Amazon is planning to revise the way authors are paid when they publish eBooks that can be purchased or borrowed using the internet giants Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners Lending Library schemes.

The two schemes, built to supply the firms flagship eReader tablet with content, will be amended to compensate authors based on how many individual page views they receive. Traditionally, authors were paid a flat rate based on downloads, but once the payment plan is revised, authors who write longer books will receive more, while titles where readers abandon the book after a few pages will get less money.

The scheme will supposedly compensate writers who put in the extra effort to write longer titles, while also encouraging quality page-turners. Those planning on using tricks like larger fonts, short chapters and extra spacing will be out of luck, however, as Amazon is using a normalised page count that will account for the actual content read.

While the impact of the changes may not be huge (given that it only applies to books bought as part of the two Kindle schemes) it could theoretically reward independent authors who gather dedicated followers, and potentially even influence the shape of novels, as writers include more cliffhangers to keep people reading.

However, some are worried the changes could punish writers of material like textbooks, guide books and business-focused industry guides, where readers are unlikely to go cover-to-cover.