Author Topic: Increasing the Borrows in KU  (Read 1942 times)

idontknowyet

Increasing the Borrows in KU
« on: August 08, 2021, 08:01:58 AM »
Has anyone else noticed they can borrow more books at one time??

I currently have 17 books on my kindle and i think i can get more. I'll try to max it out today and see what it caps at now.

How do you think this change will affect reads and sales? And could this be the reason some people are seeing a rank drop? Lots more borrows but not a ton more reads.
 
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LilyBLily

Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2021, 02:11:20 PM »
You're right. I have 15 books out right now! Didn't even realize it.

Also, when I went to cancel KU, Amazon offered another three months at $1.99.
 
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JRTomlin

Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #2 on: August 08, 2021, 02:31:18 PM »
I routinely have a number of novels borrowed although it's never been that many.
 
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Eric Thomson

Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2021, 09:18:20 PM »
Which might explain why I'm getting pages read 4.5 years after I pulled my catalog out of KU.
 
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VanessaC

Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2021, 06:47:57 PM »
Oh, interesting - I'm not in KU as a reader at the moment, so hadn't been aware of that change. I haven't noticed a significant change in page reads. I do wonder if this will encourage the "whale readers" to read more. Will be interesting to see what happens.
     



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TimothyEllis

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Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2021, 08:16:33 PM »
I do wonder if this will encourage the "whale readers" to read more.

I doubt it. Just increases the time between going looking for more.

Read 10 books and go look for the next lot becomes read 20(?) books and go look for the next lot.

The actual reading will be the same.

It might affect how often they sync up though, which might delay reads hitting author accounts, but with a corresponding jump when they do.
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LilyBLily

Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #6 on: August 10, 2021, 03:31:21 AM »
Having more spaces might encourage me to read through a new-to-me author's entire KU oeuvre instead of looking through whatever else I still have borrowed that obviously I haven't been desperate to read. It could be a win for some authors.
 
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Lynn

Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #7 on: August 10, 2021, 04:30:55 AM »
I expect page reads will remain the same as more books are borrowed and left wallowing in the queue. :)

More KU books to fill the ranks. It's a way for Amazon to get as many KU books in the upper ranks as possible. If they increase the number of borrows allowed to unlimited (if it isn't already), maybe they could shut out non-KU books completely.

Or as Timothy says, fewer updates/syncs, and longer time periods between borrow and page reads.

It's a guessing game. :)
« Last Edit: August 10, 2021, 04:36:38 AM by Lynn »
Don't rush me.
 
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LilyBLily

Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #8 on: August 10, 2021, 05:56:02 AM »
I expect page reads will remain the same as more books are borrowed and left wallowing in the queue. :)

More KU books to fill the ranks. It's a way for Amazon to get as many KU books in the upper ranks as possible. If they increase the number of borrows allowed to unlimited (if it isn't already), maybe they could shut out non-KU books completely.

Or as Timothy says, fewer updates/syncs, and longer time periods between borrow and page reads.

It's a guessing game. :)

You're probably right. I almost never think about rankings, but, sure, Amazon in theory wants to push KU books before all others. Not entirely true, but close enough. (They certainly would not want to make major bestsellers hard to find on their site, for instance.)
 
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idontknowyet

Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2021, 07:22:24 AM »
I expect page reads will remain the same as more books are borrowed and left wallowing in the queue. :)

More KU books to fill the ranks. It's a way for Amazon to get as many KU books in the upper ranks as possible. If they increase the number of borrows allowed to unlimited (if it isn't already), maybe they could shut out non-KU books completely.


This was my thought! I find with all those books i forget new to me authors and get new ones after i finish 7 or 8 of them.
 

R. C.

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Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #10 on: August 10, 2021, 10:48:21 PM »
Does anyone else get a weird vibe about recent changes by the 'Zon?  From unannounced changes to the publishing ecosystem, to expanding the user's catalog of never to be read, to the disaster that is Vella, something is amiss.

This is from: about ebooks

Amazon’s share of the ebook market is 67%
This is a very elastic figure. Amazon’s public statements are often obtuse or non-existent, and it’s left to independent analysts to apply their skills. The figure varies from 83 per cent to considerably less. Our own polling of publishers suggests that, leaving aside Amazon’s own publishing efforts and their self-publishing platform, their share of the ebook market sits at 67 percent.


Maybe, just maybe, they see their market share dropping and are desperate to keep the dominance they built on our labor.

R.C.
 
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TimothyEllis

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Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #11 on: August 10, 2021, 11:02:36 PM »
Amazon’s share of the ebook market is 67%
This is a very elastic figure. Amazon’s public statements are often obtuse or non-existent, and it’s left to independent analysts to apply their skills. The figure varies from 83 per cent to considerably less. Our own polling of publishers suggests that, leaving aside Amazon’s own publishing efforts and their self-publishing platform, their share of the ebook market sits at 67 percent.

If it was true that Amazon is losing market share, wouldn't we have seen comments by those wide to the effect that their Amazon income was dropping, and the others rising?

If Amazon has dropped from 83% to 67%, I'd expect to have seen something from those Wide crowing about their increase in income outside Amazon.

So far, no.

Unless no-one has really noticed yet.
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TimothyEllis

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Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2021, 12:16:05 AM »
Amazon has effectively made their site too expensive to advertise on

Period.

But AMS is not essential, for either sales or reads.
Genres: Space Opera/Fantasy/Cyberpunk, with elements of LitRPG and GameLit, with a touch of the Supernatural. Also Spiritual and Games.



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Eric Thomson

Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #13 on: August 11, 2021, 01:00:55 AM »
Amazon’s share of the ebook market is 67%
This is a very elastic figure. Amazon’s public statements are often obtuse or non-existent, and it’s left to independent analysts to apply their skills. The figure varies from 83 per cent to considerably less. Our own polling of publishers suggests that, leaving aside Amazon’s own publishing efforts and their self-publishing platform, their share of the ebook market sits at 67 percent.

If it was true that Amazon is losing market share, wouldn't we have seen comments by those wide to the effect that their Amazon income was dropping, and the others rising?

If Amazon has dropped from 83% to 67%, I'd expect to have seen something from those Wide crowing about their increase in income outside Amazon.

So far, no.

Unless no-one has really noticed yet.

Last fiscal year, which ended on 30 June 2021, my corporation's revenues were 51.8% from Amazon, 48.2% non-Amazon. The previous fiscal year, which ended on 30 June 2020, the corporate revenues were 64% from Amazon and 36% non-Amazon. Make of that what you will.
 
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littleauthor

Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #14 on: August 11, 2021, 02:00:29 AM »
Which might explain why I'm getting pages read 4.5 years after I pulled my catalog out of KU.
Same here. It's a bit of a shock since I've unpublished some of those books for a rebrand.
Last fiscal year approx 3/4 of my income came from other retailars and 1/4 from Amazon. Total reversal of my earlier experiences without any changes to marketing. I'm writing for KU at the moment and second-guessing the decision. 3 new releases in KU are not doing much whereas through Smash, those books could be earning. But I'll stick with it for now. See if it gooses the dead zone that is now Amazon (for me).
« Last Edit: August 11, 2021, 02:11:25 AM by littleauthor »
"Not working to her full potential."
 
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R. C.

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Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #15 on: August 11, 2021, 02:23:07 AM »
... releases in KU are not doing much whereas through Smash, those books could be earning. But I'll stick with it for now. See if it gooses the dead zone that is now Amazon (for me).

Last year, I gave "wide" nine months which proved: I do not have a following.  I have been fully KDP Select for all of 2021.  I have proven to myself: I can correctly market with FB and Google and the others. But here's the catch: While 'Zon's AMS is HUGE, the Goog's ADs is HUGER with FB not far behind.

I will ride the commitment until expiry and not re-up with KDP Select.  It might be time for a wide re-branding...

R.C.
 
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idontknowyet

Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #16 on: August 11, 2021, 04:53:00 AM »
I've been seeing more and more big name authors step out of KU.

To me that says big things. I still think there are several genres that are solely in KU, but i will bet the number of those is shrinking too.
 
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RPatton

Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #17 on: August 11, 2021, 06:24:05 AM »
Does anyone else get a weird vibe about recent changes by the 'Zon?  From unannounced changes to the publishing ecosystem, to expanding the user's catalog of never to be read, to the disaster that is Vella, something is amiss.

This is from: about ebooks

Amazon’s share of the ebook market is 67%
This is a very elastic figure. Amazon’s public statements are often obtuse or non-existent, and it’s left to independent analysts to apply their skills. The figure varies from 83 per cent to considerably less. Our own polling of publishers suggests that, leaving aside Amazon’s own publishing efforts and their self-publishing platform, their share of the ebook market sits at 67 percent.


Maybe, just maybe, they see their market share dropping and are desperate to keep the dominance they built on our labor.

R.C.

Some of us have been talking about this for a while now. Well, since Jassy took over sooner than expected.

Another interesting factoid is that when Blackburn came back (since his exit was abrupt, it's assumed he returned when he did because Jassy took over) he's heading up all of entertainment. This includes everything media focused, Prime Video, Audible, ACX, podcasts, Amazon Studios, etc. Except KDP. While there's an argument that KDP shouldn't be under entertainment, it's weak. The argument for Select and Vella not to be included is even weaker.

There's a lot more information in what isn't happening than what is.
 
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idontknowyet

Re: Increasing the Borrows in KU
« Reply #18 on: August 11, 2021, 02:09:05 PM »
Vella very much looks like it isn't going to do well. They might be waiting for a while to see if its financially viable. But i'm seeing more and more authors question this.

I read a ton. Now i'm looking at ads every where. And i've yet to see a single promo for vella. And i've gotten a half dozen or more messages from amazon since it came out.
 
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