Towards a Post-scarcity Sales Model

On KU Readers, "free reads," and Subscriptions

Disclaimer: To be clear upfront, this isn't a criticism of anyone's choices on how to run their own business. These are some musings about my own business that I had over the past weekend during the Subscriptions for Authors Summit 2023 in regards to KU and “what’s next” for us and for readers.

Like many authors writing genre fiction, I had great success in Kindle Unlimited (KU) in the past. I did eventually pull my backlist wide, for a variety of reasons, but it was a hard choice. As a romance author, I made some good money in KU over the years. The fact that I could “set it and forget it” and still get page reads for years on end was just convenient, okay? A nice way to make a few bucks of passive income.

Of course the numbers dropped and we’re talking about hundreds of dollars, not thousands, but still! Money! Wheeee! That has been and continues to be a powerful allure for authors to stay in KU. It might be less of an argument for KU as things stand now, with ‘zon constantly restricting content guidelines and lowering payouts, but for now KU remains a money machine. In some genres it just makes good financial cents (heh) to stay there.

The meagre money I made off KU, and the grind required to stay relevant in the KU algorithms, has never been enough to tempt me to stay there indefinitely, even though the wider reach that KU offers provided the possibility of creating fans who can afford to put money on the table for books. It was a good (if limited) form of outreach to new readers, which is how I kept getting page reads over the years despite zero promotion.

When I dig back the layers of my reasoning, though, what I really hate about KU is the exclusivity. Once you are in the KU ecosystem it is hard to get out, but being there means you either must go all-in on KU or get out. It’s not just another distribution platform; it is either your ONLY distribution platform for ebooks, or you are not allowed to play in that walled garden at all.

I’m an author and a librarian, and let me tell you I hate that whole concept.

That’s from the author side, though. When I was considering the move to “wide” (aka distribution on multiple stores/platforms), I also had to consider reader concerns. Over the years, I had fans who wrote me emails begging me to stay in KU so they could read my stories. But on the other hand, during those same years I also got emails from fans who were furious that I was excluding them from reading my stories because they did not subscribe to KU. You can’t win for losing, sometimes.

Which brings me to one of the only valid arguments I’ve seen for authors to stay in KU (outside of “you are making bank”), which is that some readers are on limited incomes and the cost of a KU subscription is basically the extent of their scant entertainment budget.

I’ve always thought this was a valid point because yes, I know many people who can’t afford to spend money buying books every month but are avaricious readers. The local library only goes so far with them. (Have you met someone who has read ALL the books in a specific genre that their local library contains? I have. They are awe-inspiring …and slightly terrifying, if I’m being honest!)

I also get that as a fanfiction fan (reader and writer!). If I had to pay $2 or more for every fanfic I read in a month, I could not pay rent or buy groceries. In fact one of the things I love MOST about fanfiction is that it is, both literally and metaphorically, free. There is no scarcity mindset in fanfiction. Whether it’s on AO3 or on tumblr or some fan’s self-hosted wordpress site, I can enjoy it at my leisure in however massive quantities I desire.

I’m a reader and a librarian, and let me tell you I love that whole concept!

However, that is not a great way to pay the bills, if you are (like me) an author.

Back to the SfA summit, which covered a lot of topics around discoverability, reader habits, and customer expectations. KU was not focused on much, although some authors are using both KU and subscription models for their businesses. Which reflects something I truly love about the subscription model: that the delivery of content by authors can be customized to what we want it to be as well as what works best for our readers. Some genre authors make very good money in KU and want to keep doing that while also building up a subscriptions empire, and I salute them! It’s possible to have a model where you post free reads on Wattpad and Patreon, or charging for early access, then pull/lock the content to either sell wide or add to KU later (if you are thinking about this, be aware that pulling the content down completely is required, or KU will ding your account and possibly shut it down for breaking the TOS you have with them!). This “scarcity” model is tried and true, and can pull in a lot of money.

However during the many discussions in Q&A sessions about discoverability and finding fans as subscription authors, KU was repeatedly brought up along with Wattpad, RoyalRoad, and a variety of other outlets. I dismissed KU out of hand, and at one point had to sit back and ask myself why. Because I did make money in KU in the past, and I could do it again, even if only posting the stories as serialized fiction to my subscribers first before locking it all up on KU.

I realized that a primary reason I’m so attracted to using the subscription model and completely unwilling to consider KU again is that I can give readers free access to my stories. I, personally, hate the scarcity sales model. I’m very copyleft in general, anyway.

My model, which is not for everybody, is to post early access and extras to my paid subscribers first, then slowly release the stories into the wild. People who want to read my work for free will have to wait a while, as early-access subscribers will get it first, but they will still be able to read the stories eventually. Nothing is more affordable than “free” after all!

And they will stay free.

How is that going to make me money, you ask?

Because a post-scarcity sales model is about community and mutual support.

How many times have you listened to a song on Spotify or Amazon Music and then bought it? How often have you purchased expensive tickets to a concert even though you can hear all the same songs for “free” on a streaming platform? There are a lot of examples I can use, but the point I’m making is that if you love an artist, you want to support them and you want to be a part of the community that loves them. The community aspect of fandom and fans’ willingness to support the creators/performers they adore is legitimately awesome.

I want to be an author whose readers love my work, not just the genre or the trope or the cover art.

Which means that ultimately my publishing model is about the bigger picture, the long-term picture. The people who put down cold hard digital cash to subscribe to what I write are not doing it because they just want the story. If they are patient, they can read the story for free down the road.

Instead, they are supporting me because they want to support me and they want to be a part of the process (the fandom, the community).

Honestly, that sounds a lot more sustainable for me. I can be me and write what I write, and the people who like me and like what I write and can afford to support me will do so. Those who don’t, or can’t, don’t have to. I’m not requiring them to pay a platform (KU, Wattpad+, or whatever) to read my stories.

They can do that for free.