N. writes,
I am wondering if you are going to continue to allow Kindle Unlimited readers to enjoy your Innkeeper series. If not, will the books be in the libraries? I’m shamelessly addicted to your books, and when we actually had a bookstore, I swore I’d never own a Kindle, but small town Zanesville, Ohio has zero bookstores within 50 miles, and I started using Amazon, got hooked on my Kindle, started reading everything Kindle Unlimited offered,
…
and since I read a book a day, on average, I just plain can’t buy everything I want to read.
The problem with KU availability is two fold.
First, KU books must be exclusive to Amazon. If the book is in KU program, it can’t be sold by any other retailer including the author. Amazon does account for the majority of readers, but there are people who read on other platforms such as Apple Books, BN, and Google. By entering KU, we would have to ignore all of those readers.
Second, KU isn’t as profitable for us. Over half of KU customers have never purchased a book from Amazon. KU attracts people with a limited income, students, retirees, people who are experiencing a financial crunch, bargain hunters, etc. The entire point of the platform is that it’s cheap.
Kindle Unlimited pays the authors between $.004 and $.005 per page. The common wisdom says that Amazon considers an average page to be 187 words. So, some quick math:
ONE FELL SWEEP is about 90,000 words / 187 = 481 pages x $.004 = $1.9 x .85 (agency’s cut) = $1.61. This is assuming the reader would read the entire book. A lot of times they may not read it right away, they might abandon it halfway through, or have to set it aside for some other reason.
ONE FELL SWEEP is priced at $4.99 x.70 x.85 = $2.96 take home pay.
Financially KU makes sense for people with high output, for example romance authors who can do at least 6 releases a year. If you write, let’s say, a regency romance, starting with one duke and then writing sequels about all his brothers and friends, and you do it fast enough, it’s a fair bet readers will follow, since the books are pretty much free. It’s a winning formula.
That’s also why you will see KU develop sharp trends quickly. Let’s say someone writes romance with mermaids and it reaches #1. Everyone copies the idea, because if you are a KU customer and you liked the original, you might try a similar book. It’s free. You lose nothing. Even if you abandon it, the author gets paid a little bit. Suddenly everything is mermaid romance.
You can see a wide variety of paranormal series on KU, for example, and most of them sound kind of the same, the latest trend being reverse harem, which they borrowed from manga.
I’ve spoken to a couple of KU authors before, and while this may not be true for everyone, for most people speed is a priority. A year ago one woman told me that if she didn’t write a book a month, she wouldn’t be able to pay her bills.
I can’t do that. I can’t write that fast. I can’t work for six to eight months on a book, sink money into editing, cover, audio, etc, and then get paid less than $2.00 per sale and a lot of times significantly less. For us, KU amounts to a loss, and because most KU customers don’t buy books at all, it’s not even good promotion. Why advertise to people who won’t buy the product?
I am sure right now someone is typing a comment letting me know that they are a KU user and they do buy books. Remember, we are discussing statistics.
In conclusion, we already provide the first draft of Innkeeper Chronicles free to you. If we then put it into KU permanently, we would end the series, because we wouldn’t make enough money to continue. But Innkeeper Chronicles are readily available to libraries, in ebook form, in dead tree form, and, as mentioned above, they are given away free in the beginning. If you want access, it’s there. It may not be as convenient as clicking KU borrow link, but that’s the best we can do. 🙂
Good to know about Kindle Unlimited. As one of those readers who does not have a Kindle, thank you for making all your books available to everyone. 🙂
Ah…statistics…the good, the bad, and sometimes the ugly (this is coming from a biostatistician). 😉
Me too. I won’t buy anything from only one vendor, but one vendor I avoid like the plague is Amazon. Monopoly anyone? Not that I think any less of the many people who have little choice but to use Amazon, but I have a choice, and I use it.
Exactly! That’s why I don’t have a Kindle though I did think about getting one when the last update was released in October. I do read over at Webnovel (mostly they’re translated Chinese novels, but they have an increasing amount of originals), and one of the more popular original authors has caved and is putting their book on KU (Webnovel does offer contracts to popular authors but the terms are iffy according to the gossip about them).
Having seen the breakdown now, I see why they were tempted, but from my limited understanding, how exactly are they going to expand their reader base which those who buy will come from?? Their Book One starts at chapter 6 of the story so I’m baffled…
Okay…enough ranting…(Amazon is one of my ‘rant’ buttons…) ^_^
1+
I wish they had an option to turn KU offers off entirely. Every time I go to buy a book I have to make sure I’m clicking on the correct button for buy and not the button for KU.
YES!! Have inadvertently joined KU twice and had to rant when I found it outto be able to withdraw
+1
That math was very interesting. Thanks for breaking it down like that. I will feel better about using KU for the first in the series and paying for the rest, since this equation seems to pay better for the work the author is putting into it. Again, thanks for the breakdown.
Yeah, that’s fair.
I mean I do read KU books and buy actual books but I’m more likely to abandon KU books for something I’ve paid for.
KU is like my “You seriously need to take a break from Ilona Andrews books and read something else. Just once.” thing.
I’m not invested in the books, I’m more likely to put them down and never pick them up again, and I feel guilty for not actually paying for a book if I really like it and want to support the author.
Agreed. With Kindle Unlimited, I often get books and don’t finish them for some reason, and then swap them out for other KU books and hold on to them forever before reading them or swapping them out again before even reading them. However, if an author catches my attention, I do buy them. For instance, I bought KF Breene books after reading them on KU, and I also just purchased the TA White Dragon-ridden series after reading them on KU (thanks to the BDH recommendations in that wonderful post that the authors put up as a sticky).
Unfortunately, HAVING a Kindle makes this a real problem for me. How can I read something other than Ilona Andrews when all their books are right there! I have Seanan McGuire’s new Wayward Children sitting on my Kindle, pre-ordered months ago, and I LOVE that series. But it came in while I was rereading Hidden Legacy for roughly the 150th time*, and I must finish before I can go read Seanan.
________
*oh, how I wish this was an exaggeration.
Thank you for the statistical analysis of pricing! Also, many libraries have electronic books to check out.. I find the option to browse my library, from my couch, invaluable!
My library also provides a streaming service that includes ebooks. The innkeeper series is there. For us, it’s Hoopla. Worth looking into, even though I find it has more audio books than e-books which are my preference.
Our library offers kindle books through Overdrive. I own hard copies of all the books but sometimes use the library kindle version when we travel. ?
I second and third the above for Hoopla, Overdrive and Libby via my library. I do purchase books written by my favorite authors as soon as released but use my library’s resources when book recommendations (recent blog post) come through from the BDH. It’s an inexpensive way to discover new favorites without any financial risk – just my time. I love my Kindle, Amazon and modern tech that allows me to take thousands of books wherever I go whenever I go. Reading is essential to my well being 🙂
Libraries are still free and the authors have to make a living! I find it very easy to get library books for the things I want to read but not own. It might be worth joining the library!
I find the “business” of art, writing, music, etc. so depressing. The arts give us such joy and yet is seems so difficult to make a living at it. Thank you for discussing the business of KU. Very eye opening.
Thank you both for all your hard work. Even when you love what you do it’s still work.
I may be the last hold out but I have actually never bought anything on amazon!!! When I did eventually but an ereader I very deliberately bought one where it is a universal format, so as not to get tied in. Saying that I still more or less buy from the couple of stores.
The stats are very interesting though. So thank you for writing these books (I love them all), thank you for putting them on different retailers and the explanation as to why.
The Innkeeper books don’t cost that much, so I don’t mind buying them. KU is mainly good for discovering new authors in my experience.Plus if I find a series on KU that’s good, I’ll often go back and buy the books because I’ve literally had authors quit doing series because they didn’t generate enough income. And I don’t blame the authors for that. It’s just sad to lose possibly great books over things like that so I do what I can to support the continuation of the series.
I am a Kindle Unlimited customer and I buy…
*cough*
No seriously, I do. But yeah, it makes no sense to me for you to put your books up on KU. To me that’s either for authors as you describe, or new self-published authors who want a debut or similar novel to reach as wide a target audience as possible, with the hope that people will like what they read and buy sequels not available on KU. (I have done this, as a reader).
I imagine very very few people buy books they have already read on KU to own afterwards. I have, but only occasionally when I really enjoyed a book.
That also makes me curious how much you make on audiobooks compared to ebook or printed format.
I mostly just buy the audiobooks now because I can at least multitask (clean house, fill orders for my business) while listening.
Problem is when I sit down to read a book, I have to finish it right away, which means no sleep and other stuff not getting done.
Lol,,,I know what you mean! Once I start a book I read it in one sitting. Red eyes the next day due to lack of sleep!! Reading the blog is teaching me patience haha.
It’s really rare that I will read a book with my eyes these days – though with some time off coming up, I might try it again? I don’t even know if I’m forever spoiled by being used to moving around and getting things done at the same time. I find myself kind of looking the idea of taking that kind of time, though…
(BTW, barring unforeseen events, North Carolina is a go… But not until summer! And at least some of the intervening time will be down time.)
I hope the audiobook cut is decent, though…
As a librarian, chiming in to add, if you want your public library to carry something that you think it doesn’t ASK THEM, whether print or ebook. If you have an e-reader, a large proportion of public libraries now have access to Overdrive (ebooks and audiobooks), hoopla (ebooks, audiobooks, movies, music, graphic novels), RBdigital (ebooks and audiobooks). Not everything in the world is available in ebook form, and not every platform can carry any given book, but if you don’t see something you want on a given platform or in a given format, please, please, please, tell your librarian and we will see what we can do to get you your book. A lot of libraries have a “suggest a purchase” button or form on their website or available at the library itself. Even though I purchase all the Ilona Andrews books in audio for my own personal collection, and I purchase them for the library’s print collection I also always put all the titles through as purchase suggestions for our ebooks collection, since I want the library system to have them as ebooks and downloadable audio and I’m not in charge of buying those. And we always end up purchasing them, because lots of people want them and put in purchase requests.
Libraries purchase based on popularity/use/gaps in the collection and so on. We often don’t know about gaps in the collection if someone doesn’t point them out to us. So please, point them out, ask for what you want.
Taking off my library hat now.
Keri, I didn’t see your post and I just encouraged library e-book reading. It’s hard to take off the library hat!
+1 Great suggestion to *ask* your library to get something you want!
As a library user, yes this works! I ask all the time, and so far, I’ve gotten everything I’ve asked for. Can’t guarantee that success rate, but if you never ask, you have a guaranteed failure.
Same here. I use to go to the library all the time and check out book or request they purchase either hard copy or for the e-reader. So far, it’s been 100% successful for me.
The online library works really well. I got hooked while living in a little tiny town that had no bookstores within 90 miles. The real book library was as tiny as the town but they got attached to a much larger online library that was awesome. I was able feed my book addiction and stay within my budget at the same time.
I keep meaning to look around Amazon to see if it’s an option, but maybe you know the answer, Kerri. I will donate dead tree books to my local library, but is there an option in Amazon to donate an ebook to my local library?
Tink, I cannot speak for all libraries, but when I broached the topic on mine they said it wasn’t possible. They use a different system for ebooks. And they are expensive and limited. So for instance they may have to pay $25 bucks for an ebook that they can only lend out 25 or 26 times or only for a year or two.
And so while I would think it would be super cool for Amazon to have a buy for library button like you can buy for your friends, I don’t think it seems like anyone wants to be too public on how they are treating libraries.
This! I’m in Auckland new Zealand and our library, both hard copy and ebook, is awesome. Clean sweep ebook – just checked and available to borrow from my sofa. No driving needed. I also do purchase requests and usually get them. Best thing is if you requested it you are top of the holds list so get it first.
Erin,
Our library allowed people to donate funds earmarked specifically for e-books. Then we’d use those funds to buy more digital materials. The licenses are expensive and they do expire. Folks can ask their library if they can donate directly.
Sadly, no, there’s no way to directly donate ebooks to the library. When the library gets ebooks, the library doesn’t buy them it’s essentially renting them – we purchase a license (that costs a lot more than a regular ebook) and it that expires after either a set amount of time or a set amount of checkouts. You can, with most libraries, donate money to be put directly towards ebooks or eaudiobooks, but the systems libraries use to provide ebooks doesn’t allow for items to be added from outside those existing systems.
Yea for libraries! I’ve suggested several ebooks on Overdrive for our library and had almost 100% success rate. And our library lets you be first on the list for checkout if your suggested ebook license is obtained.
I love checking out ebooks from local libraries. Yes, I’m lucky to live in an area that has 5 local libraries! I looked up Ilona Andrews in all 5, 3 had a decent selection and 2 had 20+ titles, counting anthologies.
Libraries are wonderful places, for books, ebooks, audio books, dvds magazines, and a good many other things. I say this as someone who got her 1st card at age 4 and never gone without 1 since. So if you not have a library card go get 1 ASAP. And then suggest they invest in Ilona Andrews…
My local library is part of an inter-library loan program. I’ve borrowed lots of books through this great co-operative system. Some are local libraries, and some are not. One book came from Phoenix, AZ!! (And I’m in Illinois.)
Libraries are an amazing and awesome resource!!
+1000
I tried KU twice and did not like it. I think it is difficult to find good books to read on KU and was often surprised at the books that got high ratings on there. They actually read like a book that was written in less than 30 days. Thanks for letting me us know why that is. It now makes sense that a lot of the books there read like fan fiction.
Daniel, I keep a wish list of KU titles I have interest in as I come across them and then can stock up and when I am at my sister’s who does KU I can binge.
Every reader has different needs. For me, KU is addicting because I tend to download books that I wouldn’t normally read and binge on them and ignore other books that I should be reading.
I suggest you check to see if your library system offers any sort of e-book program. Overdrive and RBdigital are popular ones but there are others. In this way, you can borrow library books for your e-reader. I was helping a patron this week and saw one of Ilona’s books on Overdrive so I know you can get them on these platforms. The library digital book program helps a lot of readers like yourself and provides great selection.
Good luck and happy reading!
Overdrive has some of the audio books too. That’s who I use.
Correct in every way. I’m a “book a day” reader and have been for long ages. I’m also a KU subscriber. Reading a KU book, for me, is better than reading cereal boxes (yes, I’m *that* compulsive a reader).
I buy books from authors whose stories are well constructed with worlds and characters worthy of my time and investment. I buy books from authors who I want to financially support and encourage. I buy KU to keep me away from food packaging.
+1
+1
And I really thought that was just me. With the cereal packaging.
Yes, absolutely. As much as I would like to purchase good books all the time, I don’t have that much money, and I don’t have the time to go to the library every day or sometimes even every week. Also, sometimes one has a craving for really trashy things that one does not want to own *cough cough*.
I solve that by simply not admitting I own them. I have some books I read where I turn off the post to Goodreads option. It’s not “trashy” as in “smut” for me, though*. It’s trashy as in “really terrible writing but I still like the story.”
______
*Not to judge anyone who enjoys smut. I have often wished I could. It sounds like it could’ve helped with some of my dry spells. I just get bored really fast (ESPECIALLY with magic sex) and start flipping pages “yes, yes, sex, more sex, yes, stopping soon? Ok, not yet.” I have books (including Hidden Legacy *cough*) where I have literally highlighted the dialogue during the sex scenes for easy reread. It’s the exact same with fighting scenes, although IA manage to write fighting scenes — even the large scale battles! — that don’t bore me. It’s a miracle.
+100. As a child, I read the encyclopedia set that shoppers used to get at the supermarket, at one particular relative’s house, that had no other reading material than the newspaper….and they didn’t always have that. I’m
Gotta add another +1. I started reading in the 50’s, including cereal boxes almost immediately. I’m still at it. (I recycled my reading material of last week (Grape-nuts) and am looking forward to a nice organic raisin bran.)
In my case it’s supper, not breakfast, so I’m actually awake when I stare at the box…
I do have a KU account, but I probably should let it go. I seldom find much I want to read that I’m not willing to pay for. And I won’t pay $3 or $4 for a short story (under 30 to 40 pages), no matter how much I like the author’s full length books.
Not the AuthorLords, no! They are more than generous on the content per dollar front. Some other folks are “mighty proud” of what they’ve written. Those I pick up at the used book store.
I read those darn boxes if they are in front of me and I don’t even like cereal!
I read food packaging. I’ll also read cosmetic or skincare ingredients. I’ve usually gotten more of a sense of achievement from reading labels than some KU books which were well rated but alas, not for me. My choices would have been a bit different if they broke down the ranking by purchased vs KU’d.
I wish KU came with machine learning analyzed labels like:
40% alpha male who never breaks out of the stereotype
35% slightly vapid and unremarkable heroine who does a single plucky thing
35% talking cats
^^ See, the cats would probably make up for the rest.
I’m in a very awkward position as an author. I’m wide, so no KU to me–I left that ship over a year ago and I’m very glad to be out of it. (For all the reasons you listed and then some.)
Problem is, I still have to produce a book of some sort around a frequency of once per month. (I’m just basically a cute little nobody who likes to write swimming in the pond. So I write, and write, and the fans I do have buy my books, so I can keep writing. And I get a little more traction each release, but it’s very much release a book every month or plummet off the cliff of obscurity.)
I’m fortunate in that I *can* write a book a month and have a staff who can keep up with me. But it hurts. (It hurts so much.)
I wish I could write a book every three months. I’d probably write more because I just love to write and keep doing it, and I have a zillion projects on the go at the same time, but I’d love to just be able to relax.
But I got to pay the bills. Amazon’s algorithms, unless you’ve got a huge fanbase, kicks you in the groin after three weeks, approximately. Which is sad.
But that’s okay. I just keep swimming.
I can’t do KU for the exact reasons you mention–and I *have* the frequency.
As I don’t write to trends, I’d never thrive in KU like some authors do. (More power to them for being able to write to trends. No judgment from me.)
But it sure would be nice to be able to slow down. 🙁
For now, I’ll just stick to the grind and hope I can eventually.
(I could live without the 12+ hour days 6-7 days a week, though. But bills, they must be paid.)
+1
And I really thought that was just me. With the cereal packaging.
Why did this post here a second time? That’s weird. I’m sorry.
RB I enjoy your books… Sorry you have such a demanding schedule don’t want you to burn out…
RJ i love your books and recommend for witty fun romances. SNORT—Were-alpacas and cindercorns (which prompted a need to make a stuffed version, along with ninja ferrets)…Write on!!!!
Honey, you write it and I’ll buy it. I could wish you had more time, too – just because you deserve a breather. I am not criticizing. You do a fabulous job writing as fast as you do.
(Yes, your cat is a slave driver, but she could let you have the occasional day off. I hope your new overlady is well.)
I’m sorry you haven’t had the chance to take a decent break to recharge. The changing of the guard certainly hasn’t helped your stress levels. My condolences on the loss of your lovely Tia the Majestic OverLady. I’m sure Princess and Zazzle will do their best to fill in any kitty gaps, but it really isn’t quite the same.
I’m a little selfishly glad, though, that you have a high output because I *devour* books and it has been a slog finding authors who tell a decent story on a consistent basis. You are one of my most recent finds, and I love the “Body Count” series (I just slurped down “Cheetahs Never Win”) and the Witch/Wolf world books, as well as the “Royal States” series you write under Susan Copperfield.
Thank you for the good stories and laughs (the cindercorn drunk on magical naphtha was highly entertaining, as was the auction ass-kicking). Please keep them coming, and I’ll keep on buying 🙂
Is it possible for you to start a Patreon like Seanan McGuire’s? Yes, she’s a big name author, but I support a number of Patreons (admittedly most at the 1€ level) who aren’t big names. She puts out a short story/month at the $1 level. You have some fans here. I bet you would have people who would support you.
Like Tiffany said, I do use KU as a sampling ground to try new authors risk free. Because I am aware of how the math works (and because I *can* afford it), I always make sure to pay for the books I read beyond the first in a series, and I usually go back and buy that first book, too.
It seems fair to me that an artist is well-compensated for their creation. I want the authors I like to be able to make enough money to keep writing, so I don’t begrudge doing my part to support them. Most books cost less than going to a movie, and I get far more than 2 hours of entertainment from them.
Furthermore, I salute our Authorlords for making their work so available to us! I am so grateful that we get a *free* serial book from them every year or so, and they still find time for multiple other writing projects! The amount we pay for each book or novella can’t approach the joy we get in return. So, yeah, I’ll be lining up to pay full price for the next Innkeeper as soon as it’s available…and the next Hugh book and the next Kinsman and the next Hidden Legacy and anything else they write.
Same here. KU has cost me a lot of money for the same reason. I read very quickly and I love to support as many new authors as possible. So, I usually get a first book and then buy the rest by that author if I like their stories. Thanks for the economic breakdown. That really explains why some writers start off strong and then fizzle. What a shame! Thanks for all your hard work! Now, if someone is amazing, like you two, then I buy the ebook, the paperbacks, and the hardbacks. But I love to reread treasured books. Woe betide me if I ever get into audio books! I had two wonderful libraries that would buy books for me by request. Books are the same as food as far as my budget goes.
Most people who can afford to support art, do. Amanda Palmer (one of the artists I support) has a post or article about this with data that supports that. And most KU books are really, really, terrible. Really. I’m a member, and I carefully read the negative reviews before borrowing something*. It’s actually a mark against an “Amazon recommends” if it’s on Kindle Unlimited.
All that being said, I will also buy if I find one of the good ones (i.e. Cassandra Gannon, Elizabeth Hunter, Scott Meyer). Because I’m one of most people. I imagine this particular community self-selects for those of us who will (the BDH).
That being said, it’s Amazon’s exclusivity clause which completely screws authors over.
Because without it, IA would most likely NOT lose money on KU, any more than they do on their library versions.
______
*“it sucks!” will not put me off. “There’s a cliché every third paragraph”, with examples, will**.
**I read this book. Worse, I paid for it first because it was all 5 books of a series for $5 (I didn’t read the other 4 books, but I did finish book one, just to see if there was any treasure falling out of that shipwreck). It is, in fact, what started me reading the reviews. I tried to get my money back (to buy a box of cereal), but I had read too much.
I wish it was possible to edit my comments. Can we pretend I only wrote “that being said” once, and found another intro phrase for the other time (your pick)?
Just wanted to add Ella Summers to the list. She, more than others I like, could really use an editor, but even without one, her world-building and story-telling is pretty nifty.
Yes I use kindle unlimited but also buy certain authors books like yours, Jim Butchers Harry Dresian, sean Mcguire, faith hunter, etc. So your policy works for me. Once I find an author(s) I like, I generally pre order and buy most of their books.
I will read KU or from the library if it is a new author and I’m not sure if I will like the book/series. I’ll also use the library if I find a new-to-me author and I’m plowing through a backlist.
For new releases from authors I know I enjoy I try to buy the books because:
1. I want them to write more and helping them get paid for writing encourages that. (Private good)
2. I should support the creation of art to the extent I can. (Public good).
I know there are some people who can’t afford to buy new releases and use the library. That’s cool and I’m all for taxes supporting libraries. There have been times when I could not afford to buy a book and the library was my best friend. But now that I can afford to pay for new releases I feel like I should.
My 2 cents.
Yep. Everything Drew says. ?
+1
+1
I personally don’t have KU and never will due to some good informative post by Grace Draven and others. I’m lucky in that I can prioritize buying a fair few books a month and also am a re-reader of Olympic quality. (My favorite books I can read over and over again, so that saves on the Amazon bill). The reason I won’t subscribe to KU is the same reason I’m very happy to pay full price for computer games, subscriptions to newspapers I like – I need the game developers to afford to make good games, I need good journalists to keep writing informative news, and I need good authors to make money off what they create so they can keep Writing for a living. I’m that selfish, I don’t want to live in a world with crap games, bad journalism and no good books.
Not only do I re read, but It makes hubby crazy that with some genres, I read to the middle, then the last 8 pages(personal research on where the “end” begins, for me), and THEN resume from the middle. He doesn’t understand how that could possibly enjoy my experience but it does. I’ve re read my favorite books scores of times. My mom and I laugh because she replaced 101 Dalmatians the original by Dodie Smith, 3x in my childhood. Never lost, just read to disintegration. I have my 5th copy at home. What I don’t understand is buying videos/dvds, and watching them 1x.
I thought I was the only one! I also read to the middle with some books, then read the epilogue or the last bit of the last chapter. I think I do it most when there’s a lot of emotional tension or physical danger and I want to know the characters survived. Once I know, I can go back and enjoy the journey. Drives my husband nuts too.
I also reread favorite series. I go Kate Daniels books from the library when I read the series the first time, but when the last book came out, I bought the whole series. I never did KU (and am glad now) but I will buy a book through Early Bird Books or Bookbub for cheap, and then buy subsequent books if the series grabs me. Sort of the point of those book services.
My childhood book was Black Beauty. My Mom started hiding it because I’d read it over and over and cry so hard when his friend Ginger died….
I really wish the world was kinder on artists and writers. I think it’s a crime used books can be sold with no residuals for the author.
Thank you for laying this out so clearly with the numbers behind it.
I was at a book signing a few years ago and someone asked the author if they were going to put their books on KU. The answer was no because KU did not pay the authors enough for the work. Since then I have avoided KU because I want the authors I love to be able to afford to keep writing 🙂 I feel that I don’t pay for the binding or the art or the editing (though they are all important) but for the idea of the book.
Thanks. I dont use Kindle. If it is only on kindle I am not likely to get it unless it is one of my top authors (yes that means you) but even then I will be grumpy because I have 1000 or so ebooks on my other platforms. Also the anticompetitive practice bothers me on principle. It’s not going to sell me on a new author. I have passed on trying out new authors because they are only available on kindle. It is a very high bar. On the other hand if I am bored and have a few dollars I will pick a new author and if I like what I read blast through their backlist. Even if they never get onto my must read on the pub day list they’ll get sales.if they have an epub available.
It’s funny—I got an email today offering KU for $0.99 for 3 months. I started to click, then stopped. I’m lucky that I can afford to buy ebooks/audiobooks. If I want to read them, I want to “own” them in some format. And, for some authors (ahem), multiple formats!
As a fellow Ohioan, may I recommend the Ohio Digital Library? It is a collection of libraries that have pooled resources and share their ebook libraries. If you have a card to a member library, you have access to all of them. They have the Innkeeper series too 🙂
I was literally just about to leave a similar comment, lol. I don’t live in Ohio but I live just outside Boston and the Boston library has a similar program. I think most cities/states have some form of library that does this. It’s a great resource!
+1 to Carolyn’s remark!
N: The OverDrive platform does offer Ilona’s works, and our library made sure that they are in the Ohio Digital Library.
As an Ohio resident, you can get a card at any Ohio public library that is a member of the ODL, and then access the collection. Some of us offer a digital card that you can actually apply for on our website. I encourage you to check it out! (ooh sorry bad pun)
I’m in Minnesota, in the Twin Cities, and just by registering my St Paul Public Library card, I have access to Hennepin County, Ramsey County and Minneapolis library ebooks and actual books (don’t like thinking about dead trees, uhuh). If those libraries don’t have a specific book, I can use InterLibrary Loan and find it anywhere in the state. I know you can get different formats, but not sure all libraries will share ebooks.
I am a KU person, but use it to find different authors. that said, there are a lot of books I never finish! because you have to go through so much horrible writing to find the good ones.
I can see why authors don’e want to use it though.
I follow your blog, and love the Innkeeper novels here.
I then buy the books. I have now been buying all of the audio CD versions, as you narrators have done such a wonderful job that I find _more_ in the books, and get to enjoy them all over again.
As for KU – it is like Audible – I detest not owning the book, and the thought that it might disappear on me.
I am a bibliophile, plain and simple. When KU first started, as a Prime member, I was gifted 3 months free access. I hated it. I’m a little OCD when it comes to collecting my reads. I want them all in the same format. I would rather buy all of the books so that I can reread them in order without having re-barrow one from KU. Additionally, most that I tried were not well written/edited/executed. And all of them were WAY TOO SHORT. Most of my favorite authors I buy in multiple formats, hard copy, electronic, and audio. I prefer to buy new ventures as hard copy, so that I can exchange it at a re-sell shop if it was not a ‘keeper’–but I’ll be honest, I keep a lot. I usually only buy electronic and audible of my favorites as the travel easiest and provide entertainment while driving.
I grew up in a library- literally, my grandmother was a librarian whom I stayed with for weeks at a time. However, I have fallen off of the library wagon after being told that local library does not take suggestions for book purchases. They also have very little in sci/fi/fantasy.
But I would rather buy books than food. Mawmaw used to say I fed my mind better than I did my body. I can spend hours in a book store, but I have recently realized that I’m reading less and less new stuff… I’ve found that I don’t really like the suggestion algorithms that Amazon uses, and the closest bookstore is over an hour away, and does not carry a wide selection.
Sigh… I’ve gotten to where I am craving new books, but you’ve spoiled me for great, well written, compelling stories with gripping plots and riveting characters!
I love what you said. Ditto for me, I’m a voracious reader, always have been. I re-read all of my favorites, and do what you do, buy the paperback and the ebook. KU would drive me crazy. Books feed my soul, so I spend money on that, rather than on extra boots, shoes, and handbags that I know I won’t use. Reading is a form of self care that I feel I’m worth. And writers that create universes that I can escape to, deserve my support. I can’t begin to imagine the hard work that goes into it. I’m just grateful for the results. There are certain authors that know I will buy every book they publish. You are on that list. Thank you.
I agree, I do not care for the suggestion algorithms Amazon uses. I used to have emails from Amazon saying, ‘you liked this book, can you suggest other books like this one for readers and say a few words about why they are similar’. I liked volunteering my time and ideas to these requests because I do a better job than a computer algorithm and I have no profit motive. It was fun to find obscure authors’ books with only a few reviews and recommend their books, to help them build their readership — I know I appreciate a good tip! But I no longer receive those emails from Amazon. I do “follow” 100 authors and readers for their recommendations. A couple times a year I follow someone’s advice. I rarely buy blogger-promoted books. I don’t quite understand the “street team” book marketing — how does a reader join a street team and would he/she/they be paid? — but the first customer of the street team seems to be the author and not the reader.
Am I the only one who wants to know what a reverse Harem is? Literally a harem full of guys? Do they all cook and clean? Because that would be my fantasy.
+1
I stumbled into a reverse harem book back in the early days of the trend ( it didn’t say it was a reverse harem book). Yes, it’s a book about a woman who has multiple male suitors and she’s in a sexual relationship with each of them. I’m not sure why they’ve become so popular in urban fantasy/urban paranormal, but I heard rumors that it was an “Anita Blake” effect.
Alas, in the one book I started the harem did not cook or clean or anything that would actually be helpful to a woman battling the supernatural. I think one of them might have picked up some food once though.
Lolololol.
Oh, and I bet he made a big production of it, too. Like, “Hey, see how I brought the food, here, my woman? Tell me now how I am the best man in the harem.”
At least Anita Blake’s harem DOES cook & clean & work bodyguard detail & otherwise support, if not Anita directly, then the others in her harem.
This comment is for the OP. Ohio has a fantastic digital library. Download Overdrive or Libby. All those books are free!
I buy books, yours especially, and I also have KU- mainly because my spouse goes through books (and abandons them) like crazy. I occasionally buy a KU book if I really like it, but most of what I find there is not all that good. Too many examples of quickly/poorly written/overused/contrived plot, books.
I tend to look at KU as a platform for writers that can’t make it in the real world of publishing. One gets accustomed to (spoiled by) your beautifully crafted, well written stories. You don’t even realize or appreciate it till you read stuff that was thrown together in a few weeks and is full of typos, duplicate sentences, and paragraphs totally unnecessary to the story line. While the wait can be agonizing, it’s always worth it to read a quality story by someone who writes with skill and truly cares about their craft. You are way to goods for KU!
I think of KU writers as the pulp fiction writers of yesteryear. A lot of successful writers started as pay by word pulp writers. Once they started to be able to pay bills by selling books, they stopped the pbw.
I like KU to discover new writers , I more likely to download a new author and see what they are about than straight out buy someone I’ve never read. I’m only going to buy a book if I want to read it more than once. If I like a writer, I want to read everything they have ever written. I want to own everything so I can reread at my want. I buy electronic and paper.
The way I look at it… I support my writers so they can keep entertaining me. If I don’t spend, they have to work at other things that don’t entertain me… I have one author that I have been reading for 20 plus years. She loves her rt job and only posts segments of her current book a couple times a year. It sucks…
As to KU not compensating writers fairly. People know the pay scale before they sign up. Also, some of the books… sigh well they would never be published if it wasn’t for the electronic platforms. Writing is a skill, not just having an idea. I have read a couple world builds that I wish IA/GA had written instead of the author…
So the way that I think of it is… PPl want to pump out beige books to pay their bills, go for it.. PPL want to work on a book for a year or two and have to work a 9-5 while trying to make it .. go for it…
Thanks so much for explaining this. I do have a Kindle but have never used KU because I want authors to be fairly compensated for their work and I am employed and have the means to pay for my books. But I have always wondered how KU works and how it compensates authors. Good to know. As far as Innkeeper, I wait until they are published and then purchase them so I can gobble them up in one sitting. Take all the time you need to write; your fans will stay loyal and will wait for the good stuff.
Thank you for your wonderful books! I love them however you put them out. I can hardly wait for the kindle edition of Sweep of the Blade. I know I can still read it for free right now. I would buy it just because you both put it out. I do not want y’all to quit making these beautiful stories I can take my vacations in. Y’all are wonderful!
I’m curious, for KU I have a couple of authors I’m consistently going back to and rereading (and eventually purchasing when I’ve realized I’ve done this a few times), does the author get paid each time I borrow their book? Or just the first time I borrow it?
Anyone know?
From what I remember another KU author blogging, they get paid each time you borrow & read.
Dead tree is the way this old fogy rolls; I’ve got three Innkeeper and I’m anxiously awaiting the chance to put ‘Sweep Of The Blade’ on the shelf alongside them.
After reading it, of course.
I tried KU and found that it wasn’t a good value for me. I didn’t enjoy the stress, because although I may sometimes go through a lot of books, I may then go a month or two where I only do audiobooks or maybe I get busy and don’t read for several weeks. I stressed out that I would forget I’m paying monthly for something I’m not making the best use of. Then I would also be annoyed that of the KU offerings, the good ones are available as an ebook from the library and the rest of them are crap I don’t want to read anyway. I did find a few obscure authors I liked, but mostly it was a waste. It reminded me of when we had to pay per-minute for cell phone calls. It ruined the experience because THE METER IS RUNNING! LOL. Good for you for saying no to Amazon’s world-domination efforts.
I looked at KU when it came out but I prefer to own the books. The hard part is remembering which format I purchased that author in, to make my collections easy to read. I do make use of my library but to be honest it ends up being for older books or new to me authors. Since I can I usually buy my favorite authors as they come out, I do as I hate waiting.
I use my iPad for my books on iBooks, Overdrive and kindle. Then I stuff my paper ones wherever I can fit them in the house.
Thanks for explaining KU from an author’s perspective.
Thank you for explaining to readers the nickel and dimes of KU, for an author.
To me as a reader, for all it proports to be of benefit to emerging and struggling authors KU fails to uphold the integrity of a written product.
For me the due diligence of capability & integrity of a written product on KU is upheld solely by the contributing authors. Who are then denied adequate salary solely so KU can make a profit.
Then KU who makes no effort to guard the intellectual property of those who write well crafted stories, complains of property thieves who lighten their (KU) profits by all means foul.
You reported fairly & logically why it doesn’t work for you. May the universe heap blessings upon your head for your forbearance.
Got to say it …TYPOS, on KU drive me nuts.
Your explanation of the time constraints on payment exposes much of the writing difficulties of those who contribute to the platform.
I’m one of the people who wrings every penny’s worth out of my Kindle Unlimited subscription. However, there are certain authors that I pre-order as soon as the book is available. I’m very much looking forward to buying Sweep of the Blade, since I already have all of the others.
The Ohio Digital Library also allows you to recommend a certain number of titles each month.
I use KU mainly because my husband and I travel in a trailer and there is no room for real books. I also read an incredible amount. I can read 10-20 books just driving across the country. I agree that much of the quality is nonexistent but there are some good authors and like all authors some books are better then others. Their method of payment is sad. On the other hand how many of the authors on KU would ever reach the reading public. If I were a published author I would not want to start on KU as it is a trap. I will be going through my library soon and will use that more often. Amazon is a monopoly but I have lived long enough to see many unstoppable monopolies collapse. I like being able to find odd out of the way books. You mentioned that KU readers don’t purchase books. That may be true but how many people believe they should get something for nothing. I read other author blogs and the comments on pirating and readers getting mad if it is not free. KU is bad but at least it is not pirating. Good work is expensive and we get what we pay for. That said I buy your books and will continue to do so.
Ilona, I am a KU member and I have bought all your books, both ebook and hardcover. One of these days I will run across the pair of you and get them signed. Until then I will joyously reread them and live vicariously through your characters and your awesome writing talents.
I suppose that I use KU for scouting new authors as well as for tech books available there.
I have a Kindle, too –
(ok, actually I read on my computer or phone K app far more than the Kindle itself)
– but I BUY the books instead of the KU route. They don’t cost that much, and they are WELL WORTH THE COST. I hope that amount of money is enough for my authors to get by on. If not, I am more that willing to buy my favs at a higher price.
The care and feeding of our authors is important !!!!
I rarely buy “dead tree” books anymore – just no more room in the house for more physical books – EXCEPT for my most favorite. If Innkeeper ever comes out in a leather-bound edition, I will MAKE ROOM !
I do kindle, I do not do KU. KU is a glorified lending library, I can download lots of books from my library and they are pretty good about getting ones I request. If I REALLY like a book I am buying it, KU does not cater to my needs and promotes the type of book I hate… churned out, badly written, full of annoying grammatical errors and that make your teeth grind present tense, or worse tense switching. Pick one and stick with it people! ?. Ummm oops, sorry about that, errrr as I was saying, I would much rather have the variety and quality that is not engendered by the KU mindset
As an author, I agree with everything in this post. I will add that KU has become a dangerous game. In recent months, Amazon has started stripping KU page reads from authors after the fact. For example, I know several authors in the very popular Reverse Harem genre, which is by and large a KU readership. Back in late 2018, Amazon went back and retroactively removed thousands and thousands of pages read from authors in the genre, and then emailed the authors stating they had done an audit, and “suspicious borrow activity” was detected, and “fraudulent page reads” were being removed. They offered ZERO explanation for what this suspicious activity entailed, or how they determined a “real” page read from a “fraudulent” page read. When pressed via email, they flat out told authors their decision was final and they would be offering no further information on the subject.
Let me be super clear: these are people I know. They are authors. Some of them fairly new. They are not trying to scam the system. They have NO idea what Amazon means by their statements, and some of them lost thousands of $ in income. Amazon has repeated this several times since. Around the same time, Amazon also suspended the accounts of two very popular military SF authors – also in KU. They shut down their accounts completely. These were authors making a full time living on their books one day, and suddenly their income is gone the next. Again, Amazon cited some nebulously unexplained account activity, and offered no further explanation. ATM, these authors are pursuing the matter through lawyers.
Me and my small potatoes pages read weren’t touched, but plenty of people at my level were, and I decided in the new year I’m leaving KU as an author and a reader. I refuse to support a system that uses authoritarian rules it applies arbitrarily and without explanation, ruining lives and livelihoods along the way.
It sucks, because I’ll be honest: most of the little money I make comes from KU. I’m afraid to go wide. I’m afraid my books will sink and what little visibility I have as an author will vanish. But I’m even more afraid of the worst that could happen: if Amazon takes my entire account away someday, or continues to strip income at its whim, how is that any better? It’s so much worse, because they ARE the biggest game in town. They control 70% of the market.
Not being in KU is safer. They don’t seem to mess with authors who are just selling books. They only seem to do these things to authors in KU. So next month my books will be out of KU and I’ll be relying on sales alone. When I launch book 3 in my series, it will be wide, without the rank and visibility boost the comes from being in KU. It terrifies me. What if it sinks like a stone because I’ve left KU? It might. But if I don’t do this now, the more books I write and publish in KU, the more reliant on it I will become. And like you guys, I can’t write a book a month. That’s just not the way I write. So, it is what it is. Luckily, I’ve already told my readers, and they were very supportive. Several told me they will buy my books however I choose to publish them, and that they totally support and understand my decision.
One bonus: I plan to try and get my books into libraries as soon as they are available wide. I couldn’t do that while they were in KU, because Amazon TOS precludes even libraries, as it views them as competition.
Thank you for the KU explanation.
I love reading off the Kindle app, have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, and have purchased many, many kindles for myself and fam. I love the glorp of messy and cheap romance novels. That being said, I have all your Innkeeper books (and more!) in e-pub format because you two are awesome writers with awesome editors. Your team is just that awesome.
I feel for those people who are unable to get their hands on copies, but am so gleeful to be so lucky!
A comment on Libraries –
I am a Librarian. I work full-time at one library and “as-needed” at 2 more in the area. They all own the Innkeeper series – 1 owned it before I was hired, the other 2 purchased it at my suggestion.
PATRON SUGGESTIONS ARE KING IN LIBRARIES. Libraries with a large budget will purchase EVERY patron suggestion. If the library has a smaller budget you might get a couple of friends who also read it to suggest it as well, or talk to a librarian personally AS WELL AS making an official suggestion through whatever format – an online form, a card, etc. I say “as well” because I do work at one library where purchasing is centralized (done by librarians who do NOT work the public desks) and they tend to give preference to requests done through official channels.
However Tl;dr – libraries can purchase the Innkeeper books. They are available on both of the major library supplier sites. But libraries may not KNOW about the series or may have passed it over because it’s self-published (we tend to avoid anything that looks “self-published” for lots of reasons too long to explain here) and we might need you to tell us that you, the patron, DO want this series. So – as a librarian, please please PLEASE go to your reference desk and say “There’s a series I’d love to see this library carry – how do I go about requesting it?”
Please, please, please! Do not put any of your books on KU! I don’t use it and don’t really want to start. I want to have access by ebook and library. KU is to limiting.
All books on KU are also for sale. You absolutely do not have to be subscribed to KU to have access to them.
Thanks for explaining. I am a KU user and a buyer. I wondered about the authors and if they made any money. I read 3 to 5 books a week so KU is awesome for someone like me, but I don’t want it to be at the expense of the authors. Like someone else said, I use it to weed out bad books. I purchase those books I liked. If I like 2 of their books, I usually end up buying everything I can find that they have written. I don’t like that those books aren’t available to everyone. That isn’t fair, authors need a wide array of venues to sell in to make a living.
They are available to everyone. They are not available on the most convenient platform for everyone. People who browse for books via iBooks or Nook or whatever other seller won’t see them. That’s true. But those things are not the same. If I had an iPad, I could put the Kindle app on it* and buy those KU books.
______
*I have several times recommended this exact process over buying a Kindle Fire. I understand that some of my friends have way more money than me, but it just seems to wasteful to have a good tablet that can read books well and a color-eBook-reader that’s not a very good tablet.
Cool, i was wondering how unlimited worked! Now i know why some of them are so poorly written and edited also. Pet peeve of mine. I use unlimited to test drive the book then buy if i like it.
Huh.. This explains the quality of KU books. I gave the trial a go a couple of years ago and abandoned ship before the trial was up because I was getting too frustrated from the obvious lack of editing in over 80% of the books. If the authors need to drop a book a month and are only getting paid a buck and change per book, it really makes sense that so many of them would forego running their books through an editor.
Amazon should make a separate program. Raise the membership fee, pay their authors more, produce better books and while they’re at it do something with their algorithms or whatever to make sure fake authors can’t pull any shenanigans that shoot their fake books to the top of the sales charts.
This is why I won’t join KU. I love my kindle and read most books on it these days (The exceptions being Comics/Manga and textbooks) but I feel like if I’m going to read more than the free sample I should pay someone for their work. I don’t begrudge anyone who uses KU of course.