Amazon Kindle Unlimited. All your questions answered

So, you are an avid reader and like most of your ilk, you have invested in a Kindle device to take your reading to the digital realm. While that is a nice thing given how great a Kindle is for reading e-books, the other aspect of the Kindle device that adds to its immense appeal the world over is the diverse and expansive content ecosystem backing the e-reader. In fact, Kindle Unlimited can well be considered the flagship Amazon e-book subscription service among several others it has to offer.

Read on to have a complete lowdown on Kindle Unlimited as we get down to answering almost any question that you may have about the premier Amazon e-book lending service. That way, you’ll know if there is anything in it for you.

Before we start, here are a few stats to help you get started.

• Kindle Unlimited makes for one of the largest collections of e-books that you can have. Specifically, there are around 4 million e-books, magazines, comics, and audiobooks on offer.
• The monthly fee is $11.99 with the first one or two months usually free. Taxes to be levied extra.
• As a valid Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can download up to 20 titles. However, you will lose access to all of those if you cancel the subscription but will regain access once again if you re-subscribe.

Next, let’s get to the bottom of it all.

The sort of books that Kindle Unlimited offers

With Kindle Unlimited, you gain access to a vast array of literary treasures, spanning from captivating bestsellers such as Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover and Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score to timeless masterpieces like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and insightful nonfiction like Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. Explore an assortment of genres, including biographies and memoirs, romance, self-help, and mystery and thrillers, to unearth your next captivating read. Immerse yourself in a digital library brimming with over 4 million books, all available through Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited.

To identify eligible titles, simply keep an eye out for the Kindle Unlimited badge as you peruse the Kindle Store. Once you spot a book of interest, click on the “Read for Free” button found on its Kindle book page. By doing so, you can swiftly sign up for Kindle Unlimited and embark on your reading journey. Stay updated on the latest additions and noteworthy discoveries by exploring the ever-growing collection of Kindle Unlimited books. Get ready to dive into a world of literary wonders that await you.

Magazines on offer via Kindle Unlimited

Among the popular titles that the service offers include USA Today, Reader’s Digest, Men’s Health, People Magazine, and Bloomberg Businessweek, to name a few. You can have the complete list here.

What about audiobooks?

You have audiobooks in the thousands with Kindle Unlimited. Look for the headphone icon beside a Kindle Unlimited title and you’ll know whether it’s an audiobook or not. Also, it’s an ever-growing catalog with plenty more audiobook versions of popular titles getting added regularly.

Is Kindle Unlimited only available to Kindle users?

That’s a popular misconception and it perhaps has to do with the ‘Kindle’ bit of KU. All that you will need to make the most of KU is the Kindle app, irrespective of the device it is installed in, be it a desktop, a smartphone, a tablet, or whatever. Then of course there is the Kindle device that is very much a part of the party as well.

Is Kindle Unlimited free for Amazon Prime subscribers?

Unfortunately, free access to KU is not part of all the other perks that Prime members are entitled to. Rather, you got to be a KU subscriber even if you are a Prime member to have unlimited access to all the content that the KU service has to offer.

Is Kindle Unlimited truly unlimited?

Yes, you heard that right. It’s a Netflix-like all-that-you-can-eat model where there is virtually no cap on the number of books that you can borrow. This makes it one of the best e-book subscription services for avid book lovers and reading enthusiasts. However, as AboutAmazon stated, it is 20 e-books, comics, and audiobooks that you can borrow at any given moment. Magazine subscriptions are exempted from this limit. This can be a boon for researchers as this gives ample scope for them to consult as many resources as they need might be.

Is Kindle Unlimited available worldwide?

That isn’t the case. Rather, it is available in a select few regions, those being the U.S., Canada, Mexico, UK, Brazil, Japan, India, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Australia.

How do I sign up for Kindle Unlimited?

It’s as easy as it can get.

1. Log in to your Amazon account and get to the ‘Kindle Unlimited signup page’.
2. Opt for ‘Start your 30-day free trial’. Often there are promotions and offers that extend the KU free trial period to two or even three months as well.
3. Once you have signed up and decided to stay onboard after the expiry of the free trial period, you will be automatically charged the requisite fee going forward.

Can I share the content sourced from Kindle Unlimited?

That is possible but only with members of your Amazon Household. However, before you get started with this, there are a few things that you will need to do.

You will first have to Create Your Amazon Household if you haven’t already.

1. For that, go to Amazon Household and select ‘Add Adult,’ ‘Add a Teen,’ or ‘Add a Child’ as the need might be.
2. There are Kindle Unlimited sharing instructions provided. Make sure you adhere to those.

Is Kindle Unlimited the successor of Kindle Owners’ Lending Library?

Maybe yes, Kindle Owners’ Lending Library has ceased to exist. That way, Amazon Prime members who had access to a select range of e-books don’t have that privilege anymore. The next best option is of course Kindle Unlimited where you have access to not thousands but hundreds and thousands of titles.

Does Kindle Unlimited offer standalone audiobooks?

That isn’t the case. Rather, what you have is Audible Narration, which essentially is an audiobook companion which you will have to download to your Kindle app to listen to the audiobooks, that is the books that have a headphone icon accompanying the title. What you need to keep in mind is that a KU subscription won’t let you have free access to Audible which is where standalone audiobooks are available. Also, an inherent quality of Audible Narration is that it automatically syncs with the e-book so that you can resume reading from where you have stopped listening to the audiobook version. As of now, there are more than 60,000 titles available via KU that have Audible Narration enabled.

What happens to Bookmarks, notes, and highlights once you cancel Kindle Unlimited?

Even if you cancel your KU subscription, your progress, bookmarks, and notes, highlights are saved in your Kindle account. To access those, sign in to your Amazon account and go to the read.amazon.com/notebook page. Also, if you choose to reactivate your KU account again, you will find all your bookmarks, notes, and highlights once you download the title. As with any Kindle book, those again are synced across all Kindle apps and devices.

Which devices allow browsing for Kindle Unlimited books?

While KU does not restrict you to any particular device and is accessible via any device where you can download the Kindle app, you can browse Kindle Unlimited titles only via a Kindle device, along with Kindle for Android and Kindle for Samsung apps. For other devices, you will have to do the same using the browser and visiting the Amazon site.

Can you have Kindle Unlimited titles on Apple iPad and iPhone?

Amazon does not allow in-app purchases of books using the Kindle iOS and iPadOS app but you can still have access to the Kindle books you need on either device via KU. All you need for this is a valid KU subscription. It otherwise is a slightly tedious process to get a Kindle book on either the iPhone or the iPad. You will have to get to the Amazon site using the Safari browser, log in to your Amazon account, and make your purchase followed by downloading the same to your iPad or iPhone from the cloud.

Can others in my family also access Kindle books using my Kindle Unlimited subscription?

It is very likely there are multiple smartphone and tablet devices in use in your household. If all of them are connected to the Kindle Store using a single account, all your family members will be able to download the book or other content of their choice on their respective devices. With KU allowing for downloading up to 20 books at a time, that should be enough for everyone in your family.

Can you gift Kindle Unlimited to someone?

Weird that might sound but Amazon does allow for gifting of KU to someone you wish to. This, in spite of it being a monthly subscription service. For this, you will have to go to the Kindle Unlimited Gift Subscription page and opt for any of the three long-term plans spanning 6, 12, and 24 months. After you have purchased a subscription plan, you can send the relevant link via e-mail, much like what you do with Amazon gift cards.

Kindle Unlimited still lacks books from big publishers

In what can be considered one of the biggest drawbacks of KU is that it does not have books from some of the biggest names in the world of book publishing. Those include Hachette, MacMillan, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Penguin. That way, KU subscribers could well be regularly missing out on some of the biggest bestsellers out there.

Most Kindle Unlimited titles are priced at less than $4.99

This has been revealed by the website eBookFriendly which stated that most of the bestsellers released by big-name publishers are priced above $10. Unfortunately, such titles fail to make it to KU on a regular basis. Instead, KU is flooded with books priced at $4.99 at the most. So, to remain profitable, you got to read at least two books priced at $4.99 every month.

How to cancel Kindle Unlimited subscription?

All that you have to do is go to ‘Manage your Kindle Unlimited Membership’ and select ‘Cancel Kindle Unlimited Subscription.’ You can do that any time you wish to, no questions asked. However, doing this will mean you lose access to all the e-books that you might have had with you while canceling the membership. All notes and bookmarks are lost too. You will have access to those again if you re-join the service