- Strategies for Self-Publishers

Kindle Unlimited KENP rate for January 2019 shows seasonal slide as KDP Select fund rises strongly

The Kindle Unlimited KENP rate for January 2019 followed the usual annual trend by slipping back to $0.0044 from $0.0048 in December 2018 while the KDP Select Global fund rose strongly to $24.7 million from $23.7 million in December. Read more...

Wattpad Books mixes data DNA with human curation to pick diverse choice for inaugural publishing list

Wattpad is setting up its first direct publishing division Wattpad Books with the first six titles being published in the autumn this year, promising new and diverse voices from around the world. Read more...

Amazon looking for author submissions as it adds children’s picture books in translation to its roster of publishing imprints

Amazon Publishing has set up another new publishing imprint with the launch of Amazon Crossing Kids for children’s picture books in translation and is seeking picture book submisssions from all regions of the world. Read more...

Scribd hits ‘the tipping point’ of one million subscribers for its ebook service

The Scribd ebook subscription service says it has now reached ‘the tipping point’ of one million subscribers which means it has doubled its number of subscribers in about a year and a half since it revealed it had 500,000 subscribers back in May 2017. Read more...

Harry Potter and the Magic of ‘Indie’ Publishing

It’s been a wizard year for J K Rowling’s digital publishing operation Pottermore which brought in a total of £32.8 million from sales of ebooks and audiobooks in its last financial year ending March 31, 2018. Read more...

Barnes & Noble opens up new self-service advertising portal for indie authors

Barnes & Noble has become the second major ebook retailer to offer independent authors a self-serve advertising portal. Read more...

Kindle Unlimited KENP rate for December 2018 falls back but annual total paid out by KDP Select fund rises by 20%

The Kindle Unlimited KENP rate for December 2018 fell back to $0.0048 after hitting a two-year high of $0.0052 in November as the KDP Select Global fund again rose by $100,000 to $23.7 million from $23.6 million. Read more...

Library digital loans leapt by 22% in 2018 as audiobooks continued to outpace ebooks

Leading ebook library distributor Rakuten OverDrive says public library spending and usage of ebooks, audiobooks and magazines rocketed by 22% in 2018 with more than over 274 million digital books issued to cardholders. Read more...

Self-publishing star L J Ross sets up £2,500 crime fiction prize

One of the biggest stars of the self-publishing world is sponsoring a new crime fiction award celebrating the area where she has set her best-selling books Read more...

How to run a top-performing ad on BookBub

It’s not often you get to discover other authors’ click-through rates for advertising but BookBub has set out a selection of the most successful self-serve display ads on its platform over the past year. Read more...

Ireland leads way in cutting tax on ebooks in Europe but there’s a catch

The Republic of Ireland has reduced VAT (value-added tax) on ebooks from 23% to 9%, effective from January 1, 2019. Read more...

Amazon adds ebook gifting to Kindle UK store

Amazon has finally added the ability to gift Kindle books in the UK, which could come in handy if you need to give someone a late festive present. Read more...