I recently learned of a great injustice: When a Kindle Unlimited subscriber borrows and reads a book and then reviews it on Amazon, that review is not a “verified purchase” review. It is lumped with the other “unverified” reviews. Now, before anyone jumps in to correct me, I admit that “borrowing” is not the same as “purchasing.” But you have purchased a membership from Amazon, and they know exactly how many pages of that book you read, because they pay the author according to how many pages you read. If they want to quibble, they could call it a “verified read” or “KU read” or something like that.
Stand up and be counted
If you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, it’s because you are a serious reader. Your opinion of a book is worth hearing! You’re paying for that subscription, and you deserve to have your reviews seen and respected. I encourage you to write to Amazon. Emails and phone calls are helpful, but a real letter is most influential. Do all three, if you like. Let Amazon know that you want your reviews to be given a mark of authority, like that of the “verified purchaser”. As I suggested above, they could use “verified reader,”
In the meantime, you can preface your reviews with a statement that you are a Kindle Unlimited reader. Amazon will still bury your review under all of the “verified” ones, but it will get seen sometimes, and it will lend authority to your reviews.
Kindle Unlimited is still a good thing
$10 a month for unlimited books, magazines and audiobooks is pretty amazing. No, not everything is in the Kindle Unlimited library, but it is BIG. It’s especially nice for readers of series. Audiobooks? I love audiobooks. By the way… both of my books, Baggage Claim and Snow Angels, are included in the Kindle Unlimited library.
In case you were wondering, authors do get paid for the books you read through Kindle Unlimited. Amazon pays authors by the page. If you read 10 pages of a book, the author gets paid for 10 pages. They don’t pay for re-reads. Amazon knows everything. It’s pretty scary.
Are you a Kindle Unlimited reader? I encourage you to speak up and let Amazon know that your review deserves to be seen!