[Cause]

Anyone on the forum make use of Kindle unlimited? Seems like it could be a sweet deal. 10 Dollars a month for access to 1 million books for free. However the devil is in the details. Do new books become available quickly? Do they have a good selection of fantasy?

Anyway just curious for somebodies experience

[Puck]

I've never used it, but the last time I ckecked it was mostly a couple bestsellers to lure you in, then a lot of classics (which you can fidn elsewhere for free anyway), self-help books and self-published stuff. And Amazon has it as part of their contract with self-published authors that they can only be included in Kindle Unlimited if they agree to not publish their books anywhere else but on Amazon, so you can imagine who would and wouldn't sign that. No idea if any of this has changed, but you're unlikely to find many of the currently cosidered 'hot' books on there. Everywhere I look I see recommendations for Amazon Prime instead of Kindle Unlimited because the former includes Prime Reading and Kindle Owners' Lending Library, so maybe that would be more your thing?

You could also try and see if books you want to read have the 'kindle unlimited' thing or not and see how many those are.

[Cause]

I have prime reading. Does not feel very useful. Unlimited is supposed to be the upgrade

[Puck]

You know, you could just sign up for the free trial and look around? All I know for sure is that books from a bunch of big publishers aren't included in Kindle Unlimited at all, which includes Macmillan, who own Tor, one of the biggest providers of F & SciFi atm. For me, that's a definite deal breaker and the reason I never bothered trying out KU. That said, if you read as fast as some people on here and don't mind your selection consisting of mostly unheard of authors (hey, I mean, everyone deserves a chance, I'd gladly read a self-pub book if I hear it's good) it's probably a good deal? (For you, authors don't really earn anything through KU unless their book is massively popular, which I find dubious at best but which is also a different topic.)

Just my two cents. Maybe someone her actually has KU and can offer a better informed opinion.

[Stalker]

I agree with Puck's assessment. I sign up periodically when they have stuff that I'm interested in and am currently a member on a 3 month for $1 plan. (side note - it seems like the free trial offer resets every 3-4 months or so, so I've gotten several months for free).

The main focus is on indie books, which is ok if you can find the right ones. I've had to put down several books due to quality, story, etc. You can find a lot of Mark Lawrence's self published fantasy blog off (SPFBO) books on there, some are well worth reading. There's a lot of the new lit-rpg genre being self published too - they're a mixed bag. I've had the best luck with scifi authors like BV Larson, Blake Crouch, and Glynn Stewart. It's not groundbreaking stuff but it's fun. Occasional grammar / language issues but it doesn't bother me unless it's happening every page.

Probably worth trying the free trial and seeing what you think. I generally find more than 1 month at a time is not worth it, but I'm also a fast reader.