Amazon will pay some authors based on the number of pages read

Amazon will pay some writers based on the number of pages readers of their books have read from July 1. These are authors who make their books available in-house through Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

Amazon will change its terms for Direct Publishing as of July 1, The Atlantic noted. Self-publishing books through Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library will receive royalties from that date on, based on each page a user reads for the first time. That number is compared to the total number of pages read by all authors. The royalties will be paid from a KDP Select fund that will be set up for this purpose.

“We’re making this change in response to great feedback from authors asking us to better align payment with the volume of books and the number of pages customers read,” Amazon cites as the reason for the change. The book webshop mentions as an example an author of a book with 200 pages that has been borrowed 100 times, but on average only half read. He would earn 1000 euros with a fund of 10 million euros and a total number of read pages of 100 million.

Authors can gain insight into the number of pages read per book via their Sales Dashboard. Amazon uses the Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count standard to determine the number of pages read. The count is based on default settings for font, line height, and line spacing, and starts with the first chapter.