The Kindle Unlimited All Star bonus stopped growing more than two years ago. Amazon announced $3.4 million for July 2024 and the same $3.4 million for September 2026, while the page-read fund next to it grew 19% to $65.9 million. That leaves the bonus at 4.9% of what Kindle Unlimited pays authors. The other 95.1% is paid by the page.
So what is the KDP All Stars bonus, and how do you get it? It’s a discretionary monthly bonus that Amazon pays to KDP Select ebooks that “delight readers”, on top of normal page-read royalties. You can’t apply for it, Amazon doesn’t publish a page threshold, and since 2022 it no longer pays fixed $25,000 prizes to the top 10 authors. Below are the real numbers from Amazon’s monthly announcements, what a bonus is worth in page reads, and why a portfolio publisher should plan for $0 and treat any bonus as a windfall.
If 95% of the money follows pages read, the real lever is more finished books in each series. The tool I’d start with is ImagineYourBook, an AI book-writing tool that turns a prompt or your notes into a complete draft (one ~10,000-word Small Book in the trial, 40,000-word novels on the plans) with a cover and Word and EPUB export. Its Series Continuation builds a story bible from Book One so Book Two picks up the same canon, and Manuscript Rewrite reworks drafts you already have.
TL;DR
- The KU All Star bonus (now the “KDP Select bonus”) is a discretionary monthly bonus for KDP Select ebooks in 12 marketplaces. You can’t apply for it, and it’s paid ~60 days later.
- It has been $3.4 million in every month I could check since July 2024, while the page-read fund grew 18.7% to $65.9M.
- That makes it 4.9% of KU author pay (peak 6.0%, Dec 2024): $40.8M of $802.4M over the last 12 months.
- The old fixed tiers ($25,000 for each top-10 author) ended in 2022. Since then it’s awarded by book, using signals beyond pages read.
- Napkin math: on a $308/month series, writing Book 6 (+$42.20) beats a pro-rata bonus share (+$15.89) 2.7×.
What the Kindle Unlimited All Star bonus is (2026 rules)
Amazon’s help page now calls it the KDP Select bonus, though the monthly announcements still say “All Stars bonus”. Here’s what KDP Help says as of November 2026:
- Eligible: Kindle ebooks enrolled in KDP Select that meet KDP’s Content Guidelines. Paperbacks, hardcovers and books published wide don’t qualify.
- Marketplaces: all 12 Kindle Unlimited stores (.com, .co.uk, .de, .fr, .es, .it, .co.jp, .ca, .com.au, .com.br, .in, .com.mx).
- How winners are picked: “a variety of customer signals in addition to pages read.” No formula, ranking or threshold is published.
- How you find out: an email, then a line in the Prior Months’ Royalties report.
- When it’s paid: about 60 days after the end of the month it was awarded, together with your other royalties.
- No claiming: you don’t need to claim the book in Author Central.
KDP Help now describes page-read pay as “Kindle+ earnings”, because Amazon has started calling the subscription Kindle+ (what that rebrand means for audiobooks). The bonus rules didn’t change with the name.
The numbers: the bonus stopped growing in 2024
Amazon posts both pools in a short note on the KDP community forum around the 15th of each month. I collected every announcement I could verify:
| Month | All Stars bonus | Global Fund (page reads) | Bonus share of KU pay | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2014 (launch) | ~$0.5M | n/a | n/a | US only; top 100 authors + top 100 titles (Roger Packer) |
| May 2022 | $1.5M | $43.3M | 3.3% | Expanded to 12 marketplaces, awarded by book |
| Jul 2023 | $2.0M | $49.5M | 3.9% | |
| Nov 2023 | $2.3M | $49.4M | 4.4% | |
| Jul 2024 | $3.4M | $55.5M | 5.8% | First $3.4M month I could verify |
| Dec 2024 | $3.4M | $53.2M | 6.0% | Peak share |
| Sep 2025 | $3.4M | $58.7M | 5.5% | |
| Jul 2026 | $3.4M | $67.6M | 4.8% | Highest total so far |
| Sep 2026 | $3.4M | $65.9M | 4.9% | Latest announced |
Three things stand out:
- The bonus pool grew 6.8× over 12 years (about $0.5 million in 2014 to $3.4 million), but the page-read fund grew 26× ($2.5 million in July 2014 to $65.9 million in September 2026, per Written Word Media’s tracker).
- It has been exactly $3.4 million in all 24 of the 27 months from July 2024 to September 2026 that I could check, and no announcement I found showed a different figure. Over the same stretch the fund rose 18.7%, from $55.5 million to $65.9 million.
- Its share of KU pay peaked at 6.0% in December 2024 and has slipped to 4.9%. Over the last 12 announced months (October 2025 to September 2026) the bonus paid $40.8 million of $802.4 million, or 5.1%.
If Amazon keeps the pool flat, its share will keep falling as the fund grows.
What changed in 2022: the old $25,000 tiers are gone
Much “how to get the All Star bonus” advice still describes the old system. Until April 2022 the bonus was a public leaderboard: the 100 most-read authors and the 100 most-read titles in the US, UK and German stores got fixed amounts. Roger Packer’s report puts the pool at about $500,000 a month. The US author tiers alone added up to exactly that:
| US author rank (pre-2022) | Bonus each | Authors | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–10 | $25,000 | 10 | $250,000 |
| 11–20 | $10,000 | 10 | $100,000 |
| 21–30 | $5,000 | 10 | $50,000 |
| 31–50 | $2,500 | 20 | $50,000 |
| 51–100 | $1,000 | 50 | $50,000 |
| Total | 100 | $500,000 |
On April 28, 2022, Amazon expanded the bonus to every KU marketplace and more books, raised it to $1.5 million a month, and said allocation would “use a variety of signals in addition to pages read.” The email to past winners (quoted on Reddit) added that all bonuses would now be awarded by book, with no separate bonus for authors or illustrated kids’ books.
For you, that means three things: no published tiers, no “top 100” cut-off to aim for, and a big catalog under one pen name no longer adds up to a single author prize. Each book is judged on its own.
How many page reads do you need for an All Star bonus?
Nobody outside Amazon knows, and anyone selling a threshold is guessing. The only public data are anecdotes. One author on r/selfpublish got a first-ever bonus for a February with “around 240,000 page reads”, well below the “millions of pages” they had heard was needed. At 2026’s average US rate, 240,000 KENP pays about $1,138 in page reads (napkin math, not their actual payout).
The more useful step is to turn bonus dollars into pages, because pages are what you can plan. The 2026 average US rate so far is $0.00474 per KENP (January to September, Written Word Media). A 40,000-word romance is about 211 KENP (assuming ~190 words per page; check your book’s KENPC in KDP). One full read pays about $1.00.
- A $1,000 bonus equals about 211,000 KENP, or roughly 1,000 full reads of that novel.
- The old $25,000 top-10 prize equals about 5.27 million KENP.
For the rate itself, month by month, see KENP rate 2026. For what a read is worth in sales terms, see how much you can make on Kindle Unlimited.
The napkin math: why the bonus doesn’t belong in your plan
Take a five-book romance series in KU. Assumptions: 100 new subscribers start Book 1 each month, 211 KENP per book, the 2026 average rate, and Kindlepreneur’s example funnel of 100 → 65 → 50 → 48 → 45 readers per 100. That’s 308 full reads a month, worth $308 in page reads.
Now suppose, generously, that the bonus were spread across every page read in proportion (it isn’t). $3.4 million on top of a $65.9 million fund is a 5.2% top-up, so this series’ “fair share” would be about $15.89 a month. Compare that with two things you control:
- Write Book 6. If 93.75% of Book 5’s readers continue, that’s about 42 more reads a month, or +$42.20. That’s 2.7× the best-case bonus share, every month, with no lottery.
- Lift Book 1 → 2 read-through by 10 points (65% → 75%, later steps unchanged): +$32.01 a month, 2.0× the bonus share. The read-through rate guide shows where that leak usually is.
This compounds across a portfolio. Three series at this pace earn about $924 a month in page reads, and their pro-rata bonus share would be about $48. The bonus can’t move the business, but the next book can. That’s the same conclusion as the four page-read levers post, just measured against the bonus.
Don’t forecast a bonus. Amazon calls it discretionary, publishes no threshold, and has kept the pool at $3.4 million while the fund grew. If it shows up in your Prior Months’ Royalties report, spend it on the next book, not on next month’s ads.
What to actually do about the KDP All Stars bonus
- Keep ebooks you want considered in KDP Select. Only enrolled Kindle ebooks qualify, so a wide book can’t win. Whether exclusivity pays overall is a separate decision; see KDP Select vs wide. Don’t enroll a book just for the bonus.
- Write for finished reads, not page counts. Amazon says it uses customer signals beyond pages. Which signals it uses isn’t public; my guess (unconfirmed) is that readers who finish a book and start the next one are the kind of signal that “delights readers” would reward. Those same readers already pay you through page reads, so you lose nothing if the guess is wrong.
- Watch for the email, then check Prior Months’ Royalties about 60 days after the month ends. The bonus shows up there as its own line.
- Book it as a windfall. Leave it out of forecasts, ad budgets and cover budgets. If it arrives, put it toward the next book in the series.
- Ignore page-count hacks. The bonus requires compliance with KDP’s Content Guidelines, and anything that inflates pages without real reading puts the whole Select income at risk, not just the bonus.
| Question | Answer (Nov 2026) | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Who’s eligible? | KDP Select Kindle ebooks meeting Content Guidelines, 12 KU stores | Keep series ebooks in Select only if Select pays overall |
| How big is it? | $3.4M a month, flat since at least Jul 2024 | Treat it as 4.9% of KU pay, not a target |
| How is it decided? | Pages read plus undisclosed customer signals, by book | Write for finished reads and read-through |
| What reads do you need? | Not published; one author’s first bonus came at ~240,000 KENP | Ignore anyone selling a threshold |
| When is it paid? | ~60 days after the month; email + Prior Months’ Royalties | Book it as a windfall |
| What beats it? | Book 6 +$42.20/mo vs bonus share +$15.89/mo (napkin) | Put the effort into the next book |
FAQ
What is the Kindle Unlimited All Star bonus?
It's a discretionary monthly bonus Amazon pays to KDP Select Kindle ebooks that "delight readers", on top of page-read royalties. KDP Help now calls it the KDP Select bonus. It covers 12 marketplaces and is chosen from pages read plus other customer signals.
How much is the KDP All Stars bonus?
The total pool has been $3.4 million a month in every KDP announcement I could check from July 2024 to September 2026. That's 4.9% of the $69.3 million KU paid authors for September 2026. Amazon no longer publishes per-book amounts or tiers.
How many page reads do you need for the All Star bonus?
Amazon doesn't publish a threshold, and since 2022 it uses signals beyond pages read. One author on Reddit received a first bonus at around 240,000 page reads in a month, so it isn't limited to authors with millions of pages.
When is the KDP Select All Stars bonus paid?
About 60 days after the end of the month it was awarded, together with your other KDP royalties. You get an email, and the amount appears in the Prior Months' Royalties report. You can't apply for it or claim it.
Do paperbacks or wide books get the All Star bonus?
No. Only Kindle ebooks enrolled in KDP Select and meeting KDP's Content Guidelines are eligible. Paperbacks, hardcovers and ebooks sold on other stores can't earn it.
Bottom line
The Kindle Unlimited All Star bonus is real money: $3.4 million a month across 12 marketplaces, paid by book, about 60 days later. But it has been flat since July 2024, it’s 4.9% of what KU pays, and nobody can tell you the threshold. In the napkin math, Book 6 beats a fair share of the bonus 2.7 to 1.
So plan on pages, and treat the bonus as a windfall. If drafting is what slows your next series book, try ImagineYourBook. The trial is $0 today with a card on file and includes one complete 10,000-word Small Book; the first $24.99 Author-plan charge comes after 7 days unless you cancel before day 8. At the 2026 average rate, that $24.99 month (about one 40,000-word novel) is covered by roughly 25 full KU reads of the novel. You still do the editing, positioning and marketing, and no tool guarantees sales or bonuses.
Sources (checked November 4, 2026): KDP Help: KDP Select Bonus · KDP community: Global Fund and All Stars Bonus Update, June 2026 · KDP community: Announcing Changes to the All Stars Bonus Program (Apr 28, 2022) · The Publishing Times: KU payout tracker (Aug 2025–Aug 2026) · Writer Margins: Global Fund by month (2026) · Written Word Media: KDP Global Fund payouts and US per-page rates · Roger Packer: All Stars expansion (2022) · profitable.app: pre-2022 All Stars tiers · Kindlepreneur: series read-through example · Author-plan pricing and trial terms (pricing page). Monthly figures from KDP’s own announcements; three months between Jul 2024 and Sep 2026 (Oct and Nov 2024, Feb 2025) could not be verified and are left out. Napkin assumptions: 100 new KU readers a month, 211 KENP per 40,000-word book, 2026 average US rate $0.00474, Kindlepreneur’s 100/65/50/48/45 funnel, 93.75% carry-over to Book 6, bonus spread pro rata (it isn’t).