Free tool
Estimate your KU monthly income from page reads — free.
When a KU subscriber reads your enrolled book, you earn a per-page royalty calculated from the KDP Select Global Fund. This royalty (the KENP rate) is typically $0.004–$0.005 per page. For a 300-page book, a KU subscriber reading the entire book generates roughly $1.25–$1.50 in royalties — compared to $3.49 for a direct Kindle sale at $4.99. However, KU readers often consume far more books than buyers who pay per title, so the volume of reads can more than compensate for the lower per-read income.
KU subscribers skew heavily toward serial fiction readers. Genres that consistently outperform in KU include: romance (particularly contemporary, paranormal, and dark romance), fantasy (especially LitRPG, progression fantasy, and portal fantasy), cozy mystery, thriller, and young adult fantasy. Non-fiction, literary fiction, and standalone novels typically perform less well in KU — their readers are more likely to buy outright and are less likely to be KU subscribers.
Can any KDP book be enrolled in Kindle Unlimited?
Only eBooks enrolled in KDP Select can be in Kindle Unlimited. KDP Select requires 90-day exclusivity — no selling or distributing the eBook through any other channel. Paperbacks are never in Kindle Unlimited; the programme is eBook-only.
Do I earn more from a direct Kindle sale or a KU page read?
A direct Kindle sale at $4.99 earns ~$3.49 (70% royalty). A KU reader who reads all 300 pages of that book earns roughly $1.27 at a $0.00424 KENP rate — less per book. But KU readers read more books per month than buyers, and a series with strong read-through can generate multiple full-book reads per KU subscriber. Many authors in serial genres earn significantly more from KU page reads than from direct sales.
How do I know if Kindle Unlimited is right for my book?
Research whether your genre's reader community is predominantly KU subscribers or outright buyers. The best signal is looking at top-selling books in your niche and checking whether they're enrolled in KDP Select (indicated by the "Read for free with Kindle Unlimited" button on their Amazon page). If most top sellers in your niche are enrolled, the KU audience is dominant and you should probably be enrolled too.
Related terms