Kindle Unlimited For Self-Publishers, Month #1
Last month (October) I started an experiment where I put 19 of my older short stories into Kindle Unlimited. (My reasoning is explained in this post.) My goal was to have at least 34 borrows, since that would match the sales I lost by removing the short stories from non-Amazon sales platforms, assuming the rate that Amazon pays for borrows stays above $1.
So, for the month of October, the 19 short stories had 49 borrows between them, exceeding my goal of 34 – 44 in the US, and 5 in the UK. GHOST PRICE was the most borrowed short story. I should also point out that most of the stories were not listed in Kindle Unlimited until October 12th, which means November will be the first full month of my Kindle Unlimited experiment. So the experiment looks promising so far.
That said, I think short stories are more valuable to the self-publisher as a promotional tool, and a book in Kindle Unlimited is also in Kindle Select, and a book in Kindle Select can be given away for 5 days out of the 90 day enrollment period. In October, I set THE SOULBLADE’S TALE, THE MAGE’S TALE, THE TOURNAMENT KNIGHT, and GHOST CLAWS for free, and between the four short stories I gave away 647 copies. I usually saw a small uptick in the related novel series for a few days after the giveaway (like, 1-5 copies more than usual). A small bonus, but certainly a welcome one.
For now, I think I will keep to my plan for short stories – giving them away for free with my new-release newsletter via Smashwords coupon code, and then phasing them into Kindle Unlimited after a month or two. My novels and technical books will continue to remain available on all ebook platforms.
Tune in next month to see my results for November!
-JM
Glad it appears to be working out for you so far. KU wouldn’t make a dime off my subscription…a slow week for me is 2 books.
Incidentally, I haven’t used any of the coupons…gone out and bought the short stories. I think I am a couple of books/short stories behind.
So many books, so little time.
Thanks for reading all the books! 🙂
KU is a good proposition for writers – I’ve given thought to going all-in with it, but in October 22% of my book sales were on non-Amazon platforms, and I don’t want to give that up. (If it ever falls below 10%, then I’ll consider it.)
I here you about the number of books. These days the only time I can find to read is usually on the treadmill.