Amazon Surpasses 100 Million Kindle-Exclusive eBook Downloads
Round anniversaries are always the most delightful. Amazon has a reason to celebrate such an occasion now. The US online retailer announces via a press release that they have surpassed the 100 million download mark with Kindle exclusive eBooks.
Over 180,000 of these eBooks are exclusively distributed through Amazon’s Kindle platform. The download numbers include purchases, as well as free and loaned titles. Amazon is also keen to share the success of the KDP Select lending program for authors.
Books that joined the KDP Select program in July saw 77% more royalties in August than in the previous three months. This figure only includes the sales of the books, not the earnings from the lending program. Despite initial protests from various quarters, the lending program seems to be developing into a win-win situation for authors and Amazon.
It will be interesting to see whether other eBook sales platforms will jump on the bandwagon as well. However, it should be considered that, due to its market position in the USA, Amazon will likely not face lawsuits from publishers and authors as quickly as competitors with smaller market shares might. At the same time, Amazon is investing a substantial amount of money in the KDP Select program: $600,000 per month is currently available for payouts to authors. Not every eBook provider can match this.
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and KDP Select are already available to authors in Europe, but the suitable package for end customers is still missing. This means that eBooks cannot (yet) be borrowed in these parts. Amazon’s press event for the new Kindle models will take place tomorrow evening – perhaps the retailer has a few surprises in store for us in Europe too. You’ll find out here first at around 7 PM!
