Web Fiction "Stubbing": How Serial Authors Comply With KDP Select Exclusivity

On serialized web-fiction platforms such as RoyalRoad, authors publish stories chapter by chapter for free to build an audience. When an author decides to monetize a completed or partial work through Amazon's Kindle Unlimited, the KDP Select exclusivity clause forces a conflict: the full digital text cannot remain freely available anywhere else, including the platform where it was serialized. The workaround is **stubbing**. The author removes most chapters from the free site and marks the work's status as a \"stub,\" leaving up only a small sample, commonly cited as around 10 percent to mirror Amazon's tolerated excerpt share, alongside a note directing readers to the paid Amazon edition. On RoyalRoad, stubbing is a recognized and staff-enforced status: authors change the fiction's status to \"Stub\" in settings and can bulk-remove chapters. The removed chapters remain in the site's database and can be reposted later if the author exits KDP Select after a 90-day term. The distinction matters: plain Kindle Direct Publishing does not require taking chapters down, but Kindle Unlimited (entered through KDP Select) does, and KU page-read royalties are where much of the indie income is. Failing to stub a fully-available work while enrolled risks an Amazon exclusivity violation. Stubbing is often perceived within reader communities as draining free platforms of their best content, since popular stories migrate behind Amazon's paywall once they gain traction. This is one of the on-the-ground consequences of KDP Select's per-title digital exclusivity. See KDP Select Exclusivity: What Enrolling Locks You Out Of for the underlying contract terms.