One million Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) select books have been borrowed since the launch of the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library program in November. The library now houses over 100,000 books, which is a huge increase considering the library started out with only 5,000 titles, and includes a third of the Top 20 Kindle Best Sellers like The Hunger Games Trilogy.
The KDP program has also been helping aspiring writers like Patricia Hester, a semi-finalist for the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and author of The Clover Mystery Series, achieve their dreams by generating worldwide interests in their publications, increasing their sales, and winning more fans. Hester had tried to market herself in other venues, “after a year of marketing ‘Whispers from the Ashes’ in book clubs, genealogical magazines, and local newspapers with steady, but slow results,” but her decision to enroll in the KDP club was key in her recent success and she stated that “the results were amazing.”
Barnes and Nobles has refused to sell Amazon publishing books due to Amazon’s “continued push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and the authors they represent” because it prohibits B&N from offering certain e-books to their customers.This feud has “prevented millions of customers from having access to content.”
Despite being branded with a scarlet “S” for self-interested, it is clear that Amazon has been helping authors increase their royalties.
Independent author, Terri Reid, also experienced a tremendous increase in the sale of her paranormal mystery novels (up by 800%). Reid credits KDP and her ability to offer books to fans for free for her recent financial gains.
The lending library is only available to Kindle owning Amazon Prime members. There are no due dates on items and members can download one book a month.