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KINDLE EDITION NORMALIZED PAGE COUNT
As of July 1, KDP Select books will be paid for the number of pages read—rather than by the borrow—for Kindle Unlimited and Amazon Prime borrows.
Authors can now visit KDP to learn what the Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count (KENPC) is for each of their KDP Select books.
- Visit your KDP Bookshelf.
- Click the Promote and Advertise button.
- There you will find the KENPC for your book.
The KENPC tells you how much you will earn if a customer reads 100% of your book.
My ‘Detailed Guide’ self-publishing books weigh in at over 600 pages each with KENPC, which is quite amazing considering they have a little over 200 pages in print at 8″ x 10″.
My 4-book self-publishing boxed set has 2039 pages according to KENPC, while it has 628 printed 8.5″ x 11″ pages.
Fixed layout books, such as those made with the Kindle Textbook Creator or Kindle Kids’ Book Creator, have exactly the same KENPC as the actual page account (after accounting for the start reading location).
As the page counts seem fairly generous across the board with conventional Kindle e-books, it seems that fixed layout books may be somewhat disadvantaged by the KENPC.
Note that it’s called KENPC v 1.0. That version 1.0 suggests an intent to improve it with more versions over time.
Maybe one of the changes will help put illustrated children’s books on a more equal footing. At least, that’s one issue several children’s authors have raised regarding the change in Kindle Unlimited policy.
The sales reports will soon show how many pages have been read through Kindle Unlimited (rather than how many borrows have been read to 10%; that 10% mark no longer matters with the new Kindle Unlimited policy changes effective July 1, 2015).
This will be a cool new stat: the number of pages read. (But it would be meaningful if the reports also showed how many books were borrowed. Feel free to suggest that to Amazon.)
What is your KENPC?
NEW KDP REPORTING
The KDP Sales Dashboard now shows two separate charts: one shows sales and freebies, like before, while a new chart shows the KENP (Kindle Edition Normalized Pages) Read.
The Month-to-Date Unit Sales report shows the KENP Read per book.
This will make the stats more engaging. If you used to only see a couple of borrows per day, now you will see pages read changing throughout the day. The trick is to not fall into the trap of checking your reports more frequently.
Unfortunately, the reports no longer show how many books are borrowed, only how many pages are read. (If you would like this feature that could make your pages read stat more meaningful, send in a request to KDP. Visit KDP and look for the Contact Us button in the corner.)
Write happy, be happy. 🙂
Chris McMullen
Copyright © 2015
Chris McMullen, Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers
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- Volume 2 on marketability and marketing
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chrismcmullen 
Just saw that before coming here. It’s strange to look at. My 3rd book is already over 800 (just over 400 pages in the book) and it will take a little time to get used to seeing a large number there. I’m so used to having the actual sales be higher than the ‘borrows/lends’ that I feel a little dismayed about their small numbers. Guess it was always in comparison.
And then the big question: are these numbers good or bad? Always something new.
That’s what I’m wondering too. Are those simply the adding up of the pages that have been borrowed or the ones that have been actually read? Then again, I only have 1 under the newest book. So maybe it is recording the pages read or flipped through.
They are supposed to be for pages read so far in July , and that’s what I think it’s showing. Though there may be a few bugs to work out.
Have they said what each person gets per page or is that decided at the end of the month?
We find out in mid August. Let’s assume it’s a buck a page and we’ll be extremely happy until then (but terribly disappointed thereafter). 🙂
I know. Part of the problem is that they create a solid fund, which means the payout is never the same. This is why I look at it as a bonus instead of a dependable income stream.
Every sale is a bonus, too. 🙂
I guess. When you’re a full-time author, the sales have a bit more weight to them. 😉
That’s the reason I don’t retire. What if the sales drop? Too much anxiety for me.
Write more books? Dance on YouTube? I don’t know. Depends on an author’s level of shame. I’ve met a few that I’m sure would do whatever it takes to keep going. They scare me.
Pretty sure that would cause my sales to stop. 🙂
Same here.
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
De-mystified and explained by Chris McMullen 😀
Thank you, Chris. 🙂
Got to spread the easier to understand News Chris 👍
I’d rather win the Storyreading Ape prize than the Pulitzer anyday. 🙂
LOLOL The Pulitzer Prize would bring you in a lot more hard cash Chris 🍌👀
Reblogged this on Armand Rosamilia and commented:
Kindle Unlimited Page Count
Thank you for sharing this. 🙂
Yeah. I’m with everyone on this that this sucks! May I recommend that authors switch over the PayHip instead so they can get the pay they deserve? Other than that, people are just going to have to learn to write better to keep the readers locked in.
Reader engagement seems to be the way forward.
Reblogged this on Charlotte Gerber and commented:
Interesting thought for those selling on Amazon via the KDP program – if your book is boring, you may not be paid much for it!
Thank you for the reblog. 🙂
Reblogged this on The Blog of Whatnot.
Thank you for the reblog. 🙂
The way I look at it is that we can choose not to sell on Amazon. We can sell on Amazon and choose not to participate in their programs. But mostly I feel that this is fair because I work hard to write full length novels and invest money in beta readers, artists, and editors. I expect to work to make my readers want to finish my book–it’s our job as writers to do so. Even if they still paid us per book it will still work out that the writers who can create books that people want to read will make more money. If the reader stops reading at page ten then you failed and/or it’s not their cup of tea. If they love it they will read the entire book and then tell their friends about it and maybe write a good review.
Regardless of how they choose to pay for sales or borrows now or in the future, reader engagement seems to have its advantages. 🙂
If we’re talking about short how to guides or full length novels, then I understand your point. However, I wouldn’t say the change is exactly fair. There are a lot of children’s book writers out there who work just as hard, some even harder than authors of novels. And for those who don’t draw, it’s very costly to produce a good quality children’s book.I don’t draw at all and I’m not good with computers so I have to outsource everything. I have spent thousands on creating my children’s books. Now each one of those books will bring about 5% of what a full length novel will bring in, yet I worked so hard on them and have paid out so much money creating them. I wouldn’t say that’s fair. Plus, to have the illustrations look good, they have to be in a fixed layout. I don’t understand why yet, but I have read this new payment plan is even worse for books with fixed layouts.
I agree, KENPC appears to favor books not in fixed format. Many children’s authors have been outspoken about illustrated children’s books. I expect Amazon will consider this, and if there may be a simple way to address this without introducing unintended consequences. Most successful children’s authors I have interacted with sell most of their books in print format, but for those who have cracked the ebook market and get most of their ebook audience in Kindle Unlimited, this is an important issue.
Actually I just checked. For my numbers book, which is 10 pages long, But with a fixed layout, it equals half that. So now my 10 page book is 5 pages and I will only make 30 cents on that download.
Yeah but there is some reader engagement that is deadly to the writer. I am working on a post about that now.
That sounds interesting. I need to remember to check that out. 🙂
Sorry but I don’t think a 10 page children’s book comes close to the work it takes to produce a 400 page novel.
I’ve been involved in a few children’s projects, and I’ve written 100,000+ word books (though nonfiction), and in my experience, the long written books entail much more (though I will say a very well done children’s book usually involves collaboration between a great artist and a great writer). As a reader, I’d say that most full-length novels that I’ve read involved more than most of the up-to-40-page illustrated children’s books that I’ve read.
But I can think of a few exceptions. For example, some of the illustrations in the Pinkalicious series are very meticulously done and greatly impress me with mega-attention to detail and incredible artistic talent. I’ve written dozens of books, but I could never pull off the artistic feat shown in that series. But that series is not in KDP Select, so I guess it doesn’t count.
Do we even know if this applies to picture books?
Picture books in Select are paid by pages read, like novels, though the images do count towards the page count.
I’m not sure there’s a fair way to do any of this. Is a full page stick figure worth the same as a page of a graphic novel that took a team of people weeks to create?
Yes, I agree with that. 🙂
Children’s books aren’t the only ones who are going to get hit bad… try ours, we’ve got a 205 page GRAPHIC NOVEL! A 400 page novel isn’t going to be as hard to “write” as it is to draw 200 full pages of art (production involves similar length writing, then translation to layout sketches of storyboards, final penciling to inking, then coloring.). Fixed Layouts are indeed getting robbed at this new rate… I hope KDP gives us a different point of view, or I’m pulling out.
My reflowable books have much higher KENPC’s than their print editions, but my few fixed format books have the same KENPC as the print edition. Unfortunately, the current method doesn’t discriminate between quality or intricacy of images (may not be easy to do). I can understand how some authors may be frustrated with the changes. Thank you for sharing your perspective.
I suppose the example they have on the KDP Support page is a bit much of an optimistic scenario? Oh if only >.<
"The author of a 100 page book that was borrowed and read completely 100 times would earn $1,000 ($10 million multiplied by 10,000 pages for this author divided by 100,000,000 total pages)."
10 cents per page is probably 10 to 20 times higher than we can expect, but it sure would be nice. 🙂
Just read this blog, & the guy did the calculations to be about 0.0057 per page. He breaks it down nicely, so any that are curious… http://rogerpacker.com/blog/low-payout-looms-on-kindle-unlimited-pay-per-page-system-as-amazon-reveals-count-details-and-nearly-2-billion-a-month-page-reads/
That’s about right. Around $0.0058 per page is a common projection. Thank you for sharing that article.
I have read quite a few books on my Kindle, I always read to the end but I rarely get the 100% complete number come up. This may be because there are acknowledgements at the end or other book info that I’m not interested in. Do you only get paid if readers flick right to the end? My readers seem to only make it to 97% for some reason
You get paid for any pages read, even if they don’t finish the book.