I have borrowed the following from Maggie Shayne's newsletter for informational purposes:
Kindle Unlimited: What Does it Mean to YOU?
The New KU program was just announced, and there's so much confusion among authors I can only imagine what it's doing to readers! I thought I'd nutshell if for those of you who are curious.
What is it?
Kindle Unlimited, or KU is basically Netflix for Books. You subscribe for $9.99/month, and for that, you can download and read as many KU books per month as you want and keep them for as long as you want.
What's the Catch?
The only down side is that not all books are included in the program. Just like with Netflix, many titles you want to read might not be available, and new releases will probably not show up for quite some time, if ever. So you'll still have to buy the books you want to read that aren't in the program.
What's the Benefit?
Seems to me, even without all titles being included, it would not be hard at all for a voracious reader to find ten bucks worth of books they want to read each month, and then some. If you do, you're saving money.
How is this Different from Amazon Prime?
In Amazon Prime (a different program that costs $99 per year) you get free two-day shipping on a great many products. (That alone makes Prime a great deal for me.) Plus you get to stream movies, and you get to download and read one book per month. The same books available in Amazon Prime are available in Kindle Unlimited. However, in Prime, you only get one book each month.
Which Shayne Titles Are Included?
To be included in this program, authors have to pull their titles from all other outlets and make them exclusive to Amazon for a period of 90 days at a time. So I am very selective about how much I participate. Right now, ANNIE'S HERO is available in Amazon Prime and Kindle Unlimited, but its time in the programs expires Thursday July 24th. MIRANDA'S VIKING is also available in both programs until August 23rd. As soon as each title's time expires, it will immediately become available at all other outlets, including BN, GooglePlay, iTunes, Kobo, and Smashwords.
THANK YOU, Maggie for taking the time to explain this new service! :)
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