If you’re an indie author, you’ve stood at this exact crossroads. It’s one of the biggest strategic decisions we have to make, right up there with choosing a cover or deciding a character’s fate. On one side, you have the bustling, high-traffic empire of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited (KU). On the other, the vast, uncharted frontier of “going wide.”
As the captain of my own author career, I’ve piloted ships in both systems. My Throwback Series lives exclusively in the KU ecosystem, while the Conjurors Series was launched to explore the wide galaxy of platforms.
Now, with a new novel set to launch in just a couple of months, I’m standing at that crossroads again, looking at the star-charts and trying to decide which flight plan is right for this new adventure.
The Gravitational Pull of the KU Empire
There’s no denying the power of Kindle Unlimited. It’s a massive, concentrated system of readers—arguably the most voracious readers in the galaxy. For my sci-fi Throwback Series, choosing KU felt right. It allowed me to tap into a built-in audience that loves to binge-read a series, and the page-read payment model can be incredibly powerful.
Marketing feels simpler when you’re only pointing your lasers at one target. You can focus all your energy and ad spend on a single destination, which for a busy author (and parent!) is a huge advantage. For many authors, KU is their entire solar system, and they thrive there.
The Magic of the Uncharted Worlds
But then there’s the other path. The one that feels a little more like exploration.
When you go wide, you’re not just sending your book to other stores like Kobo or Apple; you’re opening it up to entirely new ways of being discovered. For instance, I’ve shared some of my work on Wattpad for free, not knowing what to expect. The result? Waking up to comments from readers in the Philippines, getting messages from someone in on the other side of the world who stayed up all night to finish a story. That global connection is an incredible feeling.
And then there’s the quiet magic of libraries. I’ve seen my books pop up in library systems in all over the country. It’s a thrill that page-read data just can’t replicate – especially when you meet fans from across the country who have read and loved my series.
That moment. That’s it. That’s the feeling.
It wasn’t a sale. It wasn’t a page-read. It was a connection. A kid found a portal to a new world I built, right there in her school library, and it meant something to her. That’s a powerful argument for making sure your work can be discovered anywhere and everywhere.
Charting the Course for the New Ship
So, here I stand, about two months out from launching a brand-new novel. Do I dock it at the bustling, predictable spaceport of KU, hoping to attract the massive crowd of subscribers there? Or do I fuel it up for a journey into the wide unknown, aiming for those library shelves and international readers, hoping to create more of those magical, real-world connections?
Honestly, I haven’t decided yet. Each path has its own quests and its own rewards.
But I’d love to turn this over to you. Whether you’re a reader or a fellow writer, what do you think? As a reader, where do you discover new books? As a writer, are you Team KU or Team Wide?
Let me know in the comments below.
Kristen Pham 