Is Kindle Unlimited Worth It? March 2024
Kindle Unlimited and I have a long history. We go waaaaay back. All the way back to when it didn't make me wince each time the subscription left my bank account. With its new price tag, is Kindle Unlimited still worth the money?
I wanted to run an experiment to see if I could truly get the most bang for my buck while using KU.
This all started back in December when the offer I applied to my KU account ran out. And try as I may, there was nothing I could do to get a discount on that £9.49 price tag.
Do I think that, on paper, just shy of a tenner is a lot to fork out for bookish entertainment? Not in the slightest.
However, if you've had any run-ins with Kindle Unlimited, you'll know what a quagmire of questionable content it is. Thank goodness for Booktok and Booktube for making sifting through the proverbial shit much easier.
I recently mentioned on our podcast that BookTok has done so much for genre fiction, and none should be more thankful than the indie authors of KU.
What is Kindle Unlimited?
For a set price a month you can read as many books in the KU library as you want. There are literally thousands to choose from. You just click on the “Read Now” button when you have an active KU membership and it will download it to your Kindle/Kindle App. Load up and enjoy!
I think the currently cap is 20 titles on your devices. But who is really reading more than 20 books at a time? Just click the option to “return” the books once you're done.
How much is Kindle Unlimited?
Currently, £9.49
My biggest piece of advice is to wait for an offer. If you are a new subscriber, be patient and jump on it when there is an offer. These are usually better than the usual “first month free”. I've seen 3 months free, or 3 months for 99p. That kind of thing.
Also, what I will say, is that even if you subscribe at full price, if you threaten to cancel your membership after a couple of months you will usually be given an incentive to stay. This is often in the form of a discount. It's not a guarantee, but I've done it enough times that it's a pretty reliable outcome.
What kind of books are on there?
You'll be surprised at what you can find! The library is always being updated, and some of the more commercial and mainstream titles will leave KU faster than the indie or quieter titles.
Have a look at the library before signing up, but I mainline Romance and there is no shortage, through all genres and sub-categories. If you have a favourite trope, you'll find it on KU in spades.
Is it worth it?
I'm not a heavy reader. I'm not the kind of person who is racking up dozens of completed reads each month. This is why this felt more like a challenge than an experiment, honestly. I didn't read much this January, and I didn't complete a single book in February. So I knew I wanted to have something to re-focus my attention in March.
Hello, KU.
Here's everything I read on KU in March, and how much that would have cost me to buy on Kindle (correct as of time of reading):
‘Hooked’ by Emily McIntire - £3.95
‘Corrupt' by Penelope Douglas - £3.25
REDACTED (because I refuse to give this author any publicity. It was a 1 star mistake) - £3.50
‘Done and Dusted' by Lyla Sage - £5.49
‘Swift and Saddled’ by Lyla Sage - £5.49
‘My Dark Desire' by L.J. Shen and Parker S. Huntington - £5.49
Total - £27.20
Saved - £17.71
So far so good! I've read the most books in a month for a long time, and I would have spent more if I had bought the books on Kindle. That said, would I have read some of these if they weren't on KU? Maybe not. But I still picked them up, so we're going to pretend like it was a sure thing, regardless.
Let's see how April goes! If you have any KU recs, shoot them my way.
Written by Sarah
