KDP Select for niche book

[Lori Woodring]

Is it wise to put your book on KDP Select if you have only published one book - and it has a niche market? Most accounts of KDP select are good for boosting sales but I read a few stating that for authors of only 1 book it isn't a good idea. Does anyone have experience with this or feedback?

[Tony]

From what I've heard setting it for free does little to boost sales when you only have one book, but if you have more than one it can boost the other titles.

If you mean the lending library aspect I don't think it makes much difference. You still get paid a small amount for each borrow.

[Charles]

I dropped the Unlimited and KDP Select for my Amazon books because I wanted more freedom and options elsewhere.

[Ken]

I have one book targeted to a niche market within a niche market, and Select has been useful for me. I didn't do any free days, though, but the other benefits more than compensate for the handful of sales I had on other platforms during the 6 months I was not in Select.

As far as borrows go, I get more borrows in a week in Select than sales in 6 months on all other platforms combined. It's different for each author, though, but it doesn't hurt to try it for 90 days and find out.

[Norm]

Lori wrote: "Is it wise to put your book on KDP Select if you have only published one book - and it has a niche market? Most accounts of KDP select are good for boosting sales but I read a few stating that for ..."

Rather than take up a lot of time again, here's a link to my experence in using KDP Select. There are three short blog posts with a link at the bottom of each to reach the next. Keep in mind that this is only my experience and opinion.

KDP Select – Join or Not

Norm Hamilton, Writer, Copy-Editor, Proofreader
Author of From Thine Own Well , Sarah’s Embrace , The Digital Eye
Website
Email

[Lori Woodring]

Many thanks for all the comments and input.

[E.N.]

Norm,
I enjoyed your blog and can only nod my head in agreement.
Thanks

[Norm]

Thanks Elizabeth. Nice to get feedback.

Norm Hamilton, Writer, Copy-Editor, Proofreader
Author of From Thine Own Well , Sarah’s Embrace , The Digital Eye
Website
Email

[Ken]

Norm, your Select experience is not unusual, at least according to other authors with whom I've discussed the issue. Freebies don't do much for sales or reviews anymore. That's why I've never used my free days.

[Norm]

Ken wrote: "Norm, your Select experience is not unusual, at least according to other authors with whom I've discussed the issue. Freebies don't do much for sales or reviews anymore. That's why I've never used ..."

I did have single digit sales when I tried the Countdown Deals, but not enough to make it interesting and certainly nothing to follow up. To be fair, it may have been the book, under a pseudonym, that just wasn't attracting sales.

Norm Hamilton, Writer, Copy-Editor, Proofreader
Author of From Thine Own Well , Sarah’s Embrace , The Digital Eye
Website
Email

[[deleted user]]

Like Ken, I have just a single book and one that's targeted to a niche market - in my case jewelry making. It's been out for 22 months, so is well past initial sales interest.

I decided to try the Select program for a few months to see what the effects would be of increased Amazon advertising. Here's the results so far of my Kindle sales as compared to the average monthly sales in the 12 months before I started the Select test:

Month 1 - 81% increase in sales over the average
Month 2 - 5% increase in sales over the average
Month 3 - Sales down 14% below the average
Month 4 - Sales at the average level
Month 5 - Sales down 43% below the average

So perhaps Select is a winner for one 90-day cycle, but not for the second. However, there is a complicating factor - the borrowing programs.

When I started with Select, members of the Prime program were able to borrow a copy of my book free. That generated a royalty for me of $2.15 each. Then the Kindle Unlimited program was announced that will also pay me for borrows. Not sure how much just yet, but about the same. So this is more revenue as a result of being in the Select program and will cause me to re-figure the above percentages.

- Brad Smith
Bench Tips for Jewelry Making

[Lori Woodring]

HI Bradford, I am considering the same. First putting it out to as many eyes as possible and then turning to Select if I need to. What is the Universal program? I'm not familiar with this...

[[deleted user]]

Sorry that was the Kindle Unlimited program. I just edited the post.

[Edward]

KDP Select with a single book can still be very good because you can use Promotional Countdowns. That beats giving the book away since you get paid for actually selling copies - but you need to plan that out in advance - otherwise, no one will know that your book is on sale.

Or you can use the free days in the hopes of getting reviews and possibly some word-of-mouth. But you can only use one or the other per 90 days, so you have to figure out what your objective is.

[Lori Woodring]

Great advice, thanks!

[Marian]

Norm,

I read your blog. Well said! Thanks for sharing your experience.

[Norm]

Thanks Marian. I appreciate the feedback.

Norm Hamilton, Writer, Copy-Editor, Proofreader
Author of From Thine Own Well , Sarah’s Embrace , The Digital Eye
Website
Email