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Amazon Makes Kindle Unlimited a Reality

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It seems as though the lawsuit didn't affect them, but Amazon's newly added in "Kindle Unlimited" will hopefully do some wonders for them in the upcoming weeks. As of yesterday morning, it was officially announced that Kindle Unlimited has launched for a great price of $9.99 a month. Kindle Unlimited has been a long term e-book subscription project of Amazon's, and they look to profit off of what they lost not too long ago. The subscription comes preloaded with over 600,000 books to choose from, as well as audio books for those who would rather listen than read. However, we must also keep in mind that the number of books available is rather small compared to what you can get on Amazon's actual website. This is due to disagreements between Amazon and the publishers for the book themselves.

So, with that many books in stock, how many of them are popular? Glad that you asked. Many titles in the KU store are widely well known by many people, such as "The Hunger Games", "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", and even the new Michael Lewis book "Flash of Boys: A Wall Street Revolt." If that doesn't intrigue you, Amazon is also giving away a free thirty day trial to anyone who wants to give their new "e" system a go. The overall goal of Amazon for this project is simply to connect with it's major fan-base, and giving out a free trial is just one of the many ways they can do so. "With Kindle Unlimited, you won't have to think twice before you try a new author or genre -- you can just start reading and listening,". That's what Russ Grandinetti, the president who oversees Kindles business said earlier today in a statement. He also briefly noted that the stocks were up as of Friday morning for Kindle, but quickly dropped due to the recent major investments they've had to make.

Even though the project wasn't released until today, details were accidentally leaked on Amazon's earlier this week. Most of the major publishers that were working with Amazon at the time didn't really say too much, but that's also because Amazon has had continuous contact with some of the major publishers mentioned above. However, it seems as though one publisher isn't going to make it to the finished product. Hachette Books, a fairly large book publisher, couldn't make a deal with Amazon in time for the release. So, Amazon has cut the pre-order option for their books, removed the discounts, and has also increased the shipping time if ordered.

Since this is an e-book hotspot, we also have to keep in mind the large amount of authors that members who choose to pay will see. Many questions come to mind when authors are included in something like this, but one of the big ones questions would have to be "Do I get payed for something like this?" Sort of. The authors that choose to be apart of this will have to use Amazon's KDP Select Program to have their books uploaded to KU. However, the authors must agree to not make their books available elsewhere. If they break the agreement, poof their book is gone. Readers must then read at least 10% of the book for the authors to make a profit. This varies month to month, as well. Not the quickest way to earn money, but it is a nice feeling to know that there is an option for authors who want to make a name for themselves.

Sources:
TechCrunch
CNN

http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/18/what-kindle-unlimited-means-for-authors/
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Echo
Freelance writer who enjoys writing just about anything and everything. I enjoy writing more informative articles, mainly those about gaming or anything entertainment related.

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