No doubt there’s going to be some read-through drop off if those readers are now forced to go through a slightly more inconvenient process of purchasing the next book – not least of which being the fact that they’ll be hit with Amazon’s ad-heavy website and platform, leading some that came with the intention of buying a specific book to become distracted and buy something else (by someone else!) instead.īut as Amazon hasn’t released figures about how many people purchase through the Kindle app, it’s impossible to know quite how much of a drop off authors might be facing, and consequently how badly it could affect their overall book sales. That alone likely helps drive series read-through, as the quick and easy ‘buy now’ button makes the purchase an impulse buy while the story is still very fresh in the reader’s mind. As series writers already know, the Kindle app and device will often ‘suggest’ the next volume once customers have finished reading the previous one. The first and most obvious effect will be that it will hurt authors by reducing the convenience readers previously had in purchasing their books. There are several possibilities as to what that may look like. However, it is important to note that as of Jan 2022, Android still dominates the mobile operating market share with about 70%! That means it is entirely possible that blocking direct Kindle app book sales on Android devices will cause more of a disturbance to authors than blocking them on iOS did.
Well, since this is the way things already work on iOS based devices and the sky hasn’t quite fallen yet, it’s unlikely that this will cause anything catastrophic. Apple have blocked in-app purchases that bypass their payment portals since 2011 – and go even further, by not allowing links that redirect to a third-party hosted webpage for payment, either.īut what impact will this have on both readers and authors? That being said, this move isn’t a surprise to many people. It comes as a result of Google charging 15% for all transactions (of digital products) made through apps available on Google Play, and apparently Amazon weren’t having it any longer!
You may have seen a bunch of articles this week about Amazon’s decision to end purchasing through their Kindle app. Why did they decide to do this? And what impact will it have for authors and readers alike? Last week, Amazon announced that they were ending the ability to buy books or manage your subscriptions through the Kindle app – meaning readers will have to go to the regular Amazon website.
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