With Mother’s Day coming up tomorrow, now is a good time for a reminder about Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited gift subscriptions that are available for 20-40% off the regular monthly price.
This isn’t a new deal but Amazon doesn’t advertise it and it’s nearly impossible to find. In fact if I didn’t have the page bookmarked I would have no idea how to find the offer on Amazon’s website.
It’s a good deal if you’re are looking for a last-minute gift idea, or if you just want to extend you own Kindle Unlimited subscription.
For those that are wondering what Kindle Unlimited is it’s Amazon’s ebook subscription service that provides unlimited access to a library of over 1 million ebooks, including some magazines, audiobooks, and comic books.
Access to Kindle Unlimited normally costs $9.99 per month, but these gift deals take 20-40% off, depending on the length of the subscription.
This is how the deal works:
6 months – $47.86 (20% off)
12 months – $80.30 (33% off)
24 months – $143.80 (40% off)
Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited library can be accessed using a Kindle app on a phone or tablet so owning an Amazon device isn’t required, but you can use Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets too of course. If you give a subscription to someone as a gift they can opt to exchange it for an Amazon gift card if they don’t want it so either way it’s a pretty safe gift idea.
These gift deals can be applied to your own active Kindle Unlimited subscription as well if you want to save on the monthly fee.
Some accounts are also eligible for 2 free months of Kindle Unlimited, but that’s not something that can be gifted and is only for new or returning subscribers.
Is it really worth it though? My impression from several reviews online is that the books are mostly for new authors or romance books. If you are into that, then it would be worth it. For me, preferring SciFi and fantasy, it didn’t seem like it would be worth it for my interests.
That’s what their free trial is good for to see if there are books you like. It would be pretty hard not to find anything out of a million+ books though. There’s a lot of junk, for sure. Pretty much everyone gets to be a slush pile editor these days, but I can always find something worth reading, and popular titles come and go regularly. Last summer I read several Philip K. Dick stories that were in KU, and that was the only way I was going to read them because there is no way I’d ever pay $10 each for books published several decades ago that you can finish in a day or two.
True enough. The nice thing about that subscriptions is that you can pause it and restart it whenever you want, at least with the monthly membership.
I mostly read mysteries on KU. Search some of your authors on Amazon, or search for science fiction. See what titles may inductee Kindle Unlimited in the “format” area (where it says its available in ‘kindle’, ‘hardcover’, etc.) I personally search for “free trial” and usually get 2 months free when I’m not in the middle of a free subscription. Last time, my free trial ended and the very next day I could start a new free trial! I read a lot, especially during the pandemic, and because I generally read all night, I get through 20-25/month. I love finding long series. (even if one finds only a few per month, it’s less expensive than buying the books). Start keeping a list on your wish list.
(inductee should read “indicate”. Autocorrect = Autowrong)
After reading Nathan’s post about it last year, I’ve had one free trial after another continuously since last May. That’s 5 in all. Some were two months, and some were three. The latest one will take me to August.