This week, at last, at long - long last, Amazon announced a change in the pay structure to authors with work enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. The change won't just reward writers, it will also reward readers who will now have access to longer books and bundles that writers previously kept out of the program. We'll have to see how it works out because the devil is always in the details, but it looks like Amazon's about face will benefit everyone who plays fair.
Beginning July 1st, KU authors will be paid per page read rather than per borrow. Pay per borrow is the current system. It resulted in scammers getting rich and working authors being penalized. Because there was no minimum length for books, the scammers would throw together and upload very short and poorly written pamphlets full of a hodgepodge of useless information culled from the internet. The pamphlets often feature provocative titles, prompting readers to pick them up and open them. Because they are so short, when opened to or past the title page, the reader has read 10% and the writer --- err, scammer - gets paid.
The KU payment "pot" is a set fund, and money was paid per borrow. That meant that the money going to line the scammers pockets wasn't going to authors who took a lot of time and a lot of effort to produce a product that would genuinely entertain or inform readers. It cheated hard working writers, but it also cheated readers who plunked down their hard-earned cash for Kindle Unlimited membership.
How are KU users cheated by the current system -- and how will they benefit from the new one? They're cheated because writers keep their longer books and bundles out of KU currently and they'll benefit because beginning July 1st, many more of those longer works will be available. Still, the change isn't universally popular with writers because many of them adapted their work, or structured it, to benefit from the current system. And now, the authors who built up a huge volume of short stories and very short work will have to change their strategy again.
Personally, I'm ECSTATIC about the change. I try to write books that will hook readers and keep them reading from beginning to end. I hope that the new system will prove that I'm meeting that goal. And, I'll be putting into KU the bundles that have been kept out up till now - The Forever Series Bundle, The Dangerous Relations Bundle and The Sultan's Toy Bundle. Mr. Duck has even been hard at work on our newest one - The Carnal Collateral Bundle. It's up and available for purchase now at Amazon. On July 1st, the devilishly delightful series will join the other bundles in being available to KU readers. We hadn't even created the bundle before because we'd never have put it into KU under the current pay structure.
Thank you, Amazon. I've given you a hard time about the unfairness of the pay per borrow system. So I want to take a minute to express my appreciation for your considering the problems and making the change. I do not share the fear and paranoia running rampant in parts of the writing community. I'm anxious for the new system. It'll let me know if I'm doing my job right as a writer and, if I am, it will reward me accordingly.
To me, the new system sounds like a HEA - Amazon style.