📚 There are many subscription options available in the reading/publishing world. Here, I’m going to briefly talk about two of them… Kindle Unlimited, and Kobo Plus.
The most well-known one is probably Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited (KU). A huge selection of books for $12.00. If you’re on a budget and don’t have access to a large local library selection (or want niche books that are harder to get through libraries), then Kindle Unlimited can seem like a pretty good deal.
However, for authors, it comes with a catch.
The biggest one is that any ebooks in KU (at least for independent publishers) must be exclusive to KU during the 90 day period that they’re enrolled (or longer, if the author chooses to extend the contract).
That said, very recently, Amazon has moved to allow KU books to be made available for public libraries, which is a huge win for both authors and readers. (Previously, you most likely wanted your books in Kobo’s Overdrive if you wanted library reach).
For more details, I found these two articles:
- Kindle Unlimited Authors Can Now Distribute Ebooks to Libraries
- Kindle Unlimited Library Distribution Has Arrived!
I’ve used Kindle Unlimited before, both for Glitch and for Huntress, but I ultimately chose to pull our books from KU because I’m really not a fan of exclusivity, or of the issue of “having all my eggs in one basket.”
Because of that, I’m like Kobo Plus.
While I haven’t, as a reader, used it for myself, Isaac did use the monthly Kobo audiobook credit subscription for a while, which was quite nice.
Now, as a writer I like Kobo Plus, because it offers an inexpensive way for readers to access my books ($7.99 a month) without requiring me to be exclusive with Kobo.
Woot!
So, if you read a lot of books and want to try a subscription service, have a look at Kobo Plus. 😁
(Psst… here’s where you can find our books on Kobo!)
(Note: I am not affiliated with Amazon or Kobo.
I don’t earn affiliate bonuses through your use of either subscription).
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A few first-in-series to get you started on Kobo…
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Happy reading and writing!
Stephanie Flint - Author and Artist 