KDP Select - What do you think? Showing 301-350 of 1,056

[Karina]

At least you've had a peak. I'm still waiting for mine lol

[Stuart]

But I don't understand how I got it so therefore don't know how to replicate it!! It's like whenever I've played golf - I hit a good shot but have no idea how I've managed it and thereafter just follow it with loads of frustrating bad shots!

[Karina]

It's your reviews and word of mouth. Your book is mentioned on most forums I visit.

I envy you and long may it continue. xxx

[Stuart]

I wasn't aware of that. All this is still very new to me. Have faith Karina and hope too - and don't let anyone take those two things away from you xx

[Stuart]

I had one lesson for my 40th birthday - I thought I would go round an 18 hole course but the bloke teaching me, that my wife paid for, wouldn't let me off the driving range for the entire hour!

[Rosen]

Thanks guys. If I fail at writing, at least I'll be able to fall back on golf.

[M.T.]

Internet sales are not going brilliantly but my local Waterstones has split in two and the new store have agreed to stock my book.

Cheers

MTM

[Stuart]

That's great news MTM! Brilliant stuff!!

[Patti (baconater)]

That's wonderful MTM! Congratulations!

I'll be your caddy, Rosen. ;)

[Rosen]

MTM wrote: "Internet sales are not going brilliantly but my local Waterstones has split in two and the new store have agreed to stock my book."

That's brilliant. How do you go about that? Do you have to contact them personally, like going into the shop with a clipboard and a monocle? Any tips?

[Shaun]

Rosen wrote: "MTM wrote: "Internet sales are not going brilliantly but my local Waterstones has split in two and the new store have agreed to stock my book."

That's brilliant. How do you go about that? Do you h..."

I can't answer for MTM, but when they stocked my book in a few shops, I emailed some and personally went into others to ask them if they were interested in stocking it. Some did.

[Rosen]

That's good to know. Thanks.

[Stephen]

Since joining kdp, my sales have increased by 100%, but that's not saying too much. I think though that the free download period (kdp free promotion)--which will bring hundreds of downloads for almost any listed book--does result in increased sales if the downloads generate good word of mouth.

[Nell]

I put Solitary Pleasures on 5 days free promotion as soon as it was live. It was downloaded 1168 times and seems to be picking up sales now that it's back to 99 cents (and the equivalent in other currencies).

I think though, comparing post-promotion sales with my other books (the ones that began life as Kindles and had no opportunity to pick up reviews for the print book beforehand), that good reviews and star ratings have a big influence.

[John]

KDP Select authors got $1.70 per downloaded book in December. Even if this goes down (say $1.30) in the future, it's still not a bad per-book royalty for a writer. That said, I didn't join.

But if ebook streaming services take off like Spotify has done for music (Amazon's lending/Prime scheme is essentially a trial run for streaming) authors won't have a choice. There are also a couple of start-ups with plans for ebook-streaming sites have just got big investments from venture capitalists.

[Simon (Highwayman)]

KDP Select authors got $1.70 per downloaded book in December.

Wow, really. I thought they got their usual percentage.

I assume by streaming you mean paying a fixed fee for unlimited access. That sounds like a model that might work for music where you listen to a huge selection and maybe repeat the same music but I can't see how it will work for books which for most people are a 'read once' event.

Interesting times ahead anyway. I just hope the readers and the new authors aren't the casualties though.

[M.A.]

Well done, Nell, that's great news. I'm a little apprehensive I've just put my highest ranking thriller up for two days! I've never been so nervous! lol

Simon, $1.70 was a great figure to achieve, most of us thought it would only be about 10-20 cents! Good result all round. ;-)

[Nell]

Mel (Lorne's creator, Pete's murderer) wrote: "Well done, Nell, that's great news. I'm a little apprehensive I've just put my highest ranking thriller up for two days! I've never been so nervous! lol
"

Let us know how you get on, Mel - fingers crossed.

I've only had a few borrows, and free downloads don't count for the $1.70, but it's a brilliant deal for for those who can swing it.

[P.A.]

I haven't looked closely at the borrowing deal, I was honestly more interested in the free promotion days. Is there a time limit on how long you can "have" an e-book, like in a bricks-and-mortar library? As a Goodreads librarian, am I obliged to enforce the borrowing rules? I hope not, I barely have time to shush everyone as it is.

In the end I managed to hook a handful of continentals on the two promo days, but no Italians, dammit.

Grrr. Mi dispiachi!

[Rosen]

Mel, don't I owe you a blog post?
Let me know if you would like it to coincide with your KDP Select release.

[David]

Hi Guys.

I actually wrote an article about Kindle Select and my experience with the program. Check it out.

http://davidsimpson01.blogspot.com/20...

[Shaun]

David wrote: "Hi Guys.

I actually wrote an article about Kindle Select and my experience with the program. Check it out.

http://davidsimpson01.blogspot.com/20..."

Interesting article, David. But in my experience, exposure via free books doesn't always work. Before Select, I had two books up for free on Amazon via the back door, having made them free on Smashwords and having Amazon price match. For both books in the first day I had over 5k downloads. And within a few days both books had over 10k downloads, so over 20k for both books. This was between August and October last year, but since then I haven't seen mega sales, even though that's an awful lot of exposure. Now I presume looking at peoples current free download reports via Select, the market is over-saturated with free books, so the number of downloads is lower. Also, many people that download free books never even read them (I know from my own experience that I don't anyway, and I guess that I'm not alone.) I presume some people are downloading more free books than they could read in a lifetime, and I think peoples actual purchasing habits will become even more selective. And if people know that you have released something on Select, they could hold out until you make it free rather than paying. I will be releasing a new novella soon, but I honestly don't know which route to go. I do have sales via Smashwords from Barnes and Noble, Kobo etc, and do I really want to lose those markets in the hope that I'll get enough sales via Amazon to offset them? It's all a gamble I guess.

[Simon (Highwayman)]

And if people know that you have released something on Select, they could hold out until you make it free rather than paying.

That has crossed my mind especially as one of the reasons most authors are using select is so they can put their book up for free days.

[Stuart]

I thought it was mandatory to be honest, never having gone through the ebook uploading process before!

[M.A.]

Thanks Rosen, that'd be great, but only if you have the time, hon. I know what it's like! ;-)

I'm still not totally convinced with the select programme, I do think that once your book has gone free once people can't DL it a second time, the impact won't be advantageous to the author again. ;-)

[Rosen]

I have had very positive experiences with free downloads.

On one occasion the leader of a book club read one of my free short stories and then recommended my novels to her group.

Kindle free downloads seem to contribute toward Amazon rank, even after the free period is over, improving visibility.

Free days lead to reviews, especially if you advertise them somewhere like this.

A very small percentage of the people who download my free shorts go on to buy my novels, but at least they are finding an audience who appreciate my style.

Mel, I'm message you some questions.

[Karina]

I don't think it matters how many free downloads your books got. What matters for sales is if the reader enjoy it and will No1 spread the word and No2 review and rate the book. If that doesn't happen, you won't see a difference.

[Patti (baconater)]

I'm with Karina on that one. I've got loads of freebies downloaded now.

Can't see reading any of them without coming across recommendations.

[Shaun]

Karina - LadyHawk wrote: "I don't think it matters how many free downloads your books got. What matters for sales is if the reader enjoy it and will No1 spread the word and No2 review and rate the book. If that doesn't happ..."

Everyone's mileage is going to vary. And as for reviews, they are hard to come by. Many people who read don't review (and I'm as guilty of this as anyone). But I'm still not convinced that Select is the way for me to go. Each to their own I guess as we all have to choose our own way in life, whether it's the right way or not remains to be seen :)

[Stuart]

I guess I have nothing to compare my experience with as I have only known the Select program, and even then it's only been since 3rd January 2012. Although I was pleased with my initial sales, they certainly picked up following the one day free promotion and sales have returned now to the pre-promotion rate. Reviews however have been coming in left, right and centre. I can't say if that is due to the free promotion day but I'm sure having the book available free certainly didn't do it any harm.

[Simon (Highwayman)]

Stuart, I think a lot of your reviews have come from here and KUF. so I will put the flag up for the group and say that the review rate is higher from a book group than the random freebee collectors (assuming the book is good of course).

[Kath]

I think that's very true Simon. Many here are really book lovers (not merely forum lovers!) and we are also aware that indies haven't got a level playing field and need our help to get noticed, hence the high level of reviews.

[Simon (Highwayman)]

So, you should all forget KDP select and offer free books to members of this group instead.

[Stuart]

Yes, Simon and Ignite - I totally agree and am ever thankful! ( I may therefore assume that my book is good!!)

[Patti (baconater)]

Simon (Highwayman) wrote: "So, you should all forget KDP select and offer free books to members of this group instead."

That's actually quite a good idea Simon. Hmmmm

There may be something in that, eh?

[Gingerlily - The Full Wild]

Well Stuart I've just got to the end of chapter 5 and am much confused, but the writing is superb.

[Stuart]

Thanks Gingerlily! Keep going! Part Two explains Part One so it will all make sense in the end!!!

[M.A.]

That's a good idea Simon, but there will be some group members who just won't touch certain genres. So we need to have our books available to a wider audience. ;-)

I know all the authors on this group appreciate the effort and time your members show us. ;-)

You all rock. ;-)

[Stuart]

I guess in terms of written reviews, there are 8 on goodreads and a total of 33 on Amazon which obviously encorporate those fine goodreads people - however it all comes together, I bloody love it!

[Karina]

and so you should Stuart. xxx

[Stuart]

and so I do! xxx

[Shaun]

Stuart wrote: "I guess in terms of written reviews, there are 8 on goodreads and a total of 33 on Amazon which obviously encorporate those fine goodreads people - however it all comes together, I bloody love it!"

That's a good number of reviews in a short space of time. My highest number of reviews on Amazon is 17 for The Kult, whereas it has 149 ratings and 86 reviews here on Goodreads. It would probably be better if it was reversed though and those reviews were on Amazon but I have trouble getting people to review my work on Amazon and similar places :/

[Stuart]

I'm still struggling with the fact that not ony are people buying my book but they are also writing reviews of it, wherever they may be. Did you find the KU Forum Book Club to be a good source of reviews Shaun? And also, in terms of KDP, I have used one of my promotional days but am hesitant about using any more - what reasoning goes behind your use of them?

[Shaun]

I can't say that I've seen any more reviews or sales than normal as a result of the KU Forum exposure, which is a pity really.

[Stuart]

Yeah, I would have thought it would have produced a few at least, given the nature of a Book Club!

[Kath]

Stuart wrote: "Yes, Simon and Ignite - I totally agree and am ever thankful! ( I may therefore assume that my book is good!!)"

I thought that went without saying! But I'll say it anyway - it's brilliant!

Edit - a growing number of us review here then copy and paste to Amazon and Dot com - It takes very little longer but spreads the word!

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

From a readers point of view, I am not sure this is such a good idea - when I first got my kindle i could only find free books through the top 100 and then checking the recommendations. While i still found a fair few, it meant I had time to read them and consider buying more from the same author.

Now there are so many that i can't keep track of them and am much less likely to buy them cos there are so many others to read. I also get bored of looking through the lists so rely on recommendations so might miss out on a fantastic new author

[John]

I suppose many people will have read this already, but just in case...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/...

Interesting article which mentions the possible effects of (low) prices on the book trade in general.

[Nell]

I read this earlier. The comments are also interesting and help to balance the author's somewhat doomy viewpoint.

I think things will settle down in time and find a natural level. Those who jumped in solely on the chance of easy fame or money may become disillusioned, leaving writers who - for whatever other reasons - are in it for the long term. Hopefully...

[John]

Yes, Nell. I think you are right. There are, after all, only so many manuscripts under people's beds! You can't get on the indie bandwagon and stay on without a lot of hard work.