KDP Select: Is the Bloom off the Rose?
Here is a must read for any author in… or considering… KDP Select. Btw, my experience over the past few weeks mirrors Russell’s.
http://russellblake.com/great-until-it-isnt/
My January was incredible. March too. April was okay but not as robust. Like Russell, I believe the algos have changed. But I’m actually not that disappointed. Some of you will remember my Junkies blog. Free books are fine… but 20,000 of them at a pop? Especially when we know in advance only about 10% of them will ever get read? I’m not sanguine about the future if this keeps up.
So what IS the next best thing? Will it be Microsoft coming to the rescue of Barnes and Noble and offering heavily discounted books? Will it be Kobo, which is trying to become the “Euro” choice? Or will the Zon prevail?
Jeez… this sounds like a bad soap opera.
What do you think?
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I recently did a promo for my book SENDERO. I got a decent bump after 7k free downloads but nothing like what others have mentioned. Mind you, my sales had dwindled and I had not even sold 100 eBooks before the promo-in the course of five months. I sold 20 a day for a few days after the promo and now I'm still getting a couple of sales a day a month after the promo-not shattering any records but definitely an improvement. I have friends who have books NOT in the KDP select program--who aren't moving books at all. So I'm happy--and people are buying (and hopefully reading) my book! But readers are getting savvy. I know am. Why buy a book when it's likely to be free at some point--unless I have to read it now*? Sites like kindlenationdaily list scads of freebies and we're also seeing a glut of indie authors fighting for shelf space. It's good (especially for readers) but it's bad if you want to be noticed.
I am busy working on my next book. I'm told that having multiple books during a promo is a good strategy. The freebie can lead to sales of the other books. I also won’t get in the habit of doing too many promos.
*And I try not to forget the most important thing: write a book people will want to read.
viva los escritores!
Max