Amazon offers a free month to try their service (with the usual automatic paid renewal unless you cancel in a timely basis). Here's a suggestion: On the first of next month, sign up for the free month of service and download your own and all of our friends'  participating books. Read as many as possible and get our friends some royalties, increase their sales rankings and enjoy a month of good, free literature on Amazon. Any thoughts? (I would have done this already, but have no time at all for pleasure reading this summer.)

Like you and Shelagh, I was also raised on the classics (British literature, poetry and drama mostly as is still my preference) and, to quote my adopted sister Shelagh, "I know what I need to do in the pursuit of money and it isn't through writing books!" Writing fiction and poetry is its own reward as it was when I was in college where only my professors and classmates ever read my work. It is hard, though, to spend time in that wonderful pursuit when I could double my income through a limited part-time law practice (or even through consulting work) using my "free" time in a much more financially rewarding way for the benefit of my family and for greater professional recognition.



No one said it would be easy.

Dear Adopted Brother,

Set up your part-time practice, do as much consulting work as you can get. Writing can wait until you retire. By then, things will have moved on and maybe there will be new opportunities. You can still use what little free time you have to write for pleasure.  

I will never retire in part because I will never be able to afford to do so because I am too foolish to follow your wise advice.

Victor D. Lopez wrote:

There may be an opt-in for authors with traditional publishers whose publishers negotiate inclusion into the program, or for indie authors with best-sellers.

Apparently, there is. Hugh Howey's Wool books are not exclusive to amazon, and amazon has them enrolled in KU, too. I think it's the 500-lb gorilla thing.

ETA: The Wool books are not in Select, however.

DK, I just searched amazon for "Ghost Orchid." Your is the second of three novels with that title to show up.

It's Google that no longer shows my Ghost Orchid on Page 1.  By the way, one of the ghost orchids that shows up on Amazon, the one with the exact same title in I think a 2013 or 2014 release, copied the plot and put it in a different city (self-published).  The writer's ex-husband sent me an email to apologize (verifying my belief).  I had mentioned that one on this forum earlier - whether copying my novel was flattery or theft - when I first saw it posted.

Let me address infringement in very general terms (read: this is not legal advice which has not been solicited and is not being offered, but a very general discussion of copyright infringement). Generally speaking, plots can't be copyrighted, nor can book titles. But if there are very substantial similarities beyond a general plot line and a title, then willful infringement might well be involved which carries heavy statutory penalties (and potential criminal liability as well).  Changing the names of the characters or the setting will not insulate an infringer from liability.

If someone tried to pass one of my books off as their own work with cosmetic changes, (read: more than just a casual similarity to the works, which is a question of fact, ultimately)  I'd demand that the book be pulled from any retailer carrying it and I'd sue the author. (Caveat: accusing someone of plagiarism and not being able to prove could lead to a libel lawsuit.) If an author believes his/her work has been infringed, the book needs to be registered with the US Copyright Office before the issue can be pursued in the courts.Registration is quick, easy and cheap ($35 for online registration unless the rate has gone up in recent months). 

Any author who believes their work has been infringed should consider consulting an intellectual property firm for advice. Local and state bar associations often provide a lawyer referral service for a very inexpensive initial consultation that can give an author a better idea as to the cost and likelihood of success in collecting damages.

I'd end up with the libel suit.  The truth is not always the truth in court.  It's a matter of who has the best attorneys.  I have no funds to take such risks. 

Before publishing Ghost Orchid, I looked at all the other ghost orchid books which were completely different and in no way related to my plot.  My publisher felt that with the ghost orchid the central character (not the case in the other books - not even near it) it had to be the title in spite of other so titled books at the time.  However, it was the only "Ghost Orchid" with no "the."

Since my publisher is closed and the major partner no longer living, support from a publisher is missing and the two women whose book so closely follows the plot of my Ghost Orchid self-published.

You can rest assured that if my publisher was one of the big names, they would have the funds to take the copy off the market.  No one fears a small press - they are often under-funded.

I'd start another thread on this here or on my blogs, but I'm too backlogged at the moment. nevertheless, authors should be aware that there are not only severe civil penalties but also criminal ones for copyright infringement and that in cases of willful infringement, attorney's fees and court costs can be awarded to the prevailing party. Authors would do well to check out a couple of books on copyright law and/or intellectual property from their local libraries for a good primer on the subject (I hope libraries will start carrying at least the eBook versions of my intellectual property book  through Smashwords expanded distribution in the near future). Authors can also review the general criminal provisions and remedies at the US Copyright Office site (The criminal sanctions are available here).
Where clear and willful infringement is involved, the chance of success and likelihood of having a court award attorneys fees are well worth the cost of an initial consultation--especially one through a lawyer referral service as I've mentioned above.

One cautionary note, however. Don't ever accuse anyone of plagiarism/copyright infringement unless you can prove it in court. Attorneys fees are also available in appropriate circumstances to a person who successfully defends an infringement action as are damages for defamation.