Amazon Kindle Users ‘Borrowing’ 300,000 E-Books Per Month

Amazon on Thursday released some interesting numbers regarding the company’s Kindle Lending Library which officials now state has 5,000 books.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library the system offers a collection of books that Amazon Prime members who own a Kindle can borrow once a month with no due dates.

Along with the program Amazon recently launched KDP Select, a fund that allows indie authors and publishers to make money off the lending program. The program goes into effect when an author or publisher makes a book available with exclusivity on the Kindle Store for at least 90 days. Once accepted into the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library the books then earn a share of the KDP Select fund.

With the large number of books now available Amazon says customers borrowed nearly 300,000 copies (295,000 reported) from the KDP Select library in December. With the fund sitting at $500,000 in December authors earned $1.70 per borrow. Because of a strong customer and publisher reaction to the program Amazon has also announced that the fund is now offering a $200,000 bonus in January, raising the total to $700,000 for authors.

Amazon has also announced that the top ten authors in December earned $70,000 combined for their participation in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, a 30% increase on top of the royalties they earned from their paid sales on the same titles during the same period.

According to Amazon top authors say royalties grow by 449% month-over-month from November to December.

Among Amazon’s top authors in the program were:

Carolyn McCray, Rachel Yu, the Grabarchuk family and Amber Scott.

It’s been a big day for Amazon in terms of Author involvement announcements, the company also announced a new e-book format for Kindle users that allows for more author interaction with readers.

Do you think the Amazon Kindle Lending Library will ultimately be a successful jump for authors to make?