KDP Select Global Fund: Payouts & History
The KDP Select Global Fund, Amazon's monthly Kindle Unlimited author payout pool, with the full month-by-month history since 2014. · Updated May 9, 2026
Latest Global Fund (May 2026)
$70.3M
Amazon's most recent disclosed monthly pool
Cumulative since 2014
$4.7B+
Summed across 143 disclosed months
Growth since launch
28.1x
From $2.5M in July 2014
KDP Select Global Fund, monthly since 2014
Source: Amazon KDP — Royalties in Kindle Unlimited
The Global Fund pays Kindle Unlimited authors based on pages read. The series below covers every month of the KU-era fund, from KU's launch (July 2014, $2.5M) to the most recent disclosure (May 2026, $70.3M), a 28.1x increase across 143 months.
Recent monthly payouts
| Month | Fund | Note |
|---|---|---|
| May 2026 | $70.3M | — |
| April 2026 | $64.3M | — |
| March 2026 | $65.9M | — |
| February 2026 | $61.7M | — |
| January 2026 | $62.2M | — |
| December 2025 | $61.5M | — |
| November 2025 | $58.2M | — |
| October 2025 | $61.2M | Per-page rate $0.005007 — 5-year high |
| September 2025 | $58.7M | — |
| August 2025 | $60.1M | — |
| July 2025 | $59.9M | — |
| June 2025 | $58.1M | Print royalty rate change effective Jun 10, 2025 |
Annual Global Fund totals
Sum of the monthly Global Fund disclosures for each calendar year. 2014 covers July to December; the latest year may be partial.
| Year | Annual total | Months covered |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | $31.4M | 6 months |
| 2015 | $131.6M | 12 months |
| 2016 | $186M | 12 months |
| 2017 | $223.3M | 12 months |
| 2018 | $267.9M | 12 months |
| 2019 | $301.4M | 12 months |
| 2020 | $377M | 12 months |
| 2021 | $450.1M | 12 months |
| 2022 | $522.1M | 12 months |
| 2023 | $574.8M | 12 months |
| 2024 | $644.6M | 12 months |
| 2025 | $699.9M | 12 months |
| 2026 | $324.4M | 5 months |
What is the KDP Select Global Fund?
The KDP Select Global Fund is the monthly pool Amazon sets aside to pay Kindle Unlimited (KU) and Kindle Owners' Lending Library (KOLL) authors. When a KU subscriber reads pages of an enrolled book, the author earns a share of that month's fund proportional to the pages read. Enrollment in KDP Select requires ebook exclusivity to Amazon, and in exchange the author's title becomes eligible for page-read income from this fund.
Authors do not earn a fixed amount per page. Amazon divides the Global Fund by the total KENP (Kindle Edition Normalized Pages) read across all enrolled titles that month, and the result is the per-page rate every KU author is paid. Because the fund is the numerator in that calculation, its size directly drives author earnings. See the KENP read rate history for the resulting month-by-month per-page rate.
All-Stars Bonus, the pool on top of the Global Fund
Source: Amazon KDP — KDP Select All-Stars
In addition to the per-page Global Fund, Amazon pays a separate monthly bonus to top-performing books and authors. Launched alongside Kindle Unlimited in August 2014 as a ~$500K/month US-only pool (later extended to the UK and Germany per trade-press coverage), the program expanded in May 2022 to all 12 KU marketplaces with the pool raised to $1.5M/month. Amazon's current help page lists the 12 marketplaces and program rules but no longer publishes the pool size or per-rank tier amounts.
August 2014
$500K/mo
1 marketplace
Launched alongside KU as a US-only ~$500K/mo pool on top of the Global Fund
May 2022
$1.5M/mo
12 marketplaces
Expanded from 3 marketplaces (US/UK/DE) to all 12 KU marketplaces; pool raised from ~$500K to $1.5M/mo. Per-rank tiers: $25K (ranks 1-10), $10K (11-20), $5K (21-30), $2,500 (31-50), $1,000 (51-100); titles $2,500 → $500.
May 2026
Not disclosed
12 marketplaces
Amazon's current help page lists 12 marketplaces and program rules but no longer publishes pool size or per-rank tier amounts
Per-rank tiers (pre-2022 US structure)
Before the May 2022 expansion, the US schedule was: ranks 1 to 10 $25,000 each, ranks 11 to 20 $10,000, ranks 21 to 30 $5,000, ranks 31 to 50 $2,500, and ranks 51 to 100 $1,000. The May 2022 announcement said the expanded program would use "a wider variety of criteria rather than just pages read" and did not republish dollar tiers; Amazon has not released a per-rank schedule since.
Is KDP Select worth it?
KDP Select trades ebook exclusivity to Amazon for access to the Global Fund (page-read income), the All-Stars Bonus, Kindle Countdown Deals, and free promotion days. Whether the trade pays off depends on the genre and the author's distribution. In genres with heavy KU readership, romance, thrillers, sci-fi and fantasy, where readers binge and borrow rather than buy, Global Fund page-read income can exceed direct ebook sales, and exclusivity costs little because few readers buy on other stores. Authors with strong sales on Apple Books, Kobo, or Google Play, or those selling box sets and direct, often earn more staying wide. Enrollment runs in 90-day terms, so KDP Select is a per-title, renewable decision rather than a permanent one. The Global Fund figures on this page are the single most useful input for sizing the upside before enrolling.
What the KDP Select Global Fund pays each month
The KDP Select Global Fund is the pool of money Amazon sets aside every month to pay Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners' Lending Library authors for pages read. The most recent disclosed month (May 2026) was $70.3M. The fund has grown from $2.5M in its first KU month (July 2014) to today, a 28.1x increase across 143 months. Summed across every disclosed month, Amazon has allocated more than $4.7B to the Global Fund since 2014.
How the Global Fund sets the KENP read rate
Authors do not earn a fixed amount per page in Kindle Unlimited. Instead, Amazon divides the monthly Global Fund by the total KENP (Kindle Edition Normalized Pages) read across all enrolled titles that month. That quotient is the per-page rate, which has hovered around $0.0045 in recent years. A bigger fund or fewer total pages pushes the rate up; more pages read against a flat fund pushes it down. The Global Fund is therefore the numerator that every KU author's earnings depend on.
Global Fund vs. All-Stars Bonus
KDP Select pays authors through two separate monthly pools. The Global Fund pays per page read and accounts for the vast majority of KU royalties. On top of it, Amazon pays a smaller All-Stars Bonus to top-performing books and authors. Launched in August 2014 as a US-only pool of roughly $500K per month, the All-Stars Bonus expanded in May 2022 to all 12 KU marketplaces with the pool raised to $1.5M per month. The figure Amazon highlights on its KDP help page is the Global Fund alone; the All-Stars Bonus is disclosed separately and, since 2022, only partially.
Methodology
Monthly Global Fund. Amazon publishes the live month's Global Fund figure on its KDP "Royalties in Kindle Unlimited" help page (overwritten each month) and historically posted a permanent per-month announcement on its KDP Community forum. We capture each month at publication and append a row to our typed time-series.
Annual totals. Each year's figure is the sum of that calendar year's monthly Global Fund disclosures. 2014 covers July to December; the latest year may be partial.
All-Stars Bonus. Launch (Aug 2014, ~$500K/mo, US-only) and May 2022 expansion ($1.5M/mo, 12 marketplaces) figures come from Amazon's KDP Select All-Stars help page at the time and trade-press coverage of the announcement. Amazon's current help page lists program rules and marketplaces but no longer publishes pool size or per-rank tiers; we mark the current value as not disclosed rather than substitute an estimate.
KDP Select Global Fund FAQ
What is the KDP Select Global Fund?
How much is the KDP Select Global Fund this month?
How does the Global Fund decide what authors get paid per page?
How big has the KDP Select Global Fund grown since 2014?
Is KDP Select worth it for authors?
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