4 Reasons My Kindle Unlimited Membership Is Totally Worth $11.99 a Month

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Avid readers will likely get their money’s worth from a Kindle Unlimited subscription. Find out why one writer thinks the $11.99-a-month cost is more than worth it. 

I’m a bookworm. I’ve been that way since I was a child. And while it was initially difficult to give up the idea of a warm, solid book to hold in my hands and flip the pages of while reading, I’ve eventually come over to the side of digital books and e-readers.

Do I miss that new book smell? Sure. But my Kindle Unlimited membership offers enough benefits that I’m willing to give up that small piece of nostalgia in exchange for a whole new world of reading at a fraction of the cost of physical books.

Here are four reasons why my Kindle Unlimited membership is totally worth its current price of $11.99 per month.

1. Traditional books are expensive

If you’re buying retail, you can expect to pay between $9.99 and $18.99 on average for a paperback chapter book, according to the American Books Writer blog. Personally, I read an average of seven to 10 books per month, so even on the low end of that estimate, I’d be looking at spending between $69.93 and $99.90 per month if I were purchasing my reading material new at retail stores. In comparison, the $11.99 I spend per month for my Kindle Unlimited membership is a steal! And by using a cash back credit card to pay the monthly subscription fee, I’m earning rewards back on my spending on top of having access to a huge digital catalog of books.

That same American Books Writer blog states that the standard price for ebooks is $3.99 (while you can expect to spend significantly more for new releases and popular titles). At that standard price, I’d still be paying more purchasing my ebooks individually than I’d pay for my Kindle Unlimited membership for anything beyond three titles per month. So with my average rate of reading of seven to 10 books per month, my Kindle Unlimited membership once again proves more than worth the cost.

2. Unbeatable selection

Kindle Unlimited offers over 4 million titles, including thousands of audiobooks and magazine subscriptions. You’ll find best sellers such as the highly-sought-after Colleen Hoover romance novels that are front and center on the shelves of your local bookstores and airport shops, popular series, and classic literature. Whether you prefer fiction, nonfiction, how-to guides, or even recipe books, you’re sure to find plenty to suit your tastes in the Kindle Unlimited library. I’ve already read more than 50 titles just this year, and haven’t even come close to running out of reading material. And with new titles released all the time, I can’t imagine ever having that issue.

3. No due dates!

We’ve all been there — you check out some books from the library, but life happens and you simply get too busy to read them before the time comes to return them. So you wind up either returning your books unread, or you pay a fine to keep them past their due date. With Kindle Unlimited, you’ll never run into that problem. Once you download a title, it’s yours for however long you want it! It doesn’t expire or disappear from your library after an allotted time (although you can “return” it at any time to make room for more downloads). You can read at your leisure without worrying about due dates or the pressure of getting something read before you start racking up fines. You can’t beat that.

4. No special device required

If you’re worried about having to purchase a separate device, like one of Kindle’s popular e-readers, to use your membership, don’t be! Sure, you could invest a modest sum in an e-reader for yourself, if you so choose, but it’s in no way required. I read books for months just on my iPhone screen before finally upgrading, and I got along just fine. All you need to do is download the free Kindle app on your chosen electronic device, be it your cellphone or trusty tablet, and you can read your downloads from anywhere at any time. An internet connection is required to download books, but once a download is complete, you can read even without a wifi connection, making it the perfect option for being a passenger during a road trip, train and bus commutes, or on long flights.

Try it for yourself

If I haven’t convinced you that a Kindle Unlimited membership is worth its $11.99-a-month price tag, you can try it free for 30 days to see for yourself. As long as you cancel before the trial period is up, you won’t be charged for a membership. If you aren’t an avid reader and only make it through a couple books (or less) a month, you may decide that the extra monthly subscription cost just doesn’t fit into your personal finance budget right now.

If you’re already a member of Amazon Prime, you may want to skip the added monthly cost and stick to the Prime Reading library instead. It offers just a fraction of the selection, with “over a thousand, books, magazines, comics, Kindle Singles, and more,” but it’s one of many included benefits with your Prime membership. You’ll likely find plenty there to pique your interest if you’re only the occasional reader.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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