HELP!!! KDP Promotion... can't figure out how...

[Kendal]

So I am trying to do a KDP select promotion (countdown) and put one of my books on sale for 99 cents but when I finished doing everything and then went back to check on it the status says "Cancelled" Why? So I clicked the Why? and it explained that my book didn't cost enough in the UK, so I adjusted my pricing, re-published and tried again, but status still says Cancelled....

Any ideas on why?

[Edward]

Are you able to click on the Why? again and see if it still doesn't cost enough, or if the reason has changed?

[Kendal]

I can and it still says the same thing like it hasn't updated....

[Kendal]

Edward wrote: "Are you able to click on the Why? again and see if it still doesn't cost enough, or if the reason has changed?"

I can and it still says the same thing like it hasn't updated.

[Edward]

Are you only trying to make the book 99 cents, rather than having 99 cents be a starting point, from which the book increases in price?

[Kendal]

Edward wrote: "Are you only trying to make the book 99 cents, rather than having 99 cents be a starting point, from which the book increases in price?"

I want it to be 99 cents for three days and then return to regular price...

[Edward]

That's odd. I've only done it once and I don't recall it showing anything about foreign pricing.

None of my books are eligible for a countdown promotion so I can't get into to it to see the options. Sorry, I can't be of any help.

I would call or email Amazon support.

[Kendal]

Edward wrote: "That's odd. I've only done it once and I don't recall it showing anything about foreign pricing.

None of my books are eligible for a countdown promotion so I can't get into to it to see the optio..."

Thanks for trying. It is odd. I've been everywhere I can think of on that site and have emailed support... still waiting for a response. I was hoping I could have the sale start Sunday when I do the fb page takeover but... oh well... it will all work out. Really appreciate your time though.

[Carmen]

If you just want to have the book be $.99 for 3 days you should not use the Countdown feature. Instead, from your bookshelf, click on the book's current price. This will bring you to the price and royalties page for that book. Change the price, choose 35% royalty--which is only option at .99 I believe--and then agree to publishing terms and republish. In a few hours your book will be listed at the desired price. When you want the price to go back up, go back into your bookshelf and repeat the manual process.

The Countdown feature is an automated and incremental change in price over 7 days. The starting price has to be high enough for the incremental changes to be each a dollar. So you can't start at .99, the automated decreases in price won't be possible. Also, the price of the book cannot have been changed within a certain amount of time, it might be 30 days, before starting a Countdown. All the details are on the website but you have to hunt around.

Good luck, hope this helps.

[Jack]

Good advice from Carmen.
I've used the Countdown feature a couple of times; IMO it's better than a giveaway in all respects.
Now that I've got five novels and a novella in publication on Amz/Kindle Select, I intend to market by using Countdowns, launching a new one every two or three weeks. I plan to continue this indefinitely.
But my first novel and second were not up to the standards of my later works; I've learned a lot, 600,000 words along. So I went back and revised Combat Wizard and am currently revising Darwin's World. The whole idea behind Countdown (and freebies) IMO is sales of your other books.
I think it works; I sold a novel in France, a market I'm only now selling to, and a few days later, someone in France bought all my other books. A week after that, someone in France followed the pattern again. Since I'm not offering special incentives in France (Select deals are only in the US or UK, apparently), I concluded that the first reader told the second "Check this guy's books out; you'll enjoy them."
That kind of word of mouth advertising is easier to visualized from patterns you can't see where you sell a lot of books, say in the US.
I think it applies, though. And over the long term, discovery of one book that leads to sales of your others is the best way of earning significant continued sales.
OF course, if you write that bestseller, you can retire on the proceeds of just one book; but most of us plug along, selling one book, then having the reader go back and buy all of them.