Mystery writer Carolyn McCray earned $8,250 in December from having her eBooks checked out from the Kindle Lending Library.
She stated: “I couldn’t be happier with the tools, support and exposure it has given me. To say the trade-off of exclusivity on Amazon for the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library has been a profitable one would be a gross understatement. Participating in KDP Select has quadrupled my royalties.”
McCray is one of a handful of authors who has earned money from library checkouts. The 16-year old children’s book author Rachel Yu earned $6,200 from the KDP Select fund in the month of December. And romance writer Amber Scott earned $7,650 from fund.
Amazon reported today that the top ten KDP Select authors earned more than $70,000 in the month of December for their participation in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, which lets readers check out books for free. According to Amazon, this is a 30% increase on top of the royalties that these authors have already earned from paid sales on these titles in the same period. The royalties for these authors grew 449% month-over-month from November to December.
Amazon is attributing the increase in sales to participation in its lending library. The company has been giving away $500,000 a month to authors whose books have been checked out, and is now increasing the fund to $700,000 for this month, due to the success.
