Amazon Lending Program for Kindle Sees 300,000 eBooks Lent Per Month

dgstorm

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Jan 5, 2011
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This isn't directly related to the Kindle Fire, but it is certainly relevant for Kindle Fire (and other Kindle device) users. Apparently, Amazon has released new data on their Kindle Lending Library program. According to the report, the e-commerce site says now has over 75,000 books, and customers borrowed almost 300,000 books in December alone. If you are unfamiliar with the program, TechCrunch explained, "The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is a collection of books that Amazon Prime members who own a kindle can borrow once a month, with no due dates."

Additionally, these lending program numbers were bolstered by a new program that Amazon recently launched called KDP Select. TechCrunch explained the KDP Select program thusly, "[it is] a fund that lets indie authors and publishers make money off of lending. Basically, if a KDP author or publisher chooses to make any of their books exclusive to the Kindle Store for at least 90 days, those books are eligible to be included in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and can earn a share of the KDP Select fund."

There was a $500,000 fund set up for December, and the KDP authors have earned $1.70 per borrow. Because of the strong response from customers, Amazon just announced that they will be adding a $200,000 bonus to the Month of January, bringing the total fund to $700,000. Here's a quote from the TechCrunch article with some final details,

The top ten KDP Select authors earned over $70,000 in the month of December from their participation in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, which is a 30% increase on top of the royalties they earned from their paid sales on the same titles in the same period. In total (paid sales plus their share of the loan fund), these authors saw their royalties grow an astonishing 449% month-over-month from November to December. The list of top 10 KDP Select authors includes Carolyn McCray, Rachel Yu, the Grabarchuk family and Amber Scott.

It looks like the KDP Select Fund and the Kindle Lending Library Program are turning out to be great ideas for both consumers and budding authors. Sound off if you have benefited from these programs, either as a reader or writer.

Source: Kindle-FireForum via TechCrunch
 
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