# Amazon KU Hits the UK



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Not sure if people from outside the UK will see the same thing I do on going to this page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/

However, I see a great big video advertising 650,000 books available for £7.99 a month with KU.


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## Lady Vine (Nov 11, 2012)

Didn't see it mentioned here, but I apologise if it has been. There's now a KU advertisement on the .co.uk site. 

I'll take advantage of it for audiobooks, I suppose.


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## Lyndawrites (Aug 7, 2011)

Thanks, Zelah.

Amazon have launched in the UK much quicker than I expected. I have to say I'm delighted - now to start the promotion to my readers. And finish the da**ed WIP.


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## The 13th Doctor (May 31, 2012)

Good. Was wondering if it would ever happen.


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

OH NO!

KU totally wiped my US sales and I was relying heavily on the UK income, which had wonderfully made up the shortfall. Now they will take that too sob sob 

(Coughs a word that rhymes with "Gastards")


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## Lyndawrites (Aug 7, 2011)

Evenstar said:


> OH NO!
> 
> KU totally wiped my US sales and I was relying heavily on the UK income, which had wonderfully made up the shortfall. Now they will take that too sob sob
> 
> (Coughs a word that rhymes with "Gastards")


Are your books in Select Stellar? I have four (out of five) of my cozy mysteries enrolled, and the borrows provide a nice little extra.


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## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

This could be good news for the two books I have in Select... aaand bad news for the rest of my books. 

I'm not sure if this will catch on or not. We're stingy in the UK. A monthly subscription is a big commitment.


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## Raquel Lyon (Mar 3, 2012)

sarahdalton said:


> I'm not sure if this will catch on or not. We're stingy in the UK. A monthly subscription is a big commitment.


And as always, we get charged more over here. At recent conversion rates, the UK cost should be more like £5.99.

As for how the rollout will affect me, I'm not sure. I don't sell anything here anyway, full stop , and the series I have in select doesn't do much by way of sales or borrows in the US, either. I guess it's another 'wait and see' thing.


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## alawston (Jun 3, 2012)

I put my short story collection in Select just the other day, so I might see if I can whip up some borrows. No one buys the damn thing, so let's see if I can give it away, right?


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

As a reader: Yay! 
As a writer: Erm, I'll wait & watch the results closely.


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

Lyndawrites said:


> Are your books in Select Stellar? I have four (out of five) of my cozy mysteries enrolled, and the borrows provide a nice little extra.


Heck no, I make far more on google each month than I ever made on Amazon. Other platforms are also all slowly picking up (well, ibooks is anyway).


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## S. Elliot Brandis (Dec 9, 2013)

That was quick!

I wonder if this will do anything for my UK numbers. I've never had much action over there.

Australia and other territories next?


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## ThePete (Oct 10, 2013)

This could be a great thing, especially if the program doesn't become hugely popular. UK's a much smaller market, so only a few extra downloads can really pump up your visibility. On the other hand, if KU subscriptions go gangbusters over there and volume doubles or triples... well, we're no worse off than we were before.

I'm really curious if the global fund covers KU.uk or will Amazon set up a separate pot, denominated in pounds? Be great for us authors paid in USD! Probably won't happen, but I'll keep dreaming...


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Well, that puts me in a good mood. My UK sales are already solid. This should give them a nice boost (and just in time for my new pen name launch).


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

More subscribers, less money in the pot  (again)


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

The global fund covers the UK - no extra pot.


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## portiadacosta (Feb 28, 2011)

Evenstar said:


> OH NO!
> 
> KU totally wiped my US sales and I was relying heavily on the UK income, which had wonderfully made up the shortfall. Now they will take that too sob sob
> 
> (Coughs a word that rhymes with "Gastards")


Ditto that. My US self pub sales went away when KU appeared there. And I'm reluctant to pull titles from other outlets because I'm only just finally beginning to get a bit of traction outside AMZ.


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## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

Actually they are only a few days ahead of schedule as October had been mentioned for the UK when it was launched in the US. £7.99 is currently over-priced in comparison to the US which is in line with overcharging for Prime, but on the other hand in 2015 Amazon have to charge an extra 17% VAT to UK customers so this would allow them to maintain the £7.99 tax inclusive price tag.

I might  did sign up for the trial to spy out the lie of the land, but I will not be taking any current books in Select and probably will not enter that scheme again.


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2014)

As a reader, i'm excited. I will be borrowing more romance and erotica short stories, novellas and novels. As a soon to be published author, i'm hoping having KU in the UK will be helpful to me.


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

I'm not in Select and I haven't seen any noticeable fall in sales since KU rolled out in the US, so I'm hoping this won't affect me either way.


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## bobfrost (Sep 29, 2013)

Kindle Unlimited just launched in the UK. So far, not many borrows from across the pond, but I imagine adoption rate will pick up. Hopefully it doesn't put too big of a dent in my UK sales, since they account for about 30% of my total sales right now... Or, if they DO make an impact, hopefully the borrows make up for it as they have in the US thus-far.


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

I just got my first UK borrow!


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## OW (Jul 9, 2014)

How can you tell where the borrow came from please?


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## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> I just got my first UK borrow!


I plead guilty. Not really my genre so I've already sped read past 50%. That is proper speed reading not skimming, I should point out. You tempted me with the opportunity to support a worthy cause.


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## John Ellsworth (Jun 1, 2014)

OW said:


> How can you tell where the borrow came from please?


From dashboard go to Reports > Month-to-date and then click the dropdown for UK.


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## OW (Jul 9, 2014)

Thanks


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

Mercia McMahon said:


> I plead guilty. Not really my genre so I've already sped read past 50%. That is proper speed reading not skimming, I should point out. You tempted me with the opportunity to support a worthy cause.


Two UK borrows now. Thanks Mercia. Which one was you, Palm or Pride? Had you started with the first one, you'd be finished reading it by now at that speed. It's just a little more than half the length.


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## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> Two UK borrows now. Thanks Mercia. Which one was you, Palm or Pride? Had you started with the first one, you'd be finished reading it by now at that speed. It's just a little more than half the length.


I read Pride as in past tense its finished now. Enjoyable but not my genre at all, so I'm unlikely to add further to your borrows. Sorry. Nice, though, to put a storyline to your comments here on kboards.


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2014)

Watch the payout drop to 1.25.


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2014)

I can care less about what they do. Just need that payout not to drop.


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## Steve Voelker (Feb 27, 2014)

Just checked on my borrows from the UK store. Got one today, too!
Maybe?
It look like I have a handful of them spaced out over the month. Never noticed before.
Did the UK store have KOLL borrows through prime before today? I know both are on the same line in the dashboard.


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## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

No borrows yet for me, but since I'm 'all in' now with Select, I welcome the additional exposure.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

Voelker58 said:


> Did the UK store have KOLL borrows through prime before today? I know both are on the same line in the dashboard.


Yes.


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## bardeh (Nov 3, 2013)

As far as I'm aware, the Select fund is worldwide isn't it? Obviously the UK market is nowhere near the size of the US one, but this is still going to dilute the payout unless Amazon shore it up again.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

I have 15 borrows so far in the UK - but I'm fairly sure some of them were already there through KOLL. I just can't remember how many.


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2014)

I have to admit that I will likely do a few months trial. The only worry being that my writing will lag behind when I have access to so many new books to read. 

Will be interesting to see if my Zombie series gets any borrows from the UK now.


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## Dom (Mar 15, 2014)

DaCosta said:


> More subscribers, less money in the pot


This is pretty much the OPPOSITE of how subscribership works. More subscribers=MORE money, since more people are contributing to KU's monthly revenue, right? Not to mention, KU is more expensive in the UK, so the average income per subscriber is now higher.


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## Trevor H Cooley (Jun 29, 2012)

This may explain why September had a bigger pot announced. We'll see if Amazon adds to it. 

I had one UK borrow today, but it may take a few days for them to trickle in since people have to learn about it and join and then read past 10%.


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

Domino Finn said:


> This is pretty much the OPPOSITE of how subscribership works. More subscribers=MORE money, since more people are contributing to KU's monthly revenue, right? Not to mention, KU is more expensive in the UK, so the average income per subscriber is now higher.


In the future, yeah. But since the initial enrollment is 30 days free, I think DaCosta meant on the short term.


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## Error404 (Sep 6, 2012)

Domino Finn said:


> This is pretty much the OPPOSITE of how subscribership works. More subscribers=MORE money, since more people are contributing to KU's monthly revenue, right? Not to mention, KU is more expensive in the UK, so the average income per subscriber is now higher.


Technically the KU payout isn't directly tied to the number of subscribers, it's just a factor when Amazon decides to raise/not raise the fund, and the fund is the deciding factor in payout.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> In the future, yeah. But since the initial enrollment is 30 days free, I think DaCosta meant on the short term.


Aye


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