This is a great question! And it can be kind of confusing, so in this blog post, I’ll break down the differences between the Kindle store, the Kindle app, and Kindle Unlimited. The good news is, they all work together, and the short answer is, yes you can stuff your Kindle—and keep those books forever!—without using any of your twenty “Kindle Unlimited” borrow slots.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this blog are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.
What is the Kindle store?
The Kindle store is the overall term for the online ebook store on Amazon. Here you can either buy books (and keep them forever), or borrow books inside a subscription program called Kindle Unlimited. These Kindle ebooks can be reader either on a dedicated Kindle device, or in an app loaded to a smartphone or tablet.
I have that! The Kindle app! But I can’t buy books in it? I can only borrow inside Kindle Unlimited?
This is a common question. Why can I only borrow Kindle Unlimited books inside the Kindle app? The short answer is, because the Apple app store and the Google Play app store would want to take a cut of the ebook sale as an “in-app purchase”, and because of the royalty structure, that would actually end up costing Amazon all of its profits on some of those books.
So how do I buy books to read in the Kindle app?
You can buy a book, to keep forever, either in your phone’s web browser (Safari on iPhone, or Chrome on your Android). I stay logged in to Amazon both in the browser and in the app, and purchases made on the website (inside the Kindle store) then automatically synch to my app after I one-click on them.
Some people prefer to do this on a computer, especially on a day like Stuff Your Kindle day, when they want to click click click on a bunch of amazing free romance novels.
So I can “buy” romance novels for free?
Yes! So this is the best part about the Kindle store: it’s not just paid books! They also have a lot of free books, and when you click BUY on that free book, instead of BORROW inside Kindle Unlimited, you get to keep that book forever. For free.
But I can only have 20 books in my Kindle Unlimited library, right?
Yes, that’s right…but that’s not your Kindle library. That’s just the Kindle Unlimited portion of it! In addition to the 20 borrow slots, you can also buy (and buy for free!) as many Kindle books as you want, and Amazon will keep them forever in your digital library. You can then synch them to any device your account is registered on, including the Kindle app on your phone.
PS - The dates of the next "Stuff Your Kindle" day have not been announced for 2024.. Join our free reader alert email service to get an exclusive notification when the dates DO get announced.
Until then, Subscription services provide a budget-friendly way to satisfy your literary cravings. Whether you're team Kindle, Apple, or Kobo, we’ve got you covered with reading-for-cheap hacks. We will keep you posted on the latest updates here on the blog, and also via our reader news email alert.