KDP Select Fund: What to Check on the 15th

The KDP Select Fund is announced monthly, and your KENP pages are finalized near the 15th. Here's what Amazon says, what's posted, and what to check.

By Gundi Gabrielle

6 min read

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Alrighty, let's talk about the KDP Select Fund, and what you should actually look at when it's posted.

Every month there's a rush of guesses about the KDP Select Fund before Amazon says a word. I'm not going to add one. No number in this article is a prediction, and I'm only quoting what Amazon's own pages say, checked October 7, 2026.

What I can give you is the useful part: where the KDP Select Fund gets announced, how your payout is figured, and a short list of what to check in your reports around the 15th.

What does Amazon say about the KDP Select Fund (the official version)?

Short answer: Amazon reviews the size of the KDP Select Fund every month, announces it in the KDP community forum, and pays authors by their share of the total pages read.

According to Amazon's Royalties in Kindle Unlimited page:

• ✦Reviewed monthly: "We review the size of the KDP Select Global Fund each month to make it compelling for authors to enroll their Kindle eBooks in KDP Select."
• ✦Announced monthly: "We announce the fund monthly in our community forum."
• ✦Paid by share of pages read: "Author earnings are then determined by their share of total pages read."

That's the whole official mechanism. There's no fixed rate per page, which is why nobody can tell you your per-page number before the KDP Select Fund is posted.

What's posted about the KDP Select Fund right now?

Short answer: As of October 7, 2026, I couldn't confirm a September 2026 KDP Select Fund announcement, so I'm not quoting a fund number.

Here's exactly what I could and couldn't check:

• ✦Amazon's KDP Select page lists a line reading "Total KDP Select Author Earnings August 2026" with a dollar figure. That's a total-earnings line, and Amazon's own wording doesn't call it the fund. I'm treating it as a different number from the fund, so I'm not repeating it as the fund amount.
• ✦The community announcement archive wouldn't load for me during my check, so I can't tell you what the newest fund post says or when it went up.
• ✦Timing: Amazon says "monthly" and doesn't give a fixed posting date on the help page.

If you see a September figure quoted on a blog or in a group today, check whether it links to Amazon's own announcement. If it doesn't, treat it as a guess.

Why does the 15th matter for the KDP Select Fund?

Short answer: Amazon says your monthly KENP numbers can change and are finalized near the 15th of the following month, so that's when your KDP Select Fund payout math settles.

Amazon's KENP Read report help page says it plainly: "monthly KENP numbers may change and will be finalized near the 15th of the following month." So the number you see on the 2nd of the month isn't the number you'll be paid on.

That's the part that surprises authors. You can watch your pages read climb all month, then see a different total once it's finalized.

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How is your KDP Select Fund payout figured?

Short answer: Your share of the total pages read, multiplied by the month's fund. Amazon gives a worked example on its help page.

Here is Amazon's own illustration: if $10 million is available in a given month with 100 million total pages read, an author with a 100-page Kindle ebook that was borrowed and read completely 100 times would earn $1,000. That's $10 million times 10,000 pages for this author, divided by 100,000,000 total pages.

That $10 million is Amazon's example, not a forecast. It's there to show the formula. Two things move your real payout: how many pages your readers finish, and how many pages everyone else's readers finish. You control the first. You can't control the second.

What should you check on the 15th?

Short answer: Compare your finalized KENP Read numbers to what you saw earlier in the month, then look for the fund post and do your own math.

1. 1Open your KENP Read report. It's in KDP Reports, and you can filter by title and marketplace. Check the total for the month against what you noted mid-month.
2. 2Look for the date label. Amazon says numbers are finalized near the 15th, so a number that changed after that is a final number, not a glitch.
3. 3Find Amazon's fund post yourself. It's in the KDP community forum. Go to the source, not a screenshot of it.
4. 4Note the month it names. Fund posts cover a specific month. Make sure you're comparing the right month to the right pages.
5. 5Do the math your own way. Your pages read, divided by the total pages read, times the fund. Total pages read is a number you can't see in your own report, so use it only if Amazon's post states it, and write down what you can verify.
6. 6Keep a simple record. One line per month: pages read, fund amount, what you were paid. After three months you'll see your own pattern.

Who should care about the KDP Select Fund (and who can ignore it)

This is meaningful for you if:

• ✦Your books are enrolled in KDP Select and earn from Kindle Unlimited page reads
• ✦You're deciding whether KDP Select is worth it for your books
• ✦You run launch promotions and want to compare page reads to sales

You can mostly ignore it if:

• ✦None of your ebooks are enrolled in KDP Select
• ✦You're only paid from ebook and paperback sales

Still unknown about the KDP Select Fund (and worth watching)

• ✦The September 2026 fund amount, and the exact day Amazon posts it
• ✦Whether the newest community post and Amazon's "Total KDP Select Author Earnings" line will be described in the same way going forward
• ✦Total pages read for the month, which Amazon's help page uses in its example, and whether the fund post states it for a real month

I'll keep the facts that I can verify in one place: the latest Amazon KDP updates. If you're still sorting out where KDP Select fits, start with what is Amazon KDP. My Amazon KDP publishing guide shows where the royalty choices sit in the whole process, and the 70% royalty update covers the other big payout change this year.

A quick note from someone who's been doing this a while

I've published for 10 years and sold over 350,000 books, and I've only ever sold on KDP. The thing I'd pass on isn't a number. It's the habit: look at Amazon's own post, do the math yourself, and don't plan your month around somebody else's guess about the fund.

If you only do one thing after reading this: put a reminder on your calendar for the 15th, and open your KENP Read report that day.

Created By

Gundi Gabrielle

Top 100 Business Author · Carnegie Hall Conductor · Founder of Golden Bestseller Empire

Hey, I'm Gundi, and for over a decade, I've helped thousands of everyday people turn what they know into a bestselling book.

Along the way, I sold over 350,000 books, and was listed in Amazon's Top 100 Business Author Charts, ahead of authors like Simon Sinek, Brené Brown, Tim Ferriss, Robert Kiyosaki, or Brian Tracy.

No traditional publisher. No massive budget. Just understanding Amazon's algorithm and researching what readers actually want.

In my earlier years, I was a classical conductor & organist, touring the world, incl. Carnegie Hall & a performance for the Pope on St. Peter's Square.

These days, I love traveling as a Digital Nomad and orchestrating busy AI Agents 😎. Out of that came Golden Bestseller Empire — a complete AI-Powered Book Publishing Studio now helping authors around the world.

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