Originally published September 2023
A friend recently posed a very serious, life-or-death question of the utmost importance to me: is subscribing to Kindle Unlimited (KU) worth it? Especially now that its monthly fee has increased from $9.99 to $11.99(+ taxes)? And my answer is that, mainly, it depends on how many books you truly, genuinely read a month. (Size of your TBR pile notwithstanding.) But let’s get into it.
First, the nitty-gritty: how does Kindle Unlimited even work?
On the surface, signing up for a Kindle Unlimited subscription makes sense if you’re the type of book fanatic looking to read as much as possible for as little money as possible, assuming you don’t already belong to your local library. It grants you unlimited access to a catalog of over three million titles, and that’s not just standard novels or nonfiction — KU includes audiobooks, comics, and magazines as well. (Also worth pointing out that Kindle Unlimited is different from Prime Reading, which is included in an Amazon Prime subscription.)
It works like a library in the sense that they “loan” you up to 20 books at a time, and you can take your sweet time reading them — there’s no hard due date in place. I also like that KU is available on both my actual Kindle and on the Kindle app, which I can access on both my laptop and phone. There have been plenty of times I’ve forgotten my Kindle on my way to work, but the app still offers me a way to read on my commute.
