Hey everyone,

First off, I’m starting work on the Knight and the Acolyte, set in the World of Erasthay universe. I have already started uploading some background information for the fantasy world. I have been working on this world off and on for about three years. I came up with this before the Devil’s Pact. It’s a naughty fantasy world, full of monster sex, magic, dickgirls, knights, slutty priestesses (and sluts of all kinds), incest (though not in every story), and so much more.

Later on today, I hope to post Cult of the Ghost 4. Today is a crazy day.

But that’s not why I’m posting today. Last year, Amazon rolled out the Kindle Unlimited program. If someone borrows one of my stories and reads 10%, I would make $1.30 to $1.40. Now, it’s less than I get if they bought it, but I make more from borrows than I do in sails. It allowed me to quit my day job and focus exclusively on writing. Two weeks ago, Amazon announced they were switching to a per-page read. Their glowing email all but promised $0.10 a borrow. No one who had any common sense believed that. It was too high. But we started forecasting maybe $0.03. It was a pay cut for those of us writing shorts, but it would be a good thing for authors writing novellas and novels. I was prepared for a hit to my income, but it still seemed worth staying in the program.

But today, they sent us a new email sharing us June’s pages read, giving us an idea for July. There were 1.9 billion pages read in the Kindle Unlimited program for the month of June. Under the new program, those 1.9 pages would split a pot estimated to be $11 million by Amazon. The math comes out to $0.005 or 1/2 penny. This is going to be the end of erotica and romance in Kindle Unlimited. It’s not worth it. One of my shorts would have to be borrowed 20 times to equal being bought once. I’m looking at a massive lose of income. I’ll have to diversify and sale my stories on many different sites beyond Amazon, pulling my stories out of the Kindle Unlimited program. It means more time I have to spend publishing. If you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, I would urge you to email jeff@amazon.com This is a direct email to Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO) and his team. This is the highest you can go in Amazon’s Customer Service system. Jeff takes emails sent to this address seriously. Let him know what you feel. Let your voices be heard.

Here’s a template email for you (credit to dayvansmutgirl on reddit):

Dear Jeff,

I’m writing to express my profound anger and disappointment with the new Kindle Unlimited payout system. I am a customer and I have been enjoying reading my favorite authors through Kindle Unlimited. I have been thrilled at the opportunities it has afforded my favorite authors.

However, under this new payout system, they will no longer be able to sustain themselves purely through Kindle Unlimited. According to the math, a page will get only a little over half a cent. This will slash their incomes significantly. Due to the poor customer service this is providing, I am now researching purchasing my books on other retailers. If the payout really does come out to half a cent, they will all pull their works from Kindle Unlimited.

I want to continue to subscribe to Kindle Unlimited because it had previously been working out well for me, but if it drives out all my favorite authors, I can no longer do so.

Thank you for your time,
XXXXXXX

Thank you all for your time and support!

Take care,

J