Kindle Unlimited saw the biggest-ever monthly increase in the KDP Select fund for January 2020 as the fund rose by $2m to $28.2 million from $26.2 million in December 2019.
The KENP rate for January 2020 slipped back to $0.0044 from $0.0046 in December 2019 in line with the usual seasonal trends which see a substantial increase in KU reads in the New Year.
The KENP rate for the UK also fell to £0.0032 from £0.0034. The $28.2 million paid out by Kindle Unlimited in January 2020 represents a 14% rise on the $24.7 million fund in January 2019.
The previous highest monthly increase in the KDP Select fund seems to have been $1.3 million in March 2015 when the fund rose to $9.3 million from $8 million in February 2015.
The January Kindle Unlimited read figures are generally boosted by an influx of new devices and KU promotion deals over the Black Friday and Christmas seasons. The increase in reads does, however, send the KENP rate down, although many authors may find they get a bigger payout overall as the rise in reads outpaces the rate fall.
In February, of course, the seasonal trends see a big fallback in the KDP Select fund. The last three years have all seen December-January rises of $1 million followed by falls of similar amounts. In 2019, the January figure rose by $1 million from December 2018 before falling by $1.2 million in February 2019. Whether the fund retreats by all the $2 million of the January 2020 rise in February remains to be seen, although the likely compensation is that the KENP rate should be set for a rise.
For January 2020, using the calculation of dividing the total KDP Select fund ($28.2 million) by the US KENP rate ($0.0044) to get an idea of the total number of KENPs read during the month results in 6.4 billion KENPs, a 12.5% rise from 5.69 billion KENPs in December 2019, and over a billion higher than the 5.32 billion KENPs in November.
These estimates should not be regarded as being the overall total number of KENPs read during a month as they do not take into account any margin taken by Amazon. They are based entirely on the amount paid out under the KDP Select Global fund and are only an indication of possible trends.
The US KENP payout figures for 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 are:
2016
January: $0.0041
February: $0.0047 (KENP v2.0 introduced)
March: $0.0047
April: $0.0048
May: $0.0046
June: $0.0049
July: $0.0048
August: $0.0045
September: $0.0049
October: $0.0052
November: $0.0053
December: $0.0052
2017
January: $0.0047
February: $0.0049
March: $0.0046
April: $0.0045
May: $0.0043
June: $0.0042
July: $0.0040
August: $0.0041 (KENP v3.0 introduced)
September: $0.0044
October: $0.0045
November: $0.0046
December: $0.0050
2018
January: $0.0044
February: $0.0046
March: $0.0045
April: $0.0045
May: $0.0045
June: $0.0046
July: $0.0045
August: $0.0045
September: $0.0048
October: $0.0048
November: $0.0052
December: $0.0048
2019
January: $0.0044
February: $0.0047
March: $0.0045
April: $0.0046
May: $0.0046
June: $0.0046
July: $0.0044
August: $0.0044
September: $0.0046
October: $0.0046
November: $0.0049
December: $0.0046
2020
January: $0.0044
The monthly KDP Select Global fund totals for 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 are:
2016
January: $15 million
February: $14 million (KENP v2.0 introduced)
March: $14.9 million
April: $14.9 million
May: $15.3 million
June: $15.4 million
July: $15.5 million
August: $15.8 million
September: $15.9 million
October: $16.2 million
November: $16.3 million
December: $16.8 million
Overall total for 2016: $186 million
2017
January: $17.8 million
February: $16.8 million
March: $17.7 million
April: $17.8 million
May $17.9 million
June $18 million
July: $19 million
August: $19.4 million (KENP v3.0 introduced)
September $19.5 million
October $19.7 million
November: $19.8 million
December: $19.9 million
Overall total for 2017: $222.6 million
Annual increase from 2016-2017: 19.67%
2018
January: $20.9 million
February: $20 million
March: $21 million
April: $21.2 million
May: $22.5 million
June: $22.6 million
July: £23.1 million
August: $23.3 million
September: $23.4 million
October: $23.5 million
November: $23.6 million
December: $23.7 million
Total for 2018: $267.8 million
Annual increase from 2017-2018: 20.35%
2019
January: $24.7 million
February: $23.5 million
March: $24 million
April: $24.1 million
May: $24.6 million
June: $24.9 million
July: $25.6 million
August: $25.8 million
September: $25.9 million
October: $26 million
November: $26.1 million
December: $26.2 million
Total for 2019: $301.4 million
Annual increase from 2018-2019: 12.5%
2020
January: $28.2 million
The annual total figures for Kindle Unlimited since it started are:
2014: $31.735 million (Jul-Dec)
2015: $131.6 million
2016: $186 million
2017: $222.6 million
2018: $267.8 million
2019: $301.4 million
2020: $28.2 million so far
Grand total overall of $1,169,335,000 ($1.169 billion)