Kindle Unlimited, LTUE, and Other Things · 8:44pm Feb 11th, 2017
KINDLE UNLIMITED
So, I actually like seeing reads for my books on Kindle Unlimited. Especially for Colony. And not just because Colony is long enough that I pretty much make the same amount of money off of a KU read as I do a purchase. Nor because I like KU—which, for the record, I do; it's as close as we've gotten to "Netflix for books" so KU readers, enjoy! But because it's one of the closest available methods I have to tracking reader's reactions to my work short of reviews, ratings, and sales.
See, KU gives me, the author, access to the daily page count totals for each of my books. Someone read 100 pages in a day? I can see that. Not who it was, nor when save a date, but I just get to see that someone's reading my book.
The thing is, I can sort of track someone's engagement with my books. And I can see how, over a few days, they get sucked further and further in, until reading Colony is all they're doing. The first day, someone will read maybe 100 pages. The next day they'll read 100 more. Then the day after that ... they're reading 150. Following that? 300. From there it turns into a sprint to the finish—we're talking 500 or 600 words in a single day.
I love seeing these little patterns in my KU readers. It's a good way to tell how readers are being engaged with my books—they're getting caught up in the action as the book moves towards the end! Granted, I still get those who read through the entire 1100+ page work in a single day, which is also good and fun to see, but it's pretty satisfying to "see" a reader go through this progression of "Okay, this is pretty good" followed by "Okay, this is really good" to "Drop everything I need to know how this ends now!"
Catch up with the rest of this news post at Unusual Things
It's about the same pattern I go through when I pick up a Dresden Files book. Looks like you're in good company.
My reading picked up over the course of the book. :) Especially once I hit the halfway mark. But how on earth does someone read 1100+ pages in a day? I'm a fast reader and after 500-600 pages (which I can read on a good day) I need a break.
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Some people are just quick readers. The last three books in the Codex Alera series took me all weekend ... But I read them all in that weekend.
I like the page count for the same reasons. I've got three short stories each about 30 pages a piece (I think? Somewhere in that ballpark) and seeing someone read 70-90 pages in one day means they liked one enough to buzz through all of them.