Writers up in arms over Amazon's Kindle Unlimited

New York

AUTHORS are upset with Amazon. Again.

For much of the past year, mainstream novelists were furious that Amazon was discouraging the sale of some titles in its confrontation with the publisher Hachette over e-books. Now self-published writers, who owe much of their audience to the retailer's publishing platform, are unhappy.

One problem is too much competition. But a new complaint is about Kindle Unlimited, a new Amazon subscription service that offers access to 700,000 books - both self-published and traditionally published - for US$9.99 a month.

It may bring in readers but the writers say they earn less. And in interviews and online forums, they have voiced their complaints.

"Six months ago people were quitting their day job, convinced they could make a career out of writing," said Bob Mayer, an e-book consultant and publisher who has written 50 books. "Now people are having to go back to that job or are scraping to get by. That's how quickly things hav…