Kindle Select Global Fund History + Kindle Unlimited Payment per Page Read History

Kindle Select Global Fund History for July 2018 to Dec 2019

Thanks to Chris McMullen and The Digital Reader for the above data and the below data

Kindle Select Global Fund History for Before July 2018

Kindle Unlimited was launched in July 2014, partially as a response to the growth of Oyster, the first subscription app for books, which had begun to do quite well on Apple devices and had reached 100,000+ subscribers

1. July 2014: $2.5 million
   1. This was Launch Month for Kindle Unlimited. It started off with a relatively small amount ($2.5 Million)
   2. By Dec 31st, 2019 the Kindle Select Global Fund had grown 10 times to $26.2 million
   3. Growth was much faster in the first 1 year and 4 months – growing 5 times to $12.7 million by November 2015
   4. Growth since then has been slower, with only a doubling in November 2015 to December 2019 (4 years 1 month) from $12.7 Million to $26.2 million
   5. Hard to say whether this is because growth has slowed, or if growth is mostly in countries like India where revenue per subscriber is much less, or Amazon’s costs have gone up, or if Amazon is giving authors a smaller share
2. August 2014: $4.7 million
3. September 2014: $5 million
4. October 2014: $5.5 million
5. November 2014: $6.5 million
6. December 2014: $7.25 million
7. January 2015 – $8.5 million
8. February 2015: $8 million
9. March 2015: $9.3 million
10. April 2015: $9.8 million
11. May 2015: $10.8 million
12. June 2015: $11.3 million
13. July 2015: $11.5 million
14. August 2015: $11.8 million
15. September 2015: $12 million
16. October 2015: $12.4 million
17. November 2015: $12.7 million
18. December 2015: $13.5 million
19. January 2016: $15 million
20. February 2016: $14 million
21. March 2016: $14.9 million
22. April 2016: $14.9 million
23. May 2016: $15.3 million
24. June 2016: $15.4 million
25. July 2016: $15.5 million
26. August 2016: $15.8 million
27. September 2016: $15.9 million
28. October 2016: $16.2 million
29. November 2016: $16.3 million
30. December 2016: $16.8 million
    1. It’s very interesting that growth from December 2016 ($16.8 million) to Dec 2019 ($26.2 Million) is only 55%
    2. Given that over 5.5 years (July 2014 to Dec 2019) growth has been 10 times
    3. The growth in the last 3 years (Dec 2016 to Dec 2019) has been just 55%
    4. Has Amazon hit some sort of wall in terms of growing subscribers
    5. Is it something else? Perhaps Amazon is paying out less to authors. Perhaps Amazon is reinvesting into exclusive book deals. Perhaps Amazon is paying out a large percentage to special deals like the Harry Potter in Kindle Unlimited deal (they are the top 5 books read in Kindle Unlimited)
31. January 2017: : $17.8 million
32. February 2017: : $16.8 million
33. March 2017: $17.7 million
34. April 2017: $17.8 million
35. May 2017 :$17.9 million
36. June 2017: $18 million
37. July 2017: $19 million
38. August 2017: $19.4 million
39. September 2017: $19.5 million
40. October 2017: $19.7 million
41. November 2017: $19.8 million
42. December 2017: $19.9 million
43. January 2018: $20.9 million
44. February 2018: $20 million
45. March 2018: $21 million
46. April 2018: $21.2 million
47. May 2018: $22.5 million
48. June 2018: $22.6 million

Perhaps the most shocking is that growth in KDP Select Global Fund from Dec 2018 ($23.7 Million) to Dec 2019 ($26.2 Million) is a miniscule 10.45%

Why is the KDP Select Global Fund growth stalling?

Consider

1. Growth in KDP Select Global Fund from July 2014 launch ($2.5 Million) to Dec 2019 ($26.2 Million) has been 10 times
2. Growth in KDP Select Global Fund in the last 3 years, from December 2016 ($16.8 Million) to Dec 2019 ($26.2 Million), is only 55%
3. Growth in KDP Select Global Fund in the last year, from Dec 2018 ($23.7 Million) to Dec 2019 ($26.2 Million), is a measly 10.45%

That suggests that either

1. KDP Unlimited growth is stalling
2. OR Amazon is drastically cutting the share paid out to authors
3. OR there is some other drama going on behind the scenes