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 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


January 2018 Kindle Unlimited KENP rate falls to $0.0044 as seasonal reading rise puts pressure on fund