Royalties in Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners’ Lending Library – A guide to publishing on Amazon
Royalties in Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners’ Lending Library
You’re eligible for royalty payment from Kindle Unlimited (KU, or Abonnement Kindle in France) and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL) for pages an individual customer reads in your book for the first time. A guide to publishing on Amazon A customer can read your book as many times as they like, but we will only pay you for the number of pages read the first time the customer reads them. It may take months for customers to read pages in your book, but no matter how long it takes, we’ll still pay you once it happens. This is true even if your KDP Select enrollment period has expired, and you choose not to re-enroll.
Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count (KENPC v3.0)
To determine a book’s page count in a way that works across genres, devices, and display settings, we developed the Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count (KENPC). KENPC is calculated using standard formatting settings (font, line height, line spacing, etc.). We use KENPC to measure the number of pages customers read in your book, starting with the Start Reading Location (SRL) to the end of your book. Amazon typically sets SRL at chapter 1 so readers can start reading the core content of your book as soon as they open it. Non-text elements within books including images, charts and graphs will count toward a book’s KENPC.
KENPC v3.0
We released KENPC v3.0 to improve the way we measure how many pages of each book Kindle Unlimited and KOLL customers read. We’re constantly working to improve our programs and increase fairness of how we allocate the KDP Select Global Fund. These changes continue to improve the program and reward authors whose books are being borrowed and read the most by customers.The KENPC v3.0 update applies uniformly to all KDP Select books and all versions of those books. Regardless of which version a customer may be reading, all future royalties will be paid using KENPC v3.0. If a customer previously borrowed your book and is still reading it, any new pages read will be based on KENPC v3.0.
Authors are able to earn a maximum of 3,000 Kindle Edition Normalized Pages (KENPs) read per title per customer. This means that each time your book is borrowed and read, you will receive credit for up to 3,000 pages. We believe this results in an equitable distribution of the KDP Select Global Fund.
Your book’s KENPC
You can see your book’s KENPC v3.0 listed on the “Promote and Advertise” page in your Bookshelf, and you can also see total pages read on your Sales Dashboard report. Because it’s based on default settings, KENPC v3.0 may vary from page counts listed on your Amazon detail page, which are derived from other sources.KDP Select Global Fund
Our total payout from the KDP Select Global Fund will be unaffected by the transition to KENPC v3.0, and the amount you earn from the global fund will continue to be determined based on your share of total pages read by Kindle Unlimited (KU) and Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL) customers. The new KENPC version will be applied uniformly to all KDP Select books and used to measure all pages read.
Royalties
You’ll get one combined royalty payment for both KU and KOLL, paid according to the same payment schedule and payment method you selected for your other KDP sales.We review the size of the KDP Select Global Fund each month in order to make it compelling for authors to enroll their books in KDP Select. We announce the fund monthly in our community forum on kdp.amazon.com.The share of fund allocated to each country varies based on a number of factors, such as exchange rates, customer reading behavior, and local subscription pricing. Author earnings are then determined by their share of total pages read, up to a total of 3,000 pages per customer per title.
For example, here’s how we’d calculate royalty payout if $10 million in funds were available in a given month with 100 million total pages read (Note: Actual payouts vary and may be less; check your Prior Month’s Royalty Report to see your earnings):
- Author with a 100 page bookthat was borrowed and read completely 100 times would earn $1,000 ($10 million multiplied by 10,000 pages for this author divided by 100,000,000 total pages).
- Author of a 200 page bookthat was borrowed and read completely 100 times would earn $2,000 ($10 million multiplied by 20,000 pages for this author divided by 100,000,000 total pages).
- Author of a 200 page bookthat was borrowed 100 times but only read halfway through on average would earn $1,000 ($10 million multiplied by 10,000 pages for this author divided by 100,000,000 total pages).
We always support our authors’ efforts to promote their books, but at the same time we work to prevent any manipulation of the Kindle platform.
We do not permit authors to offer, or participate in marketing that incentivizes Kindle Unlimited or Kindle Owners’ Lending Library customers to read their books in exchange for compensation of any kind. This includes payment (whether in the form of money or gift certificates), bonus content, entry to a contest or sweepstakes, discounts on future purchases, extra product, or other gifts.
Because we’re always looking to improve our authors’ experience, we have systems in place to monitor for potential manipulation.
Reporting
You can see your Kindle Edition Normalized Pages (KENP) Read in your Sales Dashboard report by marketplace and title. To see historical pages read, click “Generate Report” from your Sales Dashboard and go to the Orders Report tab.
If you’re enrolled in KDP Select, you will also see the following data on your reports:
Month-To-Date Unit Sales Report: The number of pages Kindle Unlimited or KOLL customers read of your books, under the “Kindle Edition Normalized Pages (KENP) Read” column.
Prior Months’ Royalties Report: For every title, there are five possible transaction types:
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35%:Amount a title earned under the 35% royalty option
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70%:Amount a title earned under the 70% royalty option
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KDP Select Units:Amount every KDP Select-enrolled title earned monthly through Kindle Unlimited (KU) and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL). If a customer reads pages in your book for the first time through KU or KOLL, you will see a separate line item indicating the accumulated number of pages read under the column “Kindle Edition Normalized Pages (KENP) Read,” and the royalty earned through KU and KOLL under the “Royalty” column.
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Free – Promotion:Free downloads due to Free promotion campaign(s) through KDP Select.
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Free – Price Match:Free downloads due to competitor free price match.
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