Amazon rebrands Kindle Unlimited as Kindle+ with AI audio

Key Takeaways

1Amazon is renaming Kindle Unlimited to Kindle+ without changing the price or the borrowing process

2AI-generated audiobooks will join the catalog, in addition to the titles already available

3KDP authors can use Virtual Voice for free to generate AI narration and will continue to be paid per page read

Why it matters : The integration of AI narration expands the audio offering without altering the conditions for subscribers and authors.

Amazon has renamed its unlimited reading subscription to Kindle+ without changing the price or borrowing rules. The major new feature involves audiobooks, with the introduction of titles narrated by AI and a free text-to-speech tool for KDP authors.

Price, borrowing, and existing listening remain unchanged

Amazon is not altering the price of the Kindle+ subscription, which remains at $12 per month for an eligible catalog. Subscribers continue to borrow books as before with Kindle Unlimited. This is a name change rather than a new product, and the reading experience remains largely the same. Listening to content has been possible for years on Kindle devices and the Kindle app. Some ebooks included free access to an audio version narrated by a professional, although this was not universal. The Assistive Reader and VoiceView accessibility features also allow users to hear the text read aloud.

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Audio expands with AI-narrated titles

In Kindle+, audiobooks play a larger role. The existing audio category is being expanded to include titles read by AI narrators. This upgrade is also expected to give authors the ability to add more eligible audiobooks, including works narrated by AI. Amazon hopes that readers will be able to continue their ebook with virtual narration during other activities.

Free Virtual Voice and unchanged payment rules

Virtual Voice is now offered for free to authors in the Kindle Direct Publishing program by Amazon. This tool allows books to be narrated by AI at no additional cost. The KDP program enables self-publishing on Kindle and the enrollment of titles in Kindle+ to reach more readers. The payment for authors enrolled in Kindle+ is based on pages read rather than downloads, with an amount tied to the monthly payment rate and the total pages read.

A new name for unlimited access at $12 per month

Amazon has officially renamed Kindle Unlimited to Kindle+. The subscription maintains unlimited access to an eligible Kindle catalog for $12 per month.