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Any authors in the KDP Select Program?
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Kenya
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Feb 09, 2012 06:15PM
Thanks for the infor Michael!
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I had a fantastic January due to KDP and the free 5 day thing. 80,000+ downloads of my various titles under my name and my pen. Paid sales went up by 2000%! February is far slower, but still 400% ahead of December (before KDP)However, the exclusive thing doesn't seem to be enforced. I've noticed a famous self pub guy selling on KDP Select as well as Nook. Maybe they make exceptions for high selling authors?
hmmm I think I am going to put my novella on there this weekend there and see what happens. I'm pretty excited!
Most of my ebooks sell for $0.99, so I earn about 35 cents for each book on Amazon KDP.My books on Barnes & Noble outsell KDP about 4.5 to 1, plus I earn about double that of Amazon KDP.
KDP Select may be good for some authors, but it just doesn't make economic sense for me to use the KDP Select program.
I've had some success with KDP Select so far. Before opting my 2 novels into the program I was making near zero sales on Amazon. Even worse on other platforms. After KDP Select (specifically after putting both books on free promotion for 1-2 days) I saw an uptick in "real" sales (not free) starting in the hundreds for a couple of days down to current levels of 5-20/day. I've tried different prices, but generally $0.99 to $3.99.I'm looking to run both books on a second free promotion, probably soon as I've fallen off the various Top 100 lists and being on them seems to help visibility quite a bit.
So, I have to say KDP Select has been a good success for me so far.
Well I just put an erotic paranormal romance novella up on KDP today, Incubus Hunter. I am excited to see what happens. Thanks for all of your responses!
James wrote: "I just got done with the free promo. Over 5 days I had 1486 downloads. I pushed it pretty hard through social media the whole time. I topped the free lists in two categories (Marriage and Love & Ro..."Hi, I just got done with my free promo days and was wondering how people check the number of downloads. Many thanks.
Despite the exclusivity, I'm loving KDP Select so far. I ran a free promo on "The Devil's Fire" and saw a huge boost in sales after it concluded. After two months, it still has solid daily sales. No regrets.
@AzraOn your KDP page, at the top, there is a Reports link. You can see downloads and borrows by domain (.com, .co.uk etc).
Damien, did you try the 5 day free promo?....that's the only good reason to join the KDP program.
Here's some results from a new author and The Dark Lord's HandbookI scheduled a two day free period over the weekend. Total sales prior were just 23 copies.
I had 807 copies downloaded over the weekend, and three sales today (full price). The important thing for me was I hit top 10 free humour, and top 20 free fantasy in this period. As it climbed so the downloads increased. For me, it's all about exposure and this seems to be a very good method.
It will be interesting to see if this translates into more sales. I'm hoping a few of those 800 will come back with positive reviews. We shall see.
Overall though, it exceeded my expectations given I am an unknown author with a debut novel.
I signed up for KDP Select with my third novel, Redemption Ridge. It reached #23 in mysteries and thrillers the last week of December and made January a great month. The book is the second volume of my Taliaferro Chronicles and the free copies led people to buy the first volume and even my other novel (not in the series). I can't say that I'm making great money yet, but with a few more titles and the added bonus of the share of the borrowers' money pot, I think sales will continue to rise.I'll stick with it awhile longer and see how it goes.
Paul wrote: "@AzraOn your KDP page, at the top, there is a Reports link. You can see downloads and borrows by domain (.com, .co.uk etc)."
Many Thanks Paul.
I decided to put four of my titles up for free (five days) on the KDP Select program. Started last night at midnight. As of midnight tonight, more than 3,000 downloads. I can't help but think this will transfer into sales, especially if I put the books up for cheap (2.99) when the giveaway is over. Been selling about two hundred a month up to this point. We'll see what happens.
I put three of mine on KDP--we'll see if it makes a difference . . .
In two days I had nearly 300 downloads of a short story--so I'm pleased.
Kenya wrote: "Hey, I'm wondering if any authors are enrolled in the KDP Select program and what your experiences have been."
Hi, Kenya,
My name is Hendrik Witmans, and I'm from Vancouver Island, Canada. Saw your post about Kindle Select. I've had a collection of eight short scifi stories on Amazon for about three months now, with few sales. Decided to use the Kindle Select free promotion for two days, and got more than fifty downloads the first morning! Of course, you don't make any money that way, because it's free, but at least people show interest. Just thought I'd let you know.
Good luck with your book sales.
Hendrik
I understand the exclusivity clause in KDP Select, but does it also mean that you have to take your book off Goodreads altogether?
Jill wrote: "I understand the exclusivity clause in KDP Select, but does it also mean that you have to take your book off Goodreads altogether?"Hi Jill,
The way I understand it, is that you can have your book on Goodreads, as long as you are not selling it. You can't even promote it by giving it away, apparently! I had my short stories anthology for sale on Goodreads as an epub book, and I had to take it off, before joining Kindle Select. Hope that answers your question.
Regards
Hendrik Witmans
A friend of mine did it and saw a spike in sales the first month, but then they plummeted back to where they were before she went with KDP. Now she feels stuck in a program that isn't helping her for two more months.
Hendrik wrote: "Jill wrote: "I understand the exclusivity clause in KDP Select, but does it also mean that you have to take your book off Goodreads altogether?"Hi Jill,
The way I understand it, is that you can ..."
Thanks Hendrik for your help. I can see that I would have to opt out of Smashwords before I pursue KDP Select.
Heather wrote: "A friend of mine did it and saw a spike in sales the first month, but then they plummeted back to where they were before she went with KDP. Now she feels stuck in a program that isn't helping her f..."Thanks Heather for commenting. It sounds like it might be good for some and not for others which is the way of the world, I guess. We have to take a chance and see how it turns out for us. I myself am undecided as yet.
Thanks Hendrik for your help. I can see that I would have to opt out of Smashwords before I pursue KDP Select.Hi Jill. Keep in mind that the KDP Select exclusivity clause applies to e-books only. You can continue to sell or give away the print version of your book wherever you want.
I haven't used the Goodreads giveaway feature yet, but if you can specify that you are giving away print copies, you should be fine.
As for e-books, yes, you need to opt out of Smashwords and any other e-book vendor before you sign up for KDP Select. Unfortunately, if you are in the Premium Catalog, it can take weeks before the Smashwords update trickles down to the various vendors and your book is removed from the likes of B&N, Kobo, etc.
From what I can tell, most authors don't bother waiting for that to happen. They act in good faith and remove their books from Smashwords, and then sign up for KDP Select even if their books are still listed on the Premium Catalog vendors. So far, Amazon hasn't been too picky about that.
Best of luck with KDP Select if you choose to sign up for it.
Daniel wrote: "Thanks Hendrik for your help. I can see that I would have to opt out of Smashwords before I pursue KDP Select.Hi Jill. Keep in mind that the KDP Select exclusivity clause applies to e-books only...."
Thanks for your comment, Daniel. I really appreciate it. I will just have to decide whether signing up for KDP Select is worth the bother.
KDP select is more effective if you have other eBooks available besides the one you are promoting for free.In this way, if a reader loves your free eBook, he will want to purchase others you have written. The major problem with it is that there seems to be no end in sight. What I mean by this is that as long as hundreds of free promos are out there every day, most ereaders will opt for the free books over the priced selections. It is only human nature.
Rick wrote: "KDP select is more effective if you have other eBooks available besides the one you are promoting for free.In this way, if a reader loves your free eBook, he will want to purchase others you have w..."I agree, Rick. Why buy books when there are plenty for free. So perhaps KDP Select doesn't mean your sales will increase. And if they do, it may not be lasting.
I am mulling over the idea of doing KDP Select for the launch of my next book, which will be this spring. If the 90 days begins to run March 15, say, then I could release the book to Smashwords, et al., June 15. I've got two other books already available at Amazon, so this might boost sales for all of them. Hmmm.
I enrolled a backlist historical romance last month in KDP and used two of my free days. I was very pleased with the results and the sales afterwards. Now, the sales are slowing down, but I expected that. I intend to enroll another backlist historical this weekend with hopes of bringing people to my Amazon page and reigniting the first book too. My books are $2.99. I'm trying to determine if spacing the free offers every 5-6 weeks keeps all the books alive as far as sales go. We'll see. Also had 130 "borrows" from Prime Select members which will give me part of that $700,000 pool. Not a lot but everything helps.Cynthia Thomason
I decided to test the KDP Select waters with a short story. It's for sale as of today; if all goes well, it'll be free tomorrow and the next day. We shall see.... (The story's called "Lulie", btw, and it's fantasy. :) )
I never expected to see my novel published then found out I could do it with Amazon's help. It was such an easy process with the tools they gave us I thought I'd stick with them and went the whole Select route after a few months. I used 3 promo days at the beginning of Feb and had 4,000 downloads worldwide and got to #14. They even showed my author profile below the book summary and described me as a 'bestselling author' for a while lol! I thought it was just going to be a case of people searching only for freebies, end of story, but my sales have increased since then by a factor of 20, plus I've had it borrowed once. More to the point, it's got this newbie's name known and given me the immense satisfaction of knowing all those people are reading my work, you know, the novel all the agents rejected because there wasn't a market for the old fashioned style family stories I tell.
My plan is to promo Never Too Late when I click that publish button for the sequel - hook 'em with the freebie and land 'em.
So - if your sales are good through other marketing methods you won't need Select, but if, like me, you feel swamped by the advice about marketing, it's a pretty good place to start.
The only Kindle I do is the Kindlegraph, where I can sign the e-books. Amazon has been trying to screw indie writers for years. A few years ago they tried to force indie writers to either publish through Amazon - or they wouldn't be able to sell on the the site.I absolutely refuse to enroll in ANY program that restricts trade.
99% of my sales are in person and online is such a small part of my business I could care less about being artificially buffeted to the top of the charts only to watch it fall back to earth after the free promotion is over.
In my experience, Amazon's tools, visibility, and credibility overpower any other kind of promotion I've tried to make.The free days on Kindle Select have been my single biggest selling boon so far. This weekend, my book Fast Times in Palestine is free for Kindle (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00513NHNI), and it's not even noon on the first day and nearly 1,000 copies have already been downloaded.
Gary wrote: "The only Kindle I do is the Kindlegraph, where I can sign the e-books. Amazon has been trying to screw indie writers for years. A few years ago they tried to force indie writers to either publish t..."Hi Gary, I remember when Amazon tried to force indie writers to publish only through Amazon. Didn't they remove their buy buttons for a while?
Have you read this article?
http://mhpbooks.com/50976/anyone-who-...
I put up an odd-ball novel about street poets and authorities who want to manage their lives that I wrote when young and sleeping in a restaurant that had a poetry and theater night. I used to make popcorn after the restaurant closed and people would hang out.Anyway, a few hundred people downloaded a book pretty much off the radar, so that felt good.
Bill
I've been reading with interest everyone's pros and cons of the KDP Select program. It's interesting that opinions fall more or less 50/50. I enrolled a few days ago with the thought of having my birthday weekend be the occasion for 3 days of free downloads of my memoir, The Church of Tango, which was just published last month.What I'd like to know here is how others have promoted the free downloads. Obviously it's not good to advertise it too much in advance. Do you wait until the day, and then make a big splash on Facebook, mailings, etc?
I'd sure appreciate any comments on "marketing" free Kindle books. Thanks.
Cherie
I didn't advertise it at all when I did a 3 day promo for Never Too Late at the beginning of Feb. There were 4,000 downloads as there is a big network of people on the lookout for freebies.Good luck with your book, Cherie, and happy birthday!
I've got one scheduled for its second KDP free run a couple of weeks from now. The first free promo I did with no promotion other than Twitter and my blog, and I wound up with about 2,000 downloads over 2 days. Then sales continued into the weekend and for a few weeks afterwards were pretty good as well.This second try I've got an ad going with Kindle Nation Daily to announce the free promotion, then another with The Frugal eReader a few days *after* the promo ends, the theory being that once I'm (hopefully) on some of the Top 100 lists and begin to fade, the second ad will give me another boost. It's all trial and error right now.
I can let you all know how this strategy works in a couple of weeks.
But Scott, did you write on Twitter and your blog ahead of time that there would be free Kindle versions of your book available on such-and-such a date? My thinking is that folks know that, they'll not buy today but wait for the freebie. What do you think?
I only announced it the day of, rather than pre-announcing and possibly hurting current sales.I'll do the same on this next freebie promo. The KND ad highlights the free price on day 1 of the promo, then it'll run another day free with no announcements other than what I do on my own, then I have the option of going with a 3rd day free, which would be Friday. I'll let it go back to non-free after that, then on Monday the Frugal eReader ad goes up.
I had great success with a 3-day free deal, & I didn't do any advertising besides posting on my personal facebook page. I am terrible at marketing. Maybe because "Love" is in the title and the promo was pre-Valentine's Day, "Looping for Love" sold over 13,670 copies, 13,470 at full price in the following week. (It's hard to understand their payment report, but I assume those sold at 70% royalty are at full price.) Sales are still coming in, about 20/week. Now I'm trying to learn new marketing skills. Thanks to Goodreads authors for the tips.
Does anyone have data on what days of the week might be best to run free days?
I'm wondering about the same thing, Paul. My guess is announcing it on Twitter/FB the week prior, then taking 2 of your 5 free days on the upcoming weekend.Does anyone have some anecdotal evidence having run free days on the weekend and also during the week with the same book?
I would strongly suggest running a promo on Wed/Thu (just Thursday if doing a 1-day promo) so that the momentum carries on into the high-sales period of Friday and the weekend. Because of system latency my own campaign concluded around 11am GMT (about 3 hours late) on Friday morning, which took me into the UK and later the US Friday afternoon sales.I ran a campaign in mid Jan and have just finished another much more powerful campaign in March. You can read about it here: http://www.writers-and-publishers.com
I am currently ranked around paid 700 on Amazon.com, and am #13, #16, and #21 in fantasy/children categories.
Marty wrote: "Political protests aside, I still worry for those readers who, like me, have an e-reader other than a Kindle, who will be excluded from reading my book. As a reader myself, I'm finding that books I..."The Kindle books are set up to tranfer to iphones,Android phones, Blackberries, personal computers and epub devices....so the only device left out is probably the Nook
but as was mentioned, many older people do not use these devices. I would recommend that they learn to do so simply because the technology on e-readers makes it possible to enlarge the print, brighten the screen or even listen to the book via audio files....that is an older person' s dream if they have failing vision.
It is time to innovate and adapt--that includes many older people (There is a blog by two very elderly and capable ladies with over four million hits--both ladies are over eighty! Helen and Margaret-you can Google them)
I say the Kindle revolution is a good thing for everyone-at least, overall (Individual experiences vary)
Another negative is the 'hoarders'...I found several comments from people with over five hundred free ebooks on their computers...some had so many that is was 'slowing down' their Kindle.....so you can imagine how long it would take for many of them to actually read those books.I also believe the 'free' eBook sites attract the 'hoarders'
Via the KDP Select program "Choose Your Future" one of the short stories from my collection "Kindling" is free to download today:UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Choose-Your-F...
US - http://www.amazon.com/Choose-Your-Fut...
If you enjoy reading this story any reviews would be greatly appreciated.
Best wishes, Stephen Livingston.
I've done free promos on weekdays and weekends and have found very little difference. As far as boosting sales, most people will not finish reading your free book for weeks if not months after downloading.With thousands of free offers in all genres every day, yours will not be the only book they download that week. Like Goodreads, people will have a bunch of books "to read" but may never get to them all. Patience is the only answer.Those that say their sales went up the next day or two because of their promo would have to believe that their book was read in one day and the friends of that reader went out and bought it the next day.How likely is that?
You'd be surprised how fast some people read. It is sort of depressing in one way: you take months or years writing a novel and someone reads it in a day or two and asks if there's a sequel!Time is of course a factor, but word of mouth (including reviews) is a powerful persuader.
I'll let you know if my rank/sales die off, but there is no sign yet. I intend to keep monitoring it and will put something together to explain my experience in detail from Nov 2011 to the present.
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