Amazon’s KDP Select – rewards are now minimal

Saturday (July 21) will be the last day our title, Eyes of the Seer, will be part of Amazon’s KDP select program. EotS was first enrolled on January 21, with its first option to be released in the program back on April 21.

In April, the results from being part of KDP select were still encouraging, and Crimson Melodies felt it was worthwhile to renew enrollment for another three month option. However, in these last three months, the payoff for being part of KDP select has withered down to very little – bordering on downright discouraging.

January into February

sales for EotS roughly doubled
two/five free-day promotions were used, yielding nearly 500 free downloads
there were 0 borrows

February into March

sales for EotS roughly doubled, again
two/five free-day promotions were used, yielding 577 free downloads
there were 2 borrows

March into April

sales for EotS increased by another third
one/five free-day promotions were used, yielding 122 free downloads
there were 2 borrows

You can see why we chose to enroll for a second 3-month term. Though there was a drastic difference in the amount of increase in sales in the March-April period compared to the first two months, it was still a significant increase. Also, the amount of borrows had at least remained the same between March and April, which was encouraging.

Here is where it gets disappointing.

April into May

sales for EotS DECREASED by 50% (returning close to February levels)
two/five free-day promotions were used, yielding 218 free downloads
there were 0 borrows (back to February levels)

May into June

sales for EotS DECREASED by 33% (returning to just above pre-KDP select levels)
zero/five free-day promotions were used
there were 0 borrows

June into July (these numbers are not from any KDP official reports, but from monitoring our sales)

sales from EotS are the lowest they have been since any month in 2011
three/five free-day promotions were used, yielding 291 free downloads
there were 0 borrows

The obvious differences in each of the three-month periods of enrollment is clear even without a direct side-by-side comparison. Regardless of the potential seasonal, or economic factors, KDP select has become discouraging at best. It was the 0-borrow factor that has solidified our decision to remove EotS from KDP select, because, clearly, the additional exposure in the Kindle Lending Library is not paying off.

Of anything about KDP select I will miss, it is the free-day promotions that are the most difficult to part with. However, as Amazon’s popularity reduces with other eReaders taking positions of prominence, we’ll be counting on intelligent and tech-aware (if not tech-savvy) readers to take advantage of Smashwords coupons for free promotions.

We will be enrolling RotS in KDP select for its first three months, specifically, to give EotS three months to repopulate other seller’s databases (such as Smashwords, Barnes&Noble, Sony, Apple, and Kobo) without being overlapped by RotS. We’ll be having another release celebration for RotS when it becomes available on those platforms, too, using whatever knowledge we gain from our Amazon sales to best leverage the opportunity.

Here’s to hoping the next three months put Amazon in a better light for independent publishers once again.