If your ebook is in Kindle Unlimited, you can’t hand it out free on your website or as a thank-you for joining your email list. This week, check which of your ebooks are enrolled, and pick one small extra piece that isn’t, to use as your free gift instead.
Many authors grow an email list with a free gift for new subscribers. You may hear it called a reader magnet. It’s a good habit. The trouble starts when the gift is the same ebook you have in Kindle Unlimited.
What Amazon’s rule says
Kindle Unlimited comes from a program called KDP Select. Amazon’s help page, How to enroll in KDP Select (checked 10 October 2026), says that during the 90-day enrollment period, the Kindle eBook can only be distributed through KDP and public libraries. The KDP Select page adds that this includes your website and blogs.
The same help page lists what you can still do:
- Print and audio are free to go anywhere. The rule covers the ebook only. Paperback, hardcover, and audio editions can be sold or shared elsewhere.
- A short sample is allowed. You may share up to 10% of the ebook on other sites as a sample. Amazon says that’s roughly the length of the free Kindle sample.
- You can leave. Enrollment renews every 90 days unless you untick the automatic renewal box.
Talking about the book is fine too. In a 3 September 2026 post on KDP Select, BookFunnel, a service authors use to send ebooks to readers, puts it plainly: you can advertise your Kindle Unlimited book anywhere, as long as readers buy or borrow it on Amazon.
Five steps for this week
- Check each ebook. On your KDP Bookshelf, click the three dots next to a book and choose Manage KDP Select. You’ll see whether it’s enrolled, plus the start and end dates.
- Pick one small extra. A short story, a few bonus chapters, or a one-page checklist. It must be a separate piece that isn’t enrolled in KDP Select, not the Kindle Unlimited book itself.
- Tie it to the main book. Same characters, same world, or same topic. A reader who enjoys the gift should want the book next.
- Make it your sign-up gift. Put the download link in the welcome email your email service sends to new subscribers.
- Send main-book links to Amazon. At the end of the gift, on your website, and in your emails, link the Kindle Unlimited book to its Amazon page.
A small example
Say book one of your cozy mystery series is in Kindle Unlimited. You write a short story about the first small case your detective ever solved. That story isn’t enrolled, so it can be the free gift in your welcome email. Its last page links to book one on Amazon, where Kindle Unlimited members can borrow it and anyone can buy it.
If you’re unsure
BookFunnel’s post notes that a few authors who shared samples ran into trouble, and the reason wasn’t clear. Its advice, and ours, is the simple path: keep the Kindle Unlimited ebook on Amazon only, and give away something else.
One lesson for this Saturday: keep your Kindle Unlimited ebook on Amazon, and let a small extra do the list building.