To KDP Select or Not to KDP Select??

Deciding on a platform and how to get things started was a bit of a process for me. I devoured all the information I could possibly find. It was something of a task between “Publishing E-books for Dummies” and “The Naked Truth About Self Publishing” and many online forums. Both great books that taught me a lot. I am less than a month into my decision to start out with using the Amazon KDP Select, and it is still way too early in the game to decide whether or not it is working to my advantage. And for more reasons than one. For starters, I only have one book out. I am working on the second and I will be headed into its final edit next week. I hope to have it out by the end of the month. Then I will be starting my third book, a completely new venture. Then onto a sequel to “The Elder Origins.”

Anyway, I read through everything when I first started out, and I still feel like I don’t know what is the best option as far as E-book platforms are concerned. I really like the idea of having a few free day promos so that readers can at least MAYBE find out who I am. And if luck be my lady, I might even get a review (hopefully good) out of it. But I can only hope for so much given that I don’t have a sufficient amount of material out there at the moment.

I heard about other people having their books on Kindle, B&N, SmashWords, etc., and having success with those. I wonder if by using KDP Select if I am using the platforms to their full potential. My guess is no because I am limited to Amazon having exclusive rights to my book for the time being. But the free promo days do give the opportunity of getting my name out there a bit.

My total take so far after using two of those free promo days was almost 300 free downloads. NovelHoarders was kind enough to promote my book on their Facebook page without my even asking, and I feel like maybe a few of those people might actually read the book. Har har. I have heard stories from other authors saying that most people who download the free promo books just do so to get a free book and never really read it, which is obviously upsetting.

Has anyone else fumbled and tumbled around these questions? Have you had experiences with Amazon KDP Select?

In other news, I conquered the evil trolls of the DPS and got my license renewed. Only took two months and seven DPS visits. Thank goodness that is out of the way. I was going out of my mind. Turns out when you move overseas and let go your apartment (therefore you have no permanent address in the states) and then you move back home and still have no address for six months after that, they look at you like you are suspicious person. I blame illegal immigration given that I live near the border in the deep south, but really. Seven visits to prove who I was?? GAH!!