In 2019, authors earned more than $300 million from the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Select Global Fund, totaling more than $1.1 billion since the launch of Kindle Unlimited, according to Jim Milliot from Publishers Weekly…
Since Kindle Unlimited launched, Amazon said, KDP authors have earned more than $1.1 billion through the program, and more than 1,000 had royalties of $100,000 through KDP in 2019.
No other bookselling or publishing figures were released by the company, which reported total revenue of $280.5 billion last year, up 20% over 2018. Net income rose 15%, to $11.6 billion.
As part of its financial release, CEO Jeff Bezos was quoted as saying Amazon now has more than 150 million paid Prime members worldwide. In another area that analysts watch closely—the business conducted by third-party sellers—Amazon said the group “sold more than a billion items during the holiday season.”
In its release, Amazon did not break out full-year results by operating segment, preferring to deliver the report by quarters. In the fourth quarter, sales of third-party sellers jumped 30% over the fourth quarter of 2018. Sales through its online stores in the fourth quarter increased 15%, but sales through physical stores fell 1%. The physical store segment is largely comprised of Whole Foods, but includes Amazon Books and Amazon 4-star stores.
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