Jonathan Moeller vs. Kindle Unlimited – an opposite angle!

I’ve written before about my various experiments with Kindle Unlimited, but in four years of those, I’ve never actually tried to use it as a reader.

So I did that this month.

I have to admit that for a subset of readers, KU is a very good deal.  Basically, if you’re the type of reader who will read more than $9.99 worth of ebooks of a specific genre in the space of a month, then you will get your money’s worth out of KU. It’s also a good way to try new writers (though permafree books can do basically the same thing, which is why I have so many permafree books).

The various subgenres of romance are very well represented in KU. Science fiction is a close second, though. It seems like the kind of SF book best represented in KU is Military Space Girl Commands Space Navy. I suspect that a lot of thirty and fortysomething writers read Honor Harrington books back in the day, and when the Kindle came along, decided to write their own takes on the genre. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – the Military Space Girl Commands Space Navy books I’ve read so far in KU have been quite enjoyable.

So, as a writer, I find KU too much of a headache to use. (Whenever you hear about an outbreak of Internet drama among indie writers, there’s a very good chance KU is involved.) That said, if you’re the kind of reader who 1.) reads fast, 2.) reads a lot, and 3.) likes genres that are well-represented in KU, then Kindle Unlimited is definitely a good deal.

-JM