My KU Experiment Comes to an End
My KU experiment with The Cartel: The Apprentice, Volume 1 ends today.
There is no question that the per 'book' royalty is substantially better than on the $1.99 that seems to be price point needed to encourage readers to give it a try.
The loss of sales from other platforms was roughly offset by what appears to be increased 'book' sales on Amazon, but the KU experiment didn't increase sales. Although the actual number of 'new readers' is a guess due to the way KU reads are tracked and reported.
As we know, KU's page counting algorithms are limited. Claims that KU can 'tell if pages have been read rather than skipped' have been debunked. So, I have know way of knowing: 1) if the page counts reflect complete reads or a high incidence of abandonment; or 2) if readers have finished, but reset to the prologue or character list before returning.
To be fair to Amazon's KU program, I have not fully exploited all the marketing and advertising programs available. So it is possible, more 'sales' of the Cartel could have been achieved. Somehow, there is never enough time to market as well as write.
BUT - this is a big one - sales of the next books in the series are not as strong as when readers 'buy' The Cartel. Is that because KU readers simply move onto the next 'free read' - of which there are thousands? Is that the 'sales' are people more willing to try an unknown author but also quicker to abandon and move on to the next 'freebie'? I have no way of knowing.
Ultimately, what I hope for with each sale of the Cartel is an enthusiastic reader who will go onto buy and read Bright Star: The Apprentice, Volume 2, Transgressions: The Apprentice, Volume 3 and all the other books to come.
So, for now, KU and The Cartel: The Apprentice, Volume 1 are parting ways. It will remain available on Amazon at the bargain price of US$1.99 and will reappear at Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Kobo.
There is no question that the per 'book' royalty is substantially better than on the $1.99 that seems to be price point needed to encourage readers to give it a try.
The loss of sales from other platforms was roughly offset by what appears to be increased 'book' sales on Amazon, but the KU experiment didn't increase sales. Although the actual number of 'new readers' is a guess due to the way KU reads are tracked and reported.
As we know, KU's page counting algorithms are limited. Claims that KU can 'tell if pages have been read rather than skipped' have been debunked. So, I have know way of knowing: 1) if the page counts reflect complete reads or a high incidence of abandonment; or 2) if readers have finished, but reset to the prologue or character list before returning.
To be fair to Amazon's KU program, I have not fully exploited all the marketing and advertising programs available. So it is possible, more 'sales' of the Cartel could have been achieved. Somehow, there is never enough time to market as well as write.
BUT - this is a big one - sales of the next books in the series are not as strong as when readers 'buy' The Cartel. Is that because KU readers simply move onto the next 'free read' - of which there are thousands? Is that the 'sales' are people more willing to try an unknown author but also quicker to abandon and move on to the next 'freebie'? I have no way of knowing.
Ultimately, what I hope for with each sale of the Cartel is an enthusiastic reader who will go onto buy and read Bright Star: The Apprentice, Volume 2, Transgressions: The Apprentice, Volume 3 and all the other books to come.
So, for now, KU and The Cartel: The Apprentice, Volume 1 are parting ways. It will remain available on Amazon at the bargain price of US$1.99 and will reappear at Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Kobo.
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I only just recently was able to find the 'reports' button on my book dashboard. Indies Unlimited have said basically the same thing you have in regards to not knowing how the Kindle Unlimited page count interprets.
Initially I went with the $2.99 pricing that allowed me to earn 70% royalties, but soon dropped it to 99 cents so that I could get free advertising on Indies Unlimited Thrifty Thursdays and have kept my eBook in the KDP Select program because of offers of more free advertising.