Kindle Unlimited (Affiliate Link), also called KU, is the “Netflix of ebooks.” It costs readers $9.99 per month to get unlimited access to over one million ebooks. So, is it a good idea for your book to be in Kindle Unlimited? 

To help answer this question, I interviewed USA Today bestselling author Lacy Williams. Writing is her day job. She’s up before the sun, putting words on the page before her kids wake up. She has published 50 books, first with a Big-Five publisher and then as an indie author. 

Thomas Umstattd, Jr.: Lacy, how does Kindle Unlimited work?

Lacy Williams: Before we jump into how it works, let’s clarify some terminology because there are several things that can trip authors up. 

What is Kindle Unlimited?

From the reader’s side, it is called Kindle Unlimited (KU). When the reader signs up at Amazon, they’re familiar with Kindle Unlimited Lending Library, which houses Kindle Unlimited titles they can download. 

It really is like Netflix. Books will cycle in and out of KU in the same way movies cycle in and out of Netflix. Kindle Unlimited readers may find a book available for download today that won’t be available later.

What is KDP Select?

From the publishing side, however, authors will be familiar with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). KDP is the platform authors use to place their books where readers can find them in Kindle Unlimited. Authors must opt-in to a program called KDP Select to have their books placed in the KU Lending Library. When you opt in to KDP Select, it means you are giving Amazon exclusive rights to have your book on their website only for 90 days from the day that you enroll. 

During that time, your book cannot be on any other retailer. You cannot sell it from your website. You can’t offer it as a free download for readers from your website or anything like that. With KDP Select, you must be exclusive to Amazon for the first 90 days. After the 90-day period, if it’s not working for you, you can take your book out of the program. 

How does the Kindle Unlimited Lending Library work?

Another term we should clarify is “KU Borrow.” When a reader finds your book on Amazon and sees it’s available for Kindle Unlimited, they can borrow it to their bookshelf within KU. That’s a KU Borrow.

Readers can borrow up to ten books at once. It’s like your library’s digital platform or like checking out a book from your local library. You’re allowed to borrow a certain number of books. When you return them, it opens a spot on your lending record, and you can get a new book. KU works just like that.

If you read one and return it, or if you start one and don’t like it and want a different book, you can return it using the features on your Kindle or on the online platform at Amazon.  

How are authors paid in Kindle Unlimited?

Finally, we’ll use the term Kindle Edition Normalized Page (KENP). When an author uploads a book to Amazon KDP, Kindle looks at how the words are spaced within the book. No matter how many words are in the book, Amazon calculates, based on word spacing, how many pages are in your book. That’s called the KENP.

We don’t know exactly how they calculate to get the number of pages, but Amazon determines the number of pages your ...