The Kindle Unlimited KENP rate for January 2019 followed the usual annual trend by falling 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.
In the UK market, the KENP rate for January 2019 fell to £0.0031 from £0.0035 in December.
The KDP Select fund for January 2019 increased by $1 million to $24.7 million, which was an 18% rise on the $20.9 million paid out a year ago in January 2018.
You can see some marked seasonal trends in Kindle Unlimited by looking back at previous years’ results. For example, December 2017 saw a KENP payout rate of $0.0050 which was followed by a fall in January 2018 to $0.0044, the same level as for January 2019. The same type of fall happened in 2016/17 with $0.0052 in December 2016 and then $0.0047 in January 2017.
For January 2019, using the calculation of dividing the total KDP Select fund ($24.7 million) by the US KENP rate ($0.0044) to get an idea of the total number of KENPs read during the month results in 5.61 billion KENPs, a hefty rise of nearly 14% from 4.93 billion KENPs in December. That total of 5.61 billion KENPs read in January 2019 almost certainly represents the biggest-ever monthly total for Kindle Unlimited.
Obviously, the way I work this out is real back-of-the-envelope stuff and has no claims to being a sophisticated calculation but it probably provides a reasonable guide to reading trends.
Kindle Unlimited would have got a particular boost towards the end of last year with Amazon offering three-month trials at just $0.99 and also including a free trial of Kindle Unlimited with new Kindle devices.
Kindle Unlimited has now paid out a total of over $864.7 million to authors since it launched in July 2014. At the present growth rate, the grand total is likely to hit $1 billion just in time for KU’s fifth birthday in July 2019.
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
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
Total for 2019 so far: $24.7 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: $24.7 million so far
Grand total overall of $864.7 million