Three Words Added to KDP Select’s Terms of Service Mean Big Changes for KU Authors
Amazon Allows KDP Select Authors to Distribute Books to Libraries
As of a recent update to Kindle Direct Publishing’s (KDP’s) requirements for enrollment in the KDP Select program—known to readers and authors as Kindle Unlimited—authors whose books are enrolled in the program may now distribute their books through public libraries, a long-awaited exception in the program’s strict exclusivity requirements.
The change is noted in only one line of the KDP Select help page, where three key words, “and public libraries,” have been added: “During the 90-day enrollment period, the Kindle eBook can only be distributed through KDP and public libraries. However, you can continue to distribute print, video, audio, or other formats of your title elsewhere. See the KDP Terms and Conditions for more information.” The company has not shared a press release or formal announcement of the change, and clicking through to the linked terms and conditions does not provide any additional information, as the linked terms date from September 27, 2024. However, best-selling Science Fiction and Fantasy author Kevin McLaughlin explains in a September 3 Facebook post on the change, “Per the KDP terms of service, all their [KDP’s] help pages are also included in the TOS [terms of service], which makes this a legally binding change to the TOS.”
Although rumors of the change surfaced at least a week before the change was announced, many authors expressed concern about potentially breaking their exclusivity agreements to begin distributing to libraries. However, self-publishing expert Dale L. Roberts says in a Substack post about the change that he reached out to the KDP team in August and received the following response via email: “I can confirm that authors can distribute their Kindle eBook to public libraries during their KDP Select enrollment period. Authors do not need to contact Customer Support to confirm this is allowed.”
Why Does This Matter?
For authors who sell their books through KDP Select, this change offers an opportunity to expand their reach, gain credibility, and develop new income streams. Placing your book in a library reaches a whole new audience beyond Amazon customers. It may take time to build visibility within the library system, but having your book selected for circulation by a librarian lends some weighty social proof, leading to more reads and more reviews.
How Does It Work?
Although KDP’s Help Center could not provide a complete list of approved library services, an agent confirmed that Overdrive, Hoopla, BorrowBox, Odilo, cloudLibrary, Baker & Taylor, and Palace Marketplace—all listed as library services by Draft2Digital—would be acceptable to use for authors enrolled in KDP Select. Additionally, the agent wrote, “You may use services to do this during your KDP Select enrollment period as long as distribution is limited to public libraries.” Although authors can send their books to these distributors and aggregators through several publishing platforms, Draft2Digital and PublishDrive may be safer options, Roberts notes in a YouTube video, as others, like IngramSpark, do not allow you to opt out of retailers and focus on libraries.
Draft2Digital recommends setting library prices approximately two to three times higher than your regular ebook price. Draft2Digital’s publishing page explains: “Library services provide a catalog of available ebooks to library staff. Each library chooses which of those books to make available to their patrons. The library may either purchase the book through a ‘Cost Per Checkout’ model or ‘One Copy/One User.’” The cost per checkout model charges a small fee—roughly one-tenth the purchase price—every time a reader borrows the book, which allows the library to check out multiple copies of the book at once. With the one copy/one user model, libraries pay full price to purchase a single copy, which must be returned to the library before it can be checked out again.
The risk to the library is significantly less with a cost per checkout model, since they only pay when users request the book rather than buying copies outright, as they would with the one copy/one user model. Because of this, cost per checkout tends to provide more discoverability than one copy/one user.
Pro Tip: For more information, Write Publish Sell, an author business blog by Alexa Bigwarfe, provides a video tutorial on distributing to libraries through Draft2Digital.
The exception for libraries in KDP Select’s exclusivity terms is a potential game changer for authors who want to maintain the benefits of KU’s audience and promotions while testing out the advantages of a wider release. And though Amazon has yet to publicly announce the change, its authors are understandably sharing the news widely, too.
Jenn Lessmann
