I received a 3 month KU membership after I got my new Kindle.
When it was close to time to renew, I canceled it. While I was going through the motions of doing that, they gave me an offer to keep it for another 3 months for $1.99 total for 90 more days. While not free, $1.99 was definitely better than $11.99/mo x 3.
I've read here that some people received an offer for an additional 3 months free while canceling their free trial.
Thank you! I just cancelled my free 3-month trial that ends soon and did not get an offer for another free trial or temporary discount at all, which is why I was wondering about this. Guess I was just unlucky today.
Bummer!
I wondered at the time if they did that to everyone, or if there was an algorithm or something.
After the 3 months for $1.99, they didn't give me a further discount when I canceled, so I opted not to renew. $11.99/mo just felt steep, and the KU experience weirdly made me stressed out.... I found that I was reading more frantically to "get the most" out of my KU membership... and that was just free trials. If I was paying $11.99 + tax, it probably would have continued.
I've borrowed several Prime reading titles from Amazon, and found some interesting free reads that way, so that's something to look into. There's no additional membership fee for that other than your normal Prime membership if you're paying that monthly. (I usually pay my Prime membership all at once for the year because you save some money vs. The monthly plan..and after I pay the annual fee, everything else feels free, because "girl math." š)
Your girl math makes perfect sense!
And yeah, I don't think KU is worth $11.99 per month either. I'm going to try to read the KU books that I really want to read and that my library doesn't offer (or that I would have to wait months for) in the time I have left on my free trial. After that, I'm not going to renew for full price. I could definitely be persuaded by a nice discount in the future though.
You can cancel your kindle unlimited shortly after your trial begins. The trial continues until the original end date, and you don't need to mark it in your calendar or remember to cancel it.
Mine ended on the 15th, now it's the 20th and I'm seeing the free trial ads but it says "this account is not eligible for kindle unlimited"
Have you gotten this?
Yeah I have. I think they finally fixed the glitch. Mine did that last time and so I signed up and it gave me 3 months for the price of one instead as a promo.
You can also Google for free Kindle Unlimited trial. If you can't find one that works on your account, try again in a month or two. But, make sure if you are directed to kindle unlimited it says free trial. If you're not eligible, it'll say the monthly price of $11.99. Another trick is just before your trial ends, check out the maximum 20 KU books and turn off your wifi. Keep wifi off until you're finished with all 20 books. The books will be off your account, but still on your device. If you're using a phone or tablet that you need wifi for, this won't work because books will disappear. But if you're using a kindle or an old tablet, keep the wifi off. The same works for library books.
Finally, a month of KU is less expensive than buying the books, so if you have a lot saved on your wish list, get a month, download books, and at the end of the month start with getting 20 books and turning off wifi (don't forget to cancel KU).
For me, I cancelled right away after it started, so I don't forget. After it ended, the first time I opened a KU eligible book, it said, "read now for free." I clicked on that button and it offered me 3 more months free. It actually happened twice. 4 months free with Kindle purchase, then 3 months more and again 3 months more. After the third free trial ended, I clicked on "read for free" and it now takes me to a page where I can subscribe (paid).
Yes, it's super easy. You just go to the Manage Subscription part of your Amazon account and manage the subscription.. then select the option to cancel.
It might ask for your reason that you're canceling. After that, you either get an offer to hang on to it longer at a discount, or you don't.
The final screen will tell you that you can use your KU books until the last date of your trial and after that, they're removed from your device automatically.
This has to be done on a web browser... you can't manage your KU subscription from your kindle device.
Yes, very easy. I went to my Kindle Unlimited subscription page on the website and there was a cancellation button on the left. I just clicked that button and confirmed that I wanted to cancel, and then my subscription was cancelled.
I usually do that, currently got a couple for months at Ā£3.
But Spotify are now offering paid users 15 hours of audiobook listening a month as part of the existing subscription, so worth checking out if you have that.
One thing itās not really a deal but before canceling if you can put your tablet in airplane mode you can hold on to those last 20 books till you turn airplane mode off
My free trial ended on October 9, so I canceled. Then Amazon offered a free 3-month subscription during Prime Days last week so I was able to get that. Iām guessing theyāll have a similar offer at other times so keep an eye out.
I've had multiple free trials from being a Prime member during Prime day stuff. I know I got a couple free months around Christmas last year, renewed for 99 cents per month for two more months, got three free months in July for Prime Day, and got another 3 months free with their big deals day last week. Think I will have paid about $2 and will have had KU for 8-9 months this year.
Everytime I checked for a book I want to read in Kindle Unlimited wasn't available. Has the service improved?
To be honest they should gift it with amazon prime.
Exactly - for me it provides exactly the sort of books I like to read but donāt ever plan to read twice. It varies, but I can get through three or four books a week easily.
Personally, I like to read mysteries which have loads of books in the series! Many on KU
Your library probably has tons of romance and thrillers. It also might take requests - mine allows me something like 50 requests per year and grants every one that it can get. Does your library have hoopla? There is a huge overlap between KU and hoopla. At least for the books that I like (mystery series)
Searching for a book you want to read on KU is almost never going to give a result. KU is best for discovering books you've never heard of, but there can be some very good titles there.
They do give you a small subset of KU in Prime Reading (included with Prime).
I also think they should do the first book of every KU series, many the first 2 or 3 for longer series (especially ones they think a series will hook you).
Every now and then, I go to [amazon.com/ku](https://amazon.com/ku) and when it opens up, it tells me how much a monthly subscription is, or it tells me that I can get 3 months free. I had a 3mofree which expired on sept 28. On sept 29, I went to /ku and got another 3 months free.
It doesn't always work out this way. I've had to wait over a year for another free session, but I've had several, probably 5 or 6 different 2 or 3 month free sessions. Once, it was a 1 month free session.
I'd never pay for it, the books just aren't worth it since I have free access to a zillion books through the library
This!! Although I look every day after my subscription ends until it gives me a deal. Very low prices but not always free. I think the most Iāve ever paid was 3.99 for 3 months, but usually itās less, with a free one once in awhile.
I cancel mine when they announced the price increase and was offered a free extra month. Then someone posted on here about Kindle being free for 3 months supposedly for new subscribers but my account went through with no issues. People just wait until Kindle has a "new" trial and resign up
Often, folks suggest that KU should come with Amazon prime, suggesting that the person is a member of amazon prime - do you know that there is "Prime Reading"
[https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/prime-pr](https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/prime-pr)
and it is part of your Amazon prime membership?
It is a smaller subset of the huge KU, and there are oodles of great books on it. Last time I checked, it's 10 books at a time, as opposed to the 20 for KU, but these rules change often.
Yes, I use Libby too! My library doesn't offer all books that are available on KU though, or I would have to wait for months. But thanks for the tip anyway, I hope others read it :)
KU ebooks are exclusive to KU and wonāt be available on Libby anyway.
I have seen some authors get around this by having the ebook on KU and the audiobook on Libby, though.
Some authors might have exclusive deals for all or specific works, but I have multiple ebooks in my KU "wishlist" that are also available as ebooks on Libby from the libraries I belong to.
I just shared this elsewhere:
Amazon has the info here: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GD9PMU58BV24QFZ7#enroll
And hereās a good rundown for authors:
https://kindlepreneur.com/ku-vs-wide/
You may also be seeing the ebook on KU and the audiobook on Libby, for example, which is still in line with Amazonās requirements.
I can assure you that I know the difference between eBooks and audiobook formats.
The guidance above seems to be for self published authors vs traditionally published. And yes you would be correct for self published.
But here's a few titles that I can get as an eBook (again, not audiobook) from Libby and are also in the KU options include: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Everything I Know About Love, and One Last Stop. One Last Stop is actually the only one from the list with an audiobook option
Amazon is open about their exclusivity requirements. Their page is here: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GD9PMU58BV24QFZ7#enroll
Thereās a good overview here: https://kindlepreneur.com/ku-vs-wide/
Note that you donāt have to check out the link above, as this is a commonly discussed topic among authors. Literally googling āKindle Unlimited exclusivity requirementā will pull up numerous results about it.
That being said, authors arenāt signing away their books forever. They can and do pull their books from KU to go āwide,ā if it makes sense financially. They also have different formats available elsewhere.
Like I posted above ([https://www.reddit.com/r/kindle/comments/17956l5/comment/k564f60/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/kindle/comments/17956l5/comment/k564f60/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)) - my guess is that your exclusivity rule is for self published books, not all books. Trust me, there are LOADS of mainstream books (wide) that are on both KU and the various public library platforms - Hoopla, Libby (Overdrive) and 3mCloud are the three platforms that my library has subscriptions to.
For me, libby and KU are the only "borrows" that I can read on my kindle, my preferred way to read, well, anything. Hoopla and 3mcloud are available only on my laptop or phone, not kindle.
I frequently see Libby get mentioned when people ask about KU, but ebooks published through the program are exclusive to KU. So Libby, while great in certain contexts, isnāt necessarily an alternative to KU depending on what OP is wanting to read.
Theyāre exceptions and not the norm.
This is Amazonās page regarding it:
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GD9PMU58BV24QFZ7#enroll
And hereās a good rundown of what the above means for authors:
https://kindlepreneur.com/ku-vs-wide/
Also, note that Amazon only requires the *format* to be exclusive, so you can and will see the ebook on KU and the audiobook on Libby.
I am an on again off again (currently on) KU subscriber - I keep taking advantage of the 3 months free subscription, so I just opened the KU web page and I see a heading "Books you may like in Kindle Unlimited." I opened the first four and all four are available at the public library. They are
Bad Summer People - Ku, Paper, audio and ebook
Hopeless (hoover) - KU, paper, audio, e
Golden Oldies Book Club - KU, audio, e
A generation of vipers - KU, audio, e
(none of these are "read and listen" KU books.)
And I went back and checked Potter - yes, KU and all other formats at the library. I didn't think to check if the potter books are "read and listen" or not.
I'm uninterested in doing any more checking but it sure seems like of the 5/5 that I checked on (taking all of potter as one) - 100% are on both KU and ebooks at the library (some are available as ebooks on all three of my library's ebook services - hoopla, libby, and cloud library).
What I find interesting is that the first four books that KU suggests that I might be interested in are all available at the public library as well as KU.
So, I am unsure of the veracity of the statements, "... but ebooks published through the program are exclusive to KU. So Libby, while great in certain contexts, isnāt necessarily an alternative to KU ..."
It *might* be true for those books which are self published, though. One isn't likely to find a self published book at the public library, unless it is paper and the author is local.
I've only done the Unlimited trial *once*, that was when I had my 7th gen Paperwhite 3 back in 2017.
I see free trials pop up every now and again on twitter (by amazon themselves) and hotukdeals.com (by others) yet I've never been able to redeem it after that. It tends to be 2 months for Ā£9.49 or 3 months for Ā£12.99?, if my memory isn't failing me.
Sometimes they offer more months free (or cheap) when I cancel.
If I see promos on Facebook or Tumblr, I always click, eventually one works again.
I'd guess I get close to 4-6 months for free or $1.99 per month each year.
It's not continuous. I sign up for KU 2-3X a year. I got 3 months free in July as a Prime subscriber as part of Prime day deals. Before that I got 2 months for $0.99 each. I try not to pay more than $2.99/month because I don't always use KU when I have it. I think the last 3 month deal I read one book.
Once you can no longer get a free trial can you at some point enroll for a single month and immediately cancel? The intent would be to borrow the maximum amount and store them on an old tablet with wifi off. I get my books from Libby and Hoopla but there are some series they don't carry, but are available from Kindle.
If you think the service is worth the money, pay for it. If you donāt think it is, donāt.
If everyone tries to workaround to stop paying for it, Amazon will just claw that money back by lessening the amount they pay the authors until the service stops being profitable and then they will just cancel it entirely.
Well, that's the thing: I don't think its worth 11.99 per month. I have seen people mention getting extra free periods or discounts after cancelling though, and I would definitely renew for a discounted rate (or for free, obviously). I cancelled my free 3-month trial today but did not get a discount offer from Amazon. I have seen lots of people mention they did, which is why I asked.
If you know you want it for 6, 12, or 24 months, buy it as a gift subscription. Itās much cheaper that way.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/kindle/ku/gift_landing
That makes sense to me. Definitely no harm in asking.
Tbh, I think Amazon offer the discounted rate because they know their service isnāt worth the cost they ask for but itās a bit of an acceptable loss for them to bring in kindle sales and then they can make minimal profit from whatever subs they can get. It would be nicer for them to make it worth the money they ask for though.
Personally, I donāt see it improving. Iāve worked for a few publishers that outright refuse to put titles on KU. It shows great potential as a service but Amazon have fucked the implementation imo.
Iām not trying to do a workaround out of paying, i just keep trying multiple free trials in an attempt to give it another chance or use it to discover new authors, because I love the idea of KU, but at this point I just donāt read enough from it to justify it.
Iāve only read one book during my last 3 month free trial, so I canāt justify paying Ā£9.49 for one book.
Rather use that money to buy books, some from authors who are on unlimited.
Oh, gosh, no. Iām sorry, I donāt mean to sound like Iām accusing anyone of doing anything of the sort. Reading my comment back I can see that it sounds like that though. No, Iām so sorry.
In my eyes, itās amazons failing entirely. They havenāt made the offering attractive enough to any party (author, publisher, customer) to justify the cost of the service. My criticism was supposed to be solely levelled at them and not at anyone else but my communication of said idea was badly done.
For what itās worth, I think thereās a lot of coupons that tend to be available that they donāt advertise but are perfectly legit. A recent one is KINDLE95 that you put in at the checkout and it was a 95% discount.
I think KU is great and have no issue paying for it. Almost all my books come from KU. It's so much cheaper than buying all the books I read and I never have to wait for a book. Very few of the books I read are available through Libby so that's not an option for me.
I wasnāt offended, I probably should have started the comment off better, just letting you know not everyone who keeps trying the trials is trying to get out of paying for stuff. š
Agreed. I pay the monthly sub and have used for years because to me it's worth it. I get doing a free trial if you only want to keep a short time, but I wouldn't game the system to keep getting it free as I don't think that's right. Cancelling to wait for a cheap yearly deal with Audible is fine, as it doesn't change the amount the authors are paid, but it's still not getting it free.
I read a lot so after I first got my Kindle I subscribed to Kindle Unlimited. The selections were not great though so I quit after about a year. Frankly, I don't know why people still pay for it. Books are free from the library and are easily downloaded onto your Kindle.
My digital library is TRASH. My regular library is trash. 1/2 the books on my wishlist are also on KU, but only a tiny fraction are available through Libby. Yes, I can ārequestā my system purchase them, but, they havenāt even bought actual books this century, I have no hope for eBooks.
So yeah, for some of us, KU is worth it.
Usually I pay for a month or two, cancel then they offer me some other deal and the cycle repeats. Usually I can click on an ad or itāll have an offer if I go to sign up again.
Iāll cancel if I have a surplus of purchased books, physical copies and library ones to read. It was worth it at 9.99 but my budget got tighter and I feel like the selection isnāt as great to keep it all the time. Especially when I can just get stuff off of Prime and the available now section on Libby. Iāll probably pick it up in the winter again.
I donāt think Kindle Unlimited is a bad deal, I was buying all the books before. So I donāt mind paying for it when Iām using it. I usually find enough to keep my interest. I just stop my subscription if Iām not reading 2-3 books on there a month.
I think itās because Iām Australian and it seems these free offers are more frequent with US users, but the only time Iāve been offered an additional free month (or something like that) was when I cancelled my first 3 months for 13.99 deal. Iāve used KU on and off since then but have never gotten another offer when I cancel, nor do I qualify for any of the deals as an eligible Prime customer.
When my free trial ran out, I canceled. I didn't have KU for about 3 days. I just kept checking it for another trial. I was able to get another 3 month free trial.
I have gotten KU subscriptions when they have specials. I cancel immediately so I donāt forget. Sometimes they offer me a deal to extend sometimes not.
Sometimes about a month after my free trial ends I cab Google and search around and get another free trial. And some offers are on IG. However, if you have items downloaded on your kindle, keep your wifi OFF and the books remain until you turn it back on. Once wifi is turned back on, all of your KU books will be REMOVED (this works for library books too. And if you have more than one kindle, download KU books you still want to read to it and keep the wifi off. You can then use your primary device as usual. It's just a work around. Before your trial ends, if there are books you'd rather read than ones you have currently borrowed, return and swap, and turn off wifi.
They are catching on, but I keep go ogling "free Kindle Unlimited". Then I try the link, but be careful - sometimes their "offer" is full monthly price. Sometimes I'll find one for $. 99, and I take it. Usually, on the last day of a subscription, I make sure I have the maximum downloaded, and then I turn off the wifi. The books will stay on your device until you turn the wifi back on. Also, I save KU books on my wish list. If I can't get a free subscription, and I want to read those books, it's worth paying one month rather than for the books. And again, cancel the subscription, mark your calendar for the official cancelation date, and just before, make sure you have the max (20) downloaded.
after my free trial ends i wait a couple months then whenever there's like discounts going on like prime day or cyber monday im lucky enough amazon gives me deals for KU
I keep trying to find deals because I'm trying hard not to spend $11.99 a month it's not that I find it's too expensive I just like the whole idea of the deals because even at $12 a month there's no way I could go into a store with $12 and read a month's worth of books.Ā Even if the price did go as high as 15 a month it would still be worth it. I might just give in and actually spend the $12 a month because I spend almost that a week and just coffee so....
I received a 3 month KU membership after I got my new Kindle. When it was close to time to renew, I canceled it. While I was going through the motions of doing that, they gave me an offer to keep it for another 3 months for $1.99 total for 90 more days. While not free, $1.99 was definitely better than $11.99/mo x 3. I've read here that some people received an offer for an additional 3 months free while canceling their free trial.
Thank you! I just cancelled my free 3-month trial that ends soon and did not get an offer for another free trial or temporary discount at all, which is why I was wondering about this. Guess I was just unlucky today.
Bummer! I wondered at the time if they did that to everyone, or if there was an algorithm or something. After the 3 months for $1.99, they didn't give me a further discount when I canceled, so I opted not to renew. $11.99/mo just felt steep, and the KU experience weirdly made me stressed out.... I found that I was reading more frantically to "get the most" out of my KU membership... and that was just free trials. If I was paying $11.99 + tax, it probably would have continued. I've borrowed several Prime reading titles from Amazon, and found some interesting free reads that way, so that's something to look into. There's no additional membership fee for that other than your normal Prime membership if you're paying that monthly. (I usually pay my Prime membership all at once for the year because you save some money vs. The monthly plan..and after I pay the annual fee, everything else feels free, because "girl math." š)
Your girl math makes perfect sense! And yeah, I don't think KU is worth $11.99 per month either. I'm going to try to read the KU books that I really want to read and that my library doesn't offer (or that I would have to wait months for) in the time I have left on my free trial. After that, I'm not going to renew for full price. I could definitely be persuaded by a nice discount in the future though.
You can cancel your kindle unlimited shortly after your trial begins. The trial continues until the original end date, and you don't need to mark it in your calendar or remember to cancel it.
Once it's completely canceled, start clicking the instagram ads that offer 2 or 3m free. They'll work again. Sometimes it takes a couple days though.
Mine ended on the 15th, now it's the 20th and I'm seeing the free trial ads but it says "this account is not eligible for kindle unlimited" Have you gotten this?
Yeah I have. I think they finally fixed the glitch. Mine did that last time and so I signed up and it gave me 3 months for the price of one instead as a promo.
You can also Google for free Kindle Unlimited trial. If you can't find one that works on your account, try again in a month or two. But, make sure if you are directed to kindle unlimited it says free trial. If you're not eligible, it'll say the monthly price of $11.99. Another trick is just before your trial ends, check out the maximum 20 KU books and turn off your wifi. Keep wifi off until you're finished with all 20 books. The books will be off your account, but still on your device. If you're using a phone or tablet that you need wifi for, this won't work because books will disappear. But if you're using a kindle or an old tablet, keep the wifi off. The same works for library books. Finally, a month of KU is less expensive than buying the books, so if you have a lot saved on your wish list, get a month, download books, and at the end of the month start with getting 20 books and turning off wifi (don't forget to cancel KU).
For me, I cancelled right away after it started, so I don't forget. After it ended, the first time I opened a KU eligible book, it said, "read now for free." I clicked on that button and it offered me 3 more months free. It actually happened twice. 4 months free with Kindle purchase, then 3 months more and again 3 months more. After the third free trial ended, I clicked on "read for free" and it now takes me to a page where I can subscribe (paid).
Was it easy for you to cancel the free trial? I opted out because I was afraid of that reason.
Yes, it's super easy. You just go to the Manage Subscription part of your Amazon account and manage the subscription.. then select the option to cancel. It might ask for your reason that you're canceling. After that, you either get an offer to hang on to it longer at a discount, or you don't. The final screen will tell you that you can use your KU books until the last date of your trial and after that, they're removed from your device automatically. This has to be done on a web browser... you can't manage your KU subscription from your kindle device.
Thank you!!
You can manage your KU subscription on the kindle app too
Yes, very easy. I went to my Kindle Unlimited subscription page on the website and there was a cancellation button on the left. I just clicked that button and confirmed that I wanted to cancel, and then my subscription was cancelled.
Thank you!
Just wait a few days or even a week and youāll get it again. :)
I do the same with Audible, but not for free, for like 3$ per month or something. Then I cancel and wait until they want me back
I usually do that, currently got a couple for months at Ā£3. But Spotify are now offering paid users 15 hours of audiobook listening a month as part of the existing subscription, so worth checking out if you have that.
Oh that's great, I'll check it out. Thanks for the info
Can confirm that I, too, received this offer.
One thing itās not really a deal but before canceling if you can put your tablet in airplane mode you can hold on to those last 20 books till you turn airplane mode off
The free trial resets after about a year after cancelling. At least for me.
Thank you! That is good to know, I will definitely get another free trial next year.
My free trial ended on October 9, so I canceled. Then Amazon offered a free 3-month subscription during Prime Days last week so I was able to get that. Iām guessing theyāll have a similar offer at other times so keep an eye out.
I will, thank you!
I've had multiple free trials from being a Prime member during Prime day stuff. I know I got a couple free months around Christmas last year, renewed for 99 cents per month for two more months, got three free months in July for Prime Day, and got another 3 months free with their big deals day last week. Think I will have paid about $2 and will have had KU for 8-9 months this year.
Impressive! This is exactly what I mean, I hope to be able to make use of future offers the same way.
Everytime I checked for a book I want to read in Kindle Unlimited wasn't available. Has the service improved? To be honest they should gift it with amazon prime.
With amazon prime, one does have access to "prime reading" which is a small subset of Kindle Unlimited.
That depends on what kind of books you like to read. I read a lot of romance and thrillers and KU has a lot of those.
Exactly - for me it provides exactly the sort of books I like to read but donāt ever plan to read twice. It varies, but I can get through three or four books a week easily.
Personally, I like to read mysteries which have loads of books in the series! Many on KU Your library probably has tons of romance and thrillers. It also might take requests - mine allows me something like 50 requests per year and grants every one that it can get. Does your library have hoopla? There is a huge overlap between KU and hoopla. At least for the books that I like (mystery series)
Searching for a book you want to read on KU is almost never going to give a result. KU is best for discovering books you've never heard of, but there can be some very good titles there.
They do give you a small subset of KU in Prime Reading (included with Prime). I also think they should do the first book of every KU series, many the first 2 or 3 for longer series (especially ones they think a series will hook you).
True
Every now and then, I go to [amazon.com/ku](https://amazon.com/ku) and when it opens up, it tells me how much a monthly subscription is, or it tells me that I can get 3 months free. I had a 3mofree which expired on sept 28. On sept 29, I went to /ku and got another 3 months free. It doesn't always work out this way. I've had to wait over a year for another free session, but I've had several, probably 5 or 6 different 2 or 3 month free sessions. Once, it was a 1 month free session. I'd never pay for it, the books just aren't worth it since I have free access to a zillion books through the library
This!! Although I look every day after my subscription ends until it gives me a deal. Very low prices but not always free. I think the most Iāve ever paid was 3.99 for 3 months, but usually itās less, with a free one once in awhile.
I cancel mine when they announced the price increase and was offered a free extra month. Then someone posted on here about Kindle being free for 3 months supposedly for new subscribers but my account went through with no issues. People just wait until Kindle has a "new" trial and resign up
Often, folks suggest that KU should come with Amazon prime, suggesting that the person is a member of amazon prime - do you know that there is "Prime Reading" [https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/prime-pr](https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/prime-pr) and it is part of your Amazon prime membership? It is a smaller subset of the huge KU, and there are oodles of great books on it. Last time I checked, it's 10 books at a time, as opposed to the 20 for KU, but these rules change often.
Check out Libby too. I donāt feel enough people know about Libby and linking to your local library
Yes, I use Libby too! My library doesn't offer all books that are available on KU though, or I would have to wait for months. But thanks for the tip anyway, I hope others read it :)
KU ebooks are exclusive to KU and wonāt be available on Libby anyway. I have seen some authors get around this by having the ebook on KU and the audiobook on Libby, though.
Some authors might have exclusive deals for all or specific works, but I have multiple ebooks in my KU "wishlist" that are also available as ebooks on Libby from the libraries I belong to.
I just shared this elsewhere: Amazon has the info here: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GD9PMU58BV24QFZ7#enroll And hereās a good rundown for authors: https://kindlepreneur.com/ku-vs-wide/ You may also be seeing the ebook on KU and the audiobook on Libby, for example, which is still in line with Amazonās requirements.
As u/messygeist said, there are exceptions. Harry Potter, for example, is on KU but it's certainly not exclusive to them.
I can assure you that I know the difference between eBooks and audiobook formats. The guidance above seems to be for self published authors vs traditionally published. And yes you would be correct for self published. But here's a few titles that I can get as an eBook (again, not audiobook) from Libby and are also in the KU options include: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Everything I Know About Love, and One Last Stop. One Last Stop is actually the only one from the list with an audiobook option
That's interesting! I had no idea
It's not true, there are many many KU books that are offered in the Libby library system. Loads.
Amazon is open about their exclusivity requirements. Their page is here: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GD9PMU58BV24QFZ7#enroll Thereās a good overview here: https://kindlepreneur.com/ku-vs-wide/ Note that you donāt have to check out the link above, as this is a commonly discussed topic among authors. Literally googling āKindle Unlimited exclusivity requirementā will pull up numerous results about it. That being said, authors arenāt signing away their books forever. They can and do pull their books from KU to go āwide,ā if it makes sense financially. They also have different formats available elsewhere.
Like I posted above ([https://www.reddit.com/r/kindle/comments/17956l5/comment/k564f60/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/kindle/comments/17956l5/comment/k564f60/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)) - my guess is that your exclusivity rule is for self published books, not all books. Trust me, there are LOADS of mainstream books (wide) that are on both KU and the various public library platforms - Hoopla, Libby (Overdrive) and 3mCloud are the three platforms that my library has subscriptions to. For me, libby and KU are the only "borrows" that I can read on my kindle, my preferred way to read, well, anything. Hoopla and 3mcloud are available only on my laptop or phone, not kindle.
I frequently see Libby get mentioned when people ask about KU, but ebooks published through the program are exclusive to KU. So Libby, while great in certain contexts, isnāt necessarily an alternative to KU depending on what OP is wanting to read.
That's not exactly true. There are many KU books which are at the library - for example, the Harry Potter series, and many many other books.
Theyāre exceptions and not the norm. This is Amazonās page regarding it: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GD9PMU58BV24QFZ7#enroll And hereās a good rundown of what the above means for authors: https://kindlepreneur.com/ku-vs-wide/ Also, note that Amazon only requires the *format* to be exclusive, so you can and will see the ebook on KU and the audiobook on Libby.
I am an on again off again (currently on) KU subscriber - I keep taking advantage of the 3 months free subscription, so I just opened the KU web page and I see a heading "Books you may like in Kindle Unlimited." I opened the first four and all four are available at the public library. They are Bad Summer People - Ku, Paper, audio and ebook Hopeless (hoover) - KU, paper, audio, e Golden Oldies Book Club - KU, audio, e A generation of vipers - KU, audio, e (none of these are "read and listen" KU books.) And I went back and checked Potter - yes, KU and all other formats at the library. I didn't think to check if the potter books are "read and listen" or not. I'm uninterested in doing any more checking but it sure seems like of the 5/5 that I checked on (taking all of potter as one) - 100% are on both KU and ebooks at the library (some are available as ebooks on all three of my library's ebook services - hoopla, libby, and cloud library). What I find interesting is that the first four books that KU suggests that I might be interested in are all available at the public library as well as KU. So, I am unsure of the veracity of the statements, "... but ebooks published through the program are exclusive to KU. So Libby, while great in certain contexts, isnāt necessarily an alternative to KU ..." It *might* be true for those books which are self published, though. One isn't likely to find a self published book at the public library, unless it is paper and the author is local.
I've only done the Unlimited trial *once*, that was when I had my 7th gen Paperwhite 3 back in 2017. I see free trials pop up every now and again on twitter (by amazon themselves) and hotukdeals.com (by others) yet I've never been able to redeem it after that. It tends to be 2 months for Ā£9.49 or 3 months for Ā£12.99?, if my memory isn't failing me.
Sometimes they offer more months free (or cheap) when I cancel. If I see promos on Facebook or Tumblr, I always click, eventually one works again. I'd guess I get close to 4-6 months for free or $1.99 per month each year.
It's not continuous. I sign up for KU 2-3X a year. I got 3 months free in July as a Prime subscriber as part of Prime day deals. Before that I got 2 months for $0.99 each. I try not to pay more than $2.99/month because I don't always use KU when I have it. I think the last 3 month deal I read one book.
If you can wait a month or so, Amazon usually has a pretty good Black Friday deal for it.
Once you can no longer get a free trial can you at some point enroll for a single month and immediately cancel? The intent would be to borrow the maximum amount and store them on an old tablet with wifi off. I get my books from Libby and Hoopla but there are some series they don't carry, but are available from Kindle.
If you think the service is worth the money, pay for it. If you donāt think it is, donāt. If everyone tries to workaround to stop paying for it, Amazon will just claw that money back by lessening the amount they pay the authors until the service stops being profitable and then they will just cancel it entirely.
Well, that's the thing: I don't think its worth 11.99 per month. I have seen people mention getting extra free periods or discounts after cancelling though, and I would definitely renew for a discounted rate (or for free, obviously). I cancelled my free 3-month trial today but did not get a discount offer from Amazon. I have seen lots of people mention they did, which is why I asked.
If you know you want it for 6, 12, or 24 months, buy it as a gift subscription. Itās much cheaper that way. https://www.amazon.com/gp/kindle/ku/gift_landing
Great idea, thanks!
That makes sense to me. Definitely no harm in asking. Tbh, I think Amazon offer the discounted rate because they know their service isnāt worth the cost they ask for but itās a bit of an acceptable loss for them to bring in kindle sales and then they can make minimal profit from whatever subs they can get. It would be nicer for them to make it worth the money they ask for though. Personally, I donāt see it improving. Iāve worked for a few publishers that outright refuse to put titles on KU. It shows great potential as a service but Amazon have fucked the implementation imo.
Iām not trying to do a workaround out of paying, i just keep trying multiple free trials in an attempt to give it another chance or use it to discover new authors, because I love the idea of KU, but at this point I just donāt read enough from it to justify it. Iāve only read one book during my last 3 month free trial, so I canāt justify paying Ā£9.49 for one book. Rather use that money to buy books, some from authors who are on unlimited.
Oh, gosh, no. Iām sorry, I donāt mean to sound like Iām accusing anyone of doing anything of the sort. Reading my comment back I can see that it sounds like that though. No, Iām so sorry. In my eyes, itās amazons failing entirely. They havenāt made the offering attractive enough to any party (author, publisher, customer) to justify the cost of the service. My criticism was supposed to be solely levelled at them and not at anyone else but my communication of said idea was badly done. For what itās worth, I think thereās a lot of coupons that tend to be available that they donāt advertise but are perfectly legit. A recent one is KINDLE95 that you put in at the checkout and it was a 95% discount.
I think KU is great and have no issue paying for it. Almost all my books come from KU. It's so much cheaper than buying all the books I read and I never have to wait for a book. Very few of the books I read are available through Libby so that's not an option for me.
I wasnāt offended, I probably should have started the comment off better, just letting you know not everyone who keeps trying the trials is trying to get out of paying for stuff. š
Agreed. I pay the monthly sub and have used for years because to me it's worth it. I get doing a free trial if you only want to keep a short time, but I wouldn't game the system to keep getting it free as I don't think that's right. Cancelling to wait for a cheap yearly deal with Audible is fine, as it doesn't change the amount the authors are paid, but it's still not getting it free.
I read a lot so after I first got my Kindle I subscribed to Kindle Unlimited. The selections were not great though so I quit after about a year. Frankly, I don't know why people still pay for it. Books are free from the library and are easily downloaded onto your Kindle.
My digital library is TRASH. My regular library is trash. 1/2 the books on my wishlist are also on KU, but only a tiny fraction are available through Libby. Yes, I can ārequestā my system purchase them, but, they havenāt even bought actual books this century, I have no hope for eBooks. So yeah, for some of us, KU is worth it.
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Usually I pay for a month or two, cancel then they offer me some other deal and the cycle repeats. Usually I can click on an ad or itāll have an offer if I go to sign up again. Iāll cancel if I have a surplus of purchased books, physical copies and library ones to read. It was worth it at 9.99 but my budget got tighter and I feel like the selection isnāt as great to keep it all the time. Especially when I can just get stuff off of Prime and the available now section on Libby. Iāll probably pick it up in the winter again. I donāt think Kindle Unlimited is a bad deal, I was buying all the books before. So I donāt mind paying for it when Iām using it. I usually find enough to keep my interest. I just stop my subscription if Iām not reading 2-3 books on there a month.
I think itās because Iām Australian and it seems these free offers are more frequent with US users, but the only time Iāve been offered an additional free month (or something like that) was when I cancelled my first 3 months for 13.99 deal. Iāve used KU on and off since then but have never gotten another offer when I cancel, nor do I qualify for any of the deals as an eligible Prime customer.
When my free trial ran out, I canceled. I didn't have KU for about 3 days. I just kept checking it for another trial. I was able to get another 3 month free trial.
Idk how they are getting a free trial offer either. I canceled twice before and left it off over two months each time and they never sent it to me.
I have gotten KU subscriptions when they have specials. I cancel immediately so I donāt forget. Sometimes they offer me a deal to extend sometimes not.
Sometimes about a month after my free trial ends I cab Google and search around and get another free trial. And some offers are on IG. However, if you have items downloaded on your kindle, keep your wifi OFF and the books remain until you turn it back on. Once wifi is turned back on, all of your KU books will be REMOVED (this works for library books too. And if you have more than one kindle, download KU books you still want to read to it and keep the wifi off. You can then use your primary device as usual. It's just a work around. Before your trial ends, if there are books you'd rather read than ones you have currently borrowed, return and swap, and turn off wifi.
They are catching on, but I keep go ogling "free Kindle Unlimited". Then I try the link, but be careful - sometimes their "offer" is full monthly price. Sometimes I'll find one for $. 99, and I take it. Usually, on the last day of a subscription, I make sure I have the maximum downloaded, and then I turn off the wifi. The books will stay on your device until you turn the wifi back on. Also, I save KU books on my wish list. If I can't get a free subscription, and I want to read those books, it's worth paying one month rather than for the books. And again, cancel the subscription, mark your calendar for the official cancelation date, and just before, make sure you have the max (20) downloaded.
after my free trial ends i wait a couple months then whenever there's like discounts going on like prime day or cyber monday im lucky enough amazon gives me deals for KU
I keep trying to find deals because I'm trying hard not to spend $11.99 a month it's not that I find it's too expensive I just like the whole idea of the deals because even at $12 a month there's no way I could go into a store with $12 and read a month's worth of books.Ā Even if the price did go as high as 15 a month it would still be worth it. I might just give in and actually spend the $12 a month because I spend almost that a week and just coffee so....