Article

Kindle Unlimited: Is It Worth $120 a Year?

This article discusses the value of various Kindle Deals (Daily Deals, Deals of Up to 85% Off, Cyber Monday Deals, Kindle Best Sellers, etc.) vs. that of Kindle Unlimited.

Kindle Unlimited was introduced in July 2014. For $9.99 you got unlimited access to over 600,000 books. The number has now grown to over 700,000 books. If you’re a voracious reader, $9.99 a month may not seem like a whole lot. But $10/month does add up to $120 a year, and chances are that even if you’re tempted during slower months to go for the Kindle Unlimited deal, you may regret it once you end up paying $10 a month during months when you manage to read only one or two books made available as part of the Kindle Unlimited program. Also, many of the good, great, and excellent books you can get through various Kindle deals are not available -- for free, that is -- to Kindle Unlimited members.

Kindle Daily Deals

Before you decide to pay for the Unlimited deal, remember there’s always the Kindle Daily Deal, with books at $1.99, $0.99, or $2.99. Some of these books are really good, and while the majority of them are offered as part of the Kindle Unlimited deal as well, there are many that aren’t. And even if all of them were, the great price of the Daily Deals means that you can get 5 books or more a month without paying for Kindle Unlimited.

Unlike tablets, Kindle Paperwhite is designed to deliver the best reading experience, period. Kindle Paperwhite has no screen glare in bright sunlight, a battery that lasts week...

Kindle Voyage is our thinnest Kindle ever, with the brightest, highest resolution, and highest contrast display, plus reimagined page turns and an adaptive front light. Brillian...

Cyber Monday Kindle Deals 2014

Cyber Monday Kindle Deals offered access to thousands of books this year. I think something like over 4,000 titles. I browsed most of the list, and bought thirteen books. I can’t remember what I paid for them exactly, but I believe the majority of the titles in the Cyber Monday deal were $1.99 or $2.99. It was worth it to browse this very long Cyber Monday Kindle Deals list because it included some excellent titles which sell for much more. The book The 20^th Century in Poetry, for instance, edited by Michael Hulse and Simon Rae, now sells for $9.99, and the flamboyant book Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an Art Forger, by Ken Perenyi, for $10.99. There were also some nice Black Friday Kindle Deals this year.

It is said that the greatest con man in the world is the one who has never been caught—and here for the first time is the astonishing story of America’s most accomplished art fo...

The history of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of the greatest poets of our time This groundbreaking anthology presents in chronological order over four hundred p...

Big Deals of Up to 85% Off

Every once in a while Amazon replaces their Kindle Monthly Deals (with books at $3.99 or less) with what they call Big Deals: heavily discounted books which are usually pricier than those chosen for the Daily and Monthly Deals.

Among other Big Deal books, this December I bought Matthieu Ricard’s book on Happiness and a book on labrador retrievers. Of the 416 titles listed under the Kindle Big Deal of this month (expires December 21), 195 are available to Kindle Unlimited customers. The ones I mentioned aren’t.

Dedicated to the most popular dog in the worlda sporting dog with no equal and a companion above all else--the Labrador Retriever, this Smart Owner’s Guide, created by the edit...

A molecular biologist turned Buddhist monk, described by scientists as "the happiest man alive," demonstrates how to develop the inner conditions for true happiness.

Kindle Best Sellers (Kindle Top 100)

Today, December 20, 2014, my Kindle shows a list of 100 Best Sellers, calling it Kindle Top 100 (Paid). It’s not clear to me whether this is a Top 100 for the whole of 2014 or a Top 100 for today. I got on Amazon online using my laptop and the Best Sellers list there, updated daily, listed more or less the same books in a different order. In any event, the Top 100 on my Kindle has some great deals, but overall the prices vary greatly, from $1.99 to over $10.

Of the 100 books I see on my Kindle today under Best Sellers, 31 are offered for free to Kindle Unlimited members, and 4 books are made available to Amazon Prime members, who get to borrow one Kindle book for free each month, in addition to free two-day shipping, unlimited Cloud photo storage (as of November 4, 2014), and access to movies and music. The Amazon Prime membership costs $99 a year.

12 Days of Kindle Deals

Last holiday season, instead of Daily Deals, Amazon started offering two books each day as part of a deal package they styled 12 Days of Kindle Deals. This year the two books belong to two categories: “100 Books to Read in a Lifetime” and “Best Books of 2014.” Admittedly, some books are actually misplaced in these categories, but at $1.99 or $2.99 chances are you could spend your money on worse books. The two books featured today are A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: A Memoir Based on a True Story, by Dave Eggers, selling at $1.99, and The Painter by Peter Heller, selling for $2.99. Neither one of these titles is available under the Kindle Unlimited deal.

Kindle Select 25

Every week Amazon offers a Kindle Select 25 Deal on 25 bestselling books, new releases, editor’s picks, and various other books they have some interest to promote. They’re mostly popular fiction, with some literary fiction titles and a few nonfiction books in between. Of the 25 titles I see on my Kindle today, only 11 are part of the Kindle Unlimited program.

Books under Kinder Select 25 usually sell for $1.99, $2.99, $3.99, or $4.99, but you'll also find a few books selling for more ($5.99, or $8.99, for instance).

Kindle Exclusives

In 2011 Amazon launched KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) Select, a program that compensated writers for making their books exclusive to Amazon Kindle for at least 90 days. In august 2012 these titles had been downloaded over 100 million times over the course of a year. Kindle Exclusives currently numbers 780,997 titles.

New and Noteworthy

This section on my Kindle has 119 titles today. Even though New and Noteworthy appears under Featured, where all the various Kindle deals are listed, the books under this listing are not discounted. The Boston Girl, for instance, by Anita Diamant, costs $11.89.

Kindle First

Finally, among all the deals Amazon offers for their readers of Kindle books, there’s Kindle First, a chance to read one of four books a month before their official publication date. The ones offered today cost $4.99 each. Any one of the four books are available for free to Amazon Prime members. They are not available for free to Kindle Unlimited members.

Updated December 21, 2014

So tell me, what do YOU think, is Kindle Unlimited worth it?

MiraJul 7, 2015

Yes, it's a lot of money, and it only covers *some* books. So yes, one may want to think twice before forking out the money.

CruiseReadyJul 7, 2015

Hmmm . . . Sounds like that $120 / year may not be the best deal on the planet.

MiraApr 15, 2015

That's funny :) We learn and we forget so much :)

DerdriuMarrinerApr 9, 2015

Mira, You're welcome! Post-its really are great for double duty as bookmarks and commentary/reminders. Sometimes when I use a regular bookmark, I have to scour both pages to figure why on earth I wanted to return -- and sometimes the reason eludes me. ;-0
Post-its remove the mystery of the page's siren call.

MiraApr 9, 2015

Post-its are a nice idea. It would work nicely with library books. Thanks :)

DerdriuMarrinerApr 6, 2015

Mira, EBooks don't convey quite the romance of their paper cousins but they offer stiff competition in terms of portability. Highlighting and note-taking definitely are attributes for me because I never write in books but instead use bookmarks and post-its. Your Kindle research should be helpful for those weighing pros and cons.

MiraApr 6, 2015

Yes aarti, I like the highlighting and note-taking part a lot, too, especially as sometimes it's hard to annotate on old paperbacks -- the recycled paper is not always high-quality.

aartiApr 6, 2015

I bought a Kindle paper white this year ,the best part about kindle is ,its makes highlighting and note taking very easy. Its like a whole library of books at your fingertips. Its priceless.....

MiraApr 4, 2015

I still read on paper a lot, but I find that books that you know you won't read again are much better on Kindle. I still like to make margin notes, but Kindle makes highlighting and note-taking very easy as well, so sometimes it's great to just go over Kindle highlights when you want to revisit a book's content.

MiraApr 4, 2015

You have a great point here: Kindle for retired people who love to read. There are many people who find it hard to get outdoors often. For these people as well as for people who have always been voracious readers, a Kindle can be a great tool.

MiraApr 4, 2015

Hi Jean! I find that paperbacks are very useful sometimes, if you really like the book and know that you will browse through it later. But there are so many books we only read once. For those books, Kindle is priceless :)

MiraApr 4, 2015

I still enjoy paperbacks, but yes, these Kindle deals are very attractive, and using an ereader when you travel is wonderful :)

GuestMar 19, 2015

I have yet to enter the world of kindle. I can see the benefits, but I like the feel of a paper book.

sockiiFeb 24, 2015

I bought my mother a Kindle last year and she is a voracious reader. She signed up for the Unlimited program on her own and it has definitely saved her a lot of money since she did. Before she was easily spending $50-60/month on book downloads, and now she may only purchase 2-3 titles a month beyond the unlimited subscription (when something isn't available or she wants a book for re-reading). So yes, I do think it is worth it if you are someone who easily reads several books a week like she does. For myself it wouldn't really be worth it because I'm lucky if I get through 2-3 books a month!

JeanBakulaFeb 3, 2015

I like having a whole library of books at my fingertips. I never got Kindle Prime because you have to give the books back after you read them. I read 2 or 3 books a week though. The only books I buy that are "real" books now are reference books. For some reason I have trouble with a Kindle book when I'm trying to learn something new.

WriterArtistJan 12, 2015

I think every year Kindle makes it more attractive for readers who are addicted to reading, these deals are great for voracious readers. Kindle is a great companion while traveling especially when you are stuck up in a traffic jam or queue.

MiraJan 1, 2015

I think it's great that we have both Kindles and paperbacks. Paperbacks also make great gifts if you find a great book on Kindle.

TelestoDec 23, 2014

They do, and I was watching something on the television today - scientists say reading e-books before going to sleep makes it harder to drop off. Just goes to show that there is room for all methods of communication.

MiraDec 23, 2014

Thank you for your comment. I enjoyed writing this article.

DerdriuMarrinerDec 23, 2014

Mira, Thank you for doing the research, including price comparisons, and sharing your findings, which should be helpful for those who are wondering about Kindle offerings. Reading is always such an enjoyable pastime.

MiraDec 22, 2014

Thank you, Susan. Paperbacks make for great reading, too.

TelestoDec 22, 2014

That's useful info Mira. I just don't get time to read enough at the moment, and I still buy "hard copy" books too.

MiraDec 22, 2014

Thank you, Marsha!

Marsha CamblinDec 22, 2014

Very informative. I'll keep this in mind if I ever purchase a Kindle. Thanks

MiraDec 21, 2014

One hundred fiction books a year must be wonderful. I find that I buy way more Kindle titles than I read. It's a good feeling, discovering nice books and being able to buy them for much less than the price of a paperback.

TolovajDec 21, 2014

Few years ago, when I managed to read at least one hundred fiction books per year (beside non-fiction which earned me a living then), this kind of deal would be probably interesting for me and I hope some day I will have more time, but at this very moment this would be bad investment for sure. I try to find free books from KDP every morning from two niches I write for and the library had already grown to hundreds of titles. About half of them are useful and this is at the moment enough for me.
I am glad Kindle offers so many new things. This is a sign of healthy business attitude with bright future.

MiraDec 21, 2014

Thank you, Pam, for your comment. Borrowing Kindle titles is a good idea, too. Do you borrow from a library?

MiraDec 21, 2014

Thank you, Hamish, for your comment! Kindle Unlimited may, indeed, be a good idea if a family is sharing a Kindle.

dustytoesDec 21, 2014

It's like a maze trying to figure all this stuff out, but I think you are right in saying that the Kindle Unlimited is a good deal for those who read a lot of books. I do the book borrow thing, because it's free and I read very little. By the time I get to read a best seller, it's usually very cheap because so much time has passed.

ThamisgithDec 21, 2014

I "share" my Kindle account with my wife and two sons - and I tend to read at least one book (two is more common) a week. It's well worth it for me to use Kindle Unlimited. The choice of books is pretty good as well.

Kindle Daily Deals

Cyber Monday Kindle Deals 2014

Big Deals of Up to 85% Off

Kindle Best Sellers (Kindle Top 100)

12 Days of Kindle Deals

Kindle Select 25

Books under Kinder Select 25 usually sell for $1.99, $2.99, $3.99, or $4.99, but you'll also find a few books selling for more ($5.99, or $8.99, for instance).

Kindle Exclusives

Kindle First

So tell me, what do YOU think, is Kindle Unlimited worth it?

MiraJul 7, 2015

Yes, it's a lot of money, and it only covers *some* books. So yes, one may want to think twice before forking out the money.

CruiseReadyJul 7, 2015

Hmmm . . . Sounds like that $120 / year may not be the best deal on the planet.

MiraApr 15, 2015

That's funny :) We learn and we forget so much :)

DerdriuMarrinerApr 9, 2015

MiraApr 9, 2015

Post-its are a nice idea. It would work nicely with library books. Thanks :)

DerdriuMarrinerApr 6, 2015

MiraApr 6, 2015

Yes aarti, I like the highlighting and note-taking part a lot, too, especially as sometimes it's hard to annotate on old paperbacks -- the recycled paper is not always high-quality.

aartiApr 6, 2015

I bought a Kindle paper white this year ,the best part about kindle is ,its makes highlighting and note taking very easy. Its like a whole library of books at your fingertips. Its priceless.....

MiraApr 4, 2015

I still enjoy paperbacks, but yes, these Kindle deals are very attractive, and using an ereader when you travel is wonderful :)

GuestMar 19, 2015

I have yet to enter the world of kindle. I can see the benefits, but I like the feel of a paper book.

sockiiFeb 24, 2015

JeanBakulaFeb 3, 2015

WriterArtistJan 12, 2015

MiraJan 1, 2015

I think it's great that we have both Kindles and paperbacks. Paperbacks also make great gifts if you find a great book on Kindle.

TelestoDec 23, 2014

MiraDec 23, 2014

Thank you for your comment. I enjoyed writing this article.

DerdriuMarrinerDec 23, 2014

MiraDec 22, 2014

Thank you, Susan. Paperbacks make for great reading, too.

TelestoDec 22, 2014

That's useful info Mira. I just don't get time to read enough at the moment, and I still buy "hard copy" books too.

MiraDec 22, 2014

Thank you, Marsha!

Marsha CamblinDec 22, 2014

Very informative. I'll keep this in mind if I ever purchase a Kindle. Thanks

MiraDec 21, 2014

TolovajDec 21, 2014

MiraDec 21, 2014

Thank you, Pam, for your comment. Borrowing Kindle titles is a good idea, too. Do you borrow from a library?

MiraDec 21, 2014

Thank you, Hamish, for your comment! Kindle Unlimited may, indeed, be a good idea if a family is sharing a Kindle.

dustytoesDec 21, 2014

ThamisgithDec 21, 2014