Amazon Kindle devices are more popular than ever. They provide admission to a vast number of books that are bachelor for a fraction of the toll of a physical copy. And ebooks consequence in far fewer dead copse, which that'due south a good thing.

Entertainment subscription services are as well becoming more than pop. People are less concerned with owning their media outright and are increasingly numb to the issues surrounding DRM.

Therefore, you'd expect a subscription service like Kindle Unlimited to be awesome. It'southward the best of both worlds, right? But Amazon's hope of over a million ebooks for only $9.99/calendar month is too proficient to exist true. Here are some reasons why.

ane. Kindle Unlimited Has a Poor Selection of Books

amazon kindle unlimited book range

Amazon likes to trumpet that Kindle Unlimited has more 1 one thousand thousand books available for subscribers to read. And while that figure is accurate, you won't discover many bestsellers or popular books on the list.

None of the major publishing houses have fabricated their books available on Kindle Unlimited. That means no Penguin Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, HarperCollins, or Simon & Schuster. If you have a favorite author, in that location's a good adventure their work is published past ane of these "Big V".

Right now, there are more 1.iv million books available on Kindle Unlimited. Of those, almost 1.3 million books are Amazon Exclusives. This means they're not available for auction anywhere else; in other words, they're all self-published. That leaves barely 100,000 not-exclusive books; it's almost viii% of the total. A large portion of these are also cocky-published, merely some are likely to be from small publishing houses.

While there's nothing inherently incorrect with self-published books, and success stories like Twilight and The Martian show there are some keen books to be found, the lack of any books from popular authors is a problem. Most people don't have the time or the involvement to dig through the heap to try and observe the next The Martian. You probably want to know that the books you're reading are well-written, properly edited, and entertaining.

The other side of this is fifty-fifty if you lot love reading indie titles, you've probably got a few major authors whose work yous want to read too. For most people, Kindle Unlimited simply can't replace ownership books. If y'all want to choice up the latest George R.R. Martin or Neb Bryson title, you lot'll take to buy them in addition to your Kindle Unlimited subscription.

ii. Kindle Unlimited Is Expensive

kindle free books

Although $9.99/month may sound pretty reasonable for all-you-can-read ebooks, when you consider the toll of the titles bachelor it'due south actually quite expensive.

The vast bulk of self-published books on Amazon sell for less than $5. Many are less than $iii and some are even less than $1. This means that to brand upwardly for the $10 subscription fee, you're going to demand to read quite a few books a month.

If you only read the most expensive titles you lot can observe, reading 2 books a month will meet yous saving some money, but you'll nigh likely accept to read three or four to make a saving. While plenty of readers can get through a book a week without any hassle, the temptation to read not-Unlimited books is going to be high.

Looking at the pick and the prices, it's hard to run into many people being well-served past a Kindle Unlimited subscription. If you like self-published books, you lot tin hands pick upwards two or 3 a month for less than Unlimited costs, without the recurring payments. That style yous can be far more flexible with how y'all spend your money.

And don't forget, at that place are lots of ways to get Amazon Kindle books for free if y'all know where to look.

3. Kindle Unlimited Requires an Internet Connection

The all-time affair nigh the Amazon Kindle is that, unlike your phone, it doesn't need to be charged every dark or constantly continued to the net to exist useful. If yous apply Kindle Unlimited, yous lose some of this flexibility.

With Kindle Unlimited you can just take ten books checked out at once. While that sounds like a lot, for many readers, this simply isn't plenty for an extended period away from Wi-Fi.

For example, if you're on holiday, you might go through a book a day. And if one or ii books prove to be boring, or short, or any of a number of other things, then those x books won't stretch to a week.

That means that at some point yous will be off hunting for a fashion to connect my Kindle to the internet.

iv. Amazon Prime Is a Better Bargain

If yous're an Amazon Prime number subscriber you already take access to Kindle Unlimited'south library for free. Y'all tin only take out 1 book a calendar month, but if there are a few titles yous desire to check out without paying for them, information technology'southward a decent way to do it.

Amazon Prime has lots of benefits, and it's worth signing up for fifty-fifty without the free ebooks on offering.

Unless you're ripping through self-published Kindle Exclusives, an Amazon Prime subscription costs less and offers endless other benefits like complimentary shipping, great Amazon Prime number Idiot box shows, and the underrated Amazon Prime Music streaming service.

v. Other Ebook Services Are Amend

Screenshot of the Scribd website

While Oyster was acquired past Google, Scribd is still effectually and for $nine.99/calendar month you can read three books and listen to one audiobook. You'll find books from bestselling authors similar Stephen King or Walter Isaacson available for you lot to download.

You can't use your Kindle to read books y'all take out on Scribd—you need to employ a web browser or an iOS or Android device—but that seems to be a reasonable trade-off for admission to a far better library. If you want to sign upwards for an ebook subscription service that's actually adept, Scribd might be a amend option than Kindle Unlimited.

Wait for the Larger Publishers to Join Kindle Unlimited

Kindles are astonishing and ebooks are the futurity, and there are plenty of other ways you can get more out of your due east-reader. But even though Kindle Unlimited is a groovy idea, it'south always going to lack the books nigh people want to read until the "Big 5" publishers come on board.

If you however want to give it a try at present, you tin can ever sign up for a 30-day Kindle Unlimited free trial to run across if yous like information technology or not.

Where to Buy Ebooks: 10 Online Ebook Stores Worth Using

There are plenty of places to buy ebooks online other than Amazon's Kindle Store. Here are the all-time online ebook stores.

Read Side by side

About The Author

Dan Price (1606 Manufactures Published)

Dan joined MakeUseOf in 2014 and has been Partnerships Manager since July 2020. Reach out to him for inquires nearly sponsored content, affiliate agreements, promotions, and any other forms of partnership. You can likewise detect him roaming the show floor at CES in Las Vegas every twelvemonth, say hi if you're going. Prior to his writing career, he was a Financial Consultant.

More than From Dan Price