Kindle Unlimited: What does it cost, what’s included and how can I get it?
A Kindle Unlimited subscription gets you access to over a million e-books and magazines but is it worth the cost?
Amazon Kindle Unlimited gives super-keen readers the opportunity to consume as much readable content as is physically possible each month.
It’s essentially like a TV streaming service but for good ol’ fashioned books and magazines.
For a monthly fee, you’ll have access to an insane amount of e-books, audiobooks and current magazines from a number of devices.
If unlimited books sounds like you idea of heaven, we’ve broken down everything you need to know about Kindle Unlimited below, for your reading pleasure.
What’s included in Kindle Unlimited?
Kindle Unlimited gives you access to over 1 million titles. This includes e-books, audio books and magazines.
Whilst this does include a selection of best sellers, a large percentage of these books are from newer and lesser known authors. Of course, that’s not a problem if you’re a keen reader that’s as interested in new books as you are in the classics.
It’s not all newbie and lesser-known authors, though. You can read the likes of Harry Potter, George Orwell’s 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale on Kindle Unlimited.
How much does Kindle Unlimited cost?
Amazon Kindle Unlimited costs £7.99 a month in the UK. That’s in addition to any other Amazon subscription services you might have such as Prime Video or Amazon music.
If you’re not totally sold on spending £7.99 a month solely on e-books and magazines, Amazon do offer a free 30-day trial of Kindle Unlimited, as long as you sign up with a valid debit or credit card.
How to use Kindle Unlimited UK
To use Kindle Unlimited, you’ll need to sign up for a free trial or if you’ve previously used this, a regular £7.99 subscription.
To search for a title, choose ‘Kindle Store’ from the department dropdown menu on the Amazon website, then click the link that says Kindle Unlimited.
From here, you can browse recommended books available with your subscription or use the search bar at the top of the page to find a specific title.
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If the title you want isn’t available on Kindle Unlimited, Amazon will offer you alternative ways to buy the book.
You can use Kindle Unlimited books the same way you’d use any e-book on Amazon. They’ll be available to access across multiple devices and have the same useful features such as syncing and text highlighting.
Can I keep books on Kindle Unlimited?
With Kindle Unlimited, you’re not actually just being given a load of books to keep for free. It’s purely a borrowing service, like a library, but with no return date. Instead, you can keep up to ten books in your account at one time.
If you’ve hit your ten book limit, you’ll have to make a return via ‘Manage my content and devices‘.
Here, you can sort your books by how you purchased them. Near the top of the page, you should see a drop-down menu next to the word ‘show’: click the Kindle Unlimited option to see everything you’ve borrowed.
Once you’re done with Kindle Unlimited, you can cancel your membership by going to ‘Your Account – Manage Your Kindle Unlimited Membership’.
What devices can be used with Kindle Unlimited?
Any device that supports books through the Kindle App will also support Kindle Unlimited books and magazines. You certainly don’t need a Kindle e-reader to enjoy them.
Many of the titles included on Kindle Unlimited also have an audiobook function; these will be clearly signposted when you go to download your book. Once a book is downloaded and opened, you can download audio via the options menu.
Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading: Which is better?
You might have noticed that Amazon has two different reading services – Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading. On the surface, there doesn’t appear to be a huge difference between the two. Both allow you to borrow up to ten e-books at a time for free, without a time limit on returns.
Beneath the surface, there isn’t much difference either. Kindle Unlimited is essentially a ‘beefed-up’ version of what you get with Prime Reading, which is already included in your Prime subscription.
Not to be too unkind to Kindle Unlimited, it does have its perks. Whilst Prime Reading gets you access to a number of bestsellers for free, Kindle Unlimited does go a bit further than this, allowing you to broaden your reading horizons with new authors and classic novels.
There’s also a considerable difference in the number of titles available. With Prime Reading it’s over 1000; with Kindle Unlimited, over 1 million.
Is Kindle Unlimited worth the cost?
That depends entirely on you. If you’re an avid reader with an insatiable appetite for the latest authors and magazines, but aren’t bothered about Amazon Prime’s other benefits, then Kindle Unlimited might be worth the cost. That said, you will need to read between five to eight books a month to make it worth your while – not for the faint-hearted.
The best way to tell if its worth your money is sign up for a 30-day free trial of Kindle Unlimited. From there, you can work out how much money you save over a month compared to if you had bought the e-books outright.
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If you’re a casual reader or just prefer bestsellers, you’ll benefit more from taking out a standard Prime membership, which includes Prime Reading at no additional cost. You’ll still have plenty to choose from, plus you’ll get to enjoy all the other benefits an Amazon Prime membership has to offer.
