This week, I revealed Recall Order, book 2 of the Weight of the World series and the sequel to Reality Check. I’m really excited for it to release at the end of June, and I’ll talk more about that book later this month.
The other big announcement I made was that Reality Check will be enrolled in Kindle Unlimited as of the start of June, with Recall Order joining it upon release.
I’ve been thinking about this for a while, so I thought I’d explain what Kindle Unlimited is and why I’ve chosen now to enrol my books in the program.
What is Kindle Unlimited?
Basically, Kindle Unlimited, or KU, is Netflix for books. It’s a subscription service run by Amazon that lets subscribers access a huge range of ebooks for no charge beyond that subscription. Of course, these people can still buy the ebook if they like.
For authors, it’s another royalty stream. It pays per page read rather than for a whole book, so even if a reader only reads half of the book, they’ll paid. The rates are lower than selling a full ebook (depending on its price) and they can fluctuate month-to-month, but for the people who don’t want to buy – or for indie authors looking to find their audience, it can be a great way to get readers to take a chance on a new title.
While it sounds like a great idea, there are some things to keep in mind:
- Enrolling in KU means you can’t sell or offer your ebook anywhere other than Amazon. This can help by allowing you to focus on one platform, but you may miss some readers who shop elsewhere.
- KU doesn’t cover paperback or hardback books. This means you can sell physical copies wherever you want.
- KU enrolment lasts for a set period of time and can’t be ended early. Know those dates and don’t miss them if you want to change your approach and go wide.
Why have I enrolled my books into KU?
I thought long and hard about how I wanted my books to be available before releasing Reality Check, and I opted to go wide to give people as much choice as possible. That said, I’m relatively unknown, so having books out there doesn’t mean they’ll get picked up.
While I’m restricting myself to one market, temporarily at least, it allows me to focus on those readers and hopefully find more fans of my writing and stories. I’m still working on improving my newsletter list and social media platforms, but I felt like I was stretching myself too thin.
With so many people subscribed to Kindle Unlimited, I could be missing out on a lot of potential readers. It might not work, but it could also be a catalyst to future success and growth, so I think it’s a good time to try – especially with Recall Order on the way!
I also won’t know until I try. If it doesn’t work, I can always return to other platforms when the three-month windows end.
How long will the books stay in Kindle Unlimited?
When enrolling a book into Kindle Unlimited, it’s done for a three-month period. That means there’s three months to borrow the book. Even when a book has been removed from KU, if it remains in someone’s borrowed collection, they can still read it until it’s swapped for another title.
However, I’ve seen the ire of readers who find a book or two of a series in KU but not the rest. On one hand, I can see it from a writer’s side that it gives readers the chance to try something new and entice them to a new series. That said, I know how frustrating it is to be a subscriber to something and having access to only part of a series or story.
For that reason, now that Reality Check is a part of KU, I promise that it will remain in there until at least three months after book three is released. This means everyone will have the chance to read those stories in Kindle Unlimited. Three months after book 3, I may decide to renew, but at that stage, the decision will be made for all three books together.
In short, more people can access the Weight of the World series, and until the story is finished, it will be in KU.
What are you waiting for? Go read Reality Check now – and pre-order Recall Order while you’re at it!