Monday 8 February 2016

Monday Moods: Kindle Unlimited /// Some Thoughts and Review.


Hello! 

I've been meaning to do this post for a while now, pretty much as soon as I signed up for the Kindle Unlimited offer. 

I've signed up for 6 months and I paid Rs. 999 for it. 
As per the offer I have access to 1 million book in this 6 month period.
Books from many genres are available under this scheme. 

So basically this is a ebook library of sorts. 
In a very, very basic sense. 

I read a little about the offer and signed up for it. 
We debated between the 1 month and 6 month offer before deciding on 6 months. 

So here are some of my thoughts regarding it...

1. I  think it's a pretty decent deal. Now obviously no one can read 1 million books...nor would you want to read all the books they have on offer. But a huge catalogue means you have so much to choose from and I appreciate that. 

2. The important thing to note is that you don't get to own the books.
when you finish a book you have to return it to Amazon. 
You don't get to keep it indefinitely on your device. 

3. You can check-out 10 books in one go. 
And if you want more/new books you have to return books as you go along. 

4. Go through the entire catalogue or most of it before you decide to sign up for this deal. See if the books are to your liking and something you are interested in. Personally, most of what's on offer is not that tempting- no literary fiction to speak of and very limited access to well-known foreign authors. But the flip-side of this situation is that you get to explore and try out unknown-to-you authors at relatively low risk- as in, you are borrowing the book and not buying it! So, that's something to also bear in mind.

5. I read a lot of contemporary Indian fiction via this deal and I loved it. I liked that I read books I wouldn't have read otherwise and Indian books are my easy/quick reads. I read authors I hadn't heard of and books I would have not bought for myself. So that was a good deal for me.

6. I also read a lot of short-story collections and found several that I enjoyed immensely.

7. Because this is a lending library sorta deal, I had no qualms in not reading the books if I didn't like them. If I read a little bit and didn't enjoy the writing or the story or style I could just move, not read it and not feel guilty. Easy come, easy go.

8. It was so nice to have so many, already paid for books at my disposal and lined up to read.

Some Additional Thoughts: I am nearly at the end of my subscription period and while I have enjoyed having Kindle Unlimited. I am not likely to renew my subscription. The reason is simple, I have so many of my own books to get to, it's silly to add more to my TBR pile via borrowed books. I want to read my physical books and make them my priority.

But I recommend this program. It's a great way to read more and for cheap.
No matter how much you pay and how many months you sign up for I definitely think you get your money's worth. I must have read around 30-40 books, if not more, via this program and definitely made my money's worth.

I hope this post was helpful for some of you.

You can read more about Kindle Unlimited HERE. 

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