Any authors in the KDP Select Program? Showing 1,251-1,300 of 1,505

[Kelly]

I like it because all my sales go through them which drives my ranking up and keeps me visible and on best selling lists.

[Caroline]

Hi ... I have one book in the KDP program and I keep re-enrolling it! It sold very well or should I say was lent out especially well on Saturdays after Christmas here in the States. I think people received e read devices for the holiday gift giving. I keep it there to get my name out but have not put my newer books on there.

Some people have fantastic success as I've read it in the newsletter. People like free stuff, they just do.

[A.L.]

Nenia wrote: "I like giving Amazon exclusivity because if you enroll in their KDP select program you get 75% royalties for ebooks $2.99 and above. I think that's really generous."

I think you misunderstand, you get the 70% for e-books above 2.99 whether you are in Select or not, although Amazon India and Amazon Brazil you need select for Select. What you do get for Select is enrolled in Amazon Prime KOLL so people with Amazon Prime can borrow your book and you get the share (usually about $2) and the ability to use the free promo days.

[Stephen]

Scott wrote: "I never understand why someone would want to give Amazon exclusivity. I get better sales from the Smashwords retail network and Amazon's lending scheme hasn't done anything for me. If free is rea..."

Smashword doesn't work for everybody. I've had a book on it for about 4 months and haven't had a single sale, yet is sells on amazon almost every day. So there is truly no one best option for everybody.

[Caroline]

Stephen wrote: "Scott wrote: "I never understand why someone would want to give Amazon exclusivity. I get better sales from the Smashwords retail network and Amazon's lending scheme hasn't done anything for me. ..."

How long did it take you to sell initially with your first book or two?

[A.L.]

I agree, I have very few sales on SW and the relevant stores, only a couple or so. The majority of my sales are definitely via Amazon. Smashwords does have the useful vouchers though and of course it is good to have a wider audience.

As Stephen says what works for one may not work for the next person.

[Scott]

Caroline wrote: "Stephen wrote: "Scott wrote: "I never understand why someone would want to give Amazon exclusivity. I get better sales from the Smashwords retail network and Amazon's lending scheme hasn't done an..."

How long did it take you to sell initially with your first book or two?

I'm not sure how long it took to get the first sale that wasn't from somebody who knows me because it took me a long time to figure out how to use Smashwords' quarterly reports.

[A.L.]

Yes the reports are a bit confusing.

[Stephen]

Caroline wrote: "How long did it take you to sell initially with your first book or two?..."

On Amazon I sold my first book in about two weeks. After I left the Select program I put my book on B&N as well. I sell about 5 to 10 a month on Amazon and about 5 a month on B&N. Now granted my book is more of a niche book so I don't have staggering sales like say a fiction book would get. As far as my experience with SW I get a lot of free downloads of samples but zero sales.

[Rosalind]

"Caroline wrote: "How long did it take you to sell initially with your first book or two?..."

I started with KDP Select basically because I thought, this is going to be enough to figure out with one vendor; I'll do this and try the free days, and then in 3 months when I've got the hang of things, I'll put it up everywhere. I sold right away (the first day), but I had 3 books up. After a week, I think I'd sold 40 books. (A few to friends of course! But probably 25? to strangers.) Then I did my first 3-day free promo of the first book, and ended up selling a lot. Since then, KDP Select borrows & occasional free days have worked well enough that I haven't branched out yet. Like I said, though, if they stopped working, I would try the other sites. Sort of an ain't-broke-don't-fix-it thing right now.

[Nenia]

I sell about 100-200 books/month.

I started publishing in October. At first I would only sell about 25 books per month if I was lucky. But as I published more books, I had a wider selection to offer readers and they quickly chose their favorites.

However, I did publish on Fictionpress.com for a time so I know some of my original readers came back and found me. (I was a teenager when they read my work; I like to think that I've improved since then. >_>)

[Caroline]

Nenia wrote: "I sell about 100-200 books/month.

I started publishing in October. At first I would only sell about 25 books per month if I was lucky. But as I published more books, I had a wider selection to off..."
That's fabulous! Good for you!

[Nenia]

Caroline wrote: "Nenia wrote: "I sell about 100-200 books/month.

I started publishing in October. At first I would only sell about 25 books per month if I was lucky. But as I published more books, I had a wider se..."

Thanks. ^^

My friends and family are finally starting to take me seriously; it is nice not to feel quite so despairing and cliche. (:

[Kelly]

Of course. I use KDP and I'm first time author

[Nancy]

Alyson wrote: "I'm getting ready to publish my first book at the end of this month. I have been tossing around ideas on which publishing platforms I want to use. I'm leaning more toward KDP Select for the first..."
Yes to your question Alyson. You are obligated to use the KDP platform for ninety days. But you are free to market and to post your book on other sites.

[Walter]

To add to the above, the marketing restrictions of KDP only apply to the electronic version of the work. Physical copies of the book (assuming one exists) can be sold anywhere by anyone, including yourself.

[Carmen]

KDP has been a great vehicle for me as a mystery author. By putting the first chapter of the next book at the end of the kindle version of a current book in a series I am getting a cascade effect. There is simply no other tool at my disposal that gets 10000 eyes on one of my books as did my last KDP 3-day freebie. Follow on sales stay higher. I plan on staying with it.

[Sabine]

I think it seems to be working for authors with series. My first fantasy novel is out, and I am hoping for improvement in sales when second book comes out.

[Caroline]

Walter wrote: "To add to the above, the marketing restrictions of KDP only apply to the electronic version of the work. Physical copies of the book (assuming one exists) can be sold anywhere by anyone, including ..."

Walter ... I did not know that. Thanks.

[A.L.]

You can only sell your ebook via Amazon if you sign with select but you can certainly advertise it elsewhere - like facebook or GR.

[Judy]

I've used Select as a booster to things I've had out for a while but in general I like being available on more platforms. Interestingly enough, while my fantasy novel has done best on Amazon, I'm selling erotica under another name much better on Barnes and Noble.

Go figure!

[A.L.]

Amazon isn't great for erotica.

[Samantha]

I am a new author with two books currently on amazon. I did KDP. The first book sold over 2,000 on the free days. It has sold about 50 paid copies since it's release June 12 this year. The second one has sold about 20 since July 12th release. I don't know if this sounds good or not so good. Any comments to help me would be greatly appreciated.

[Suzan]

Stephen wrote: "Nenia wrote: "I've been in the Select program for about 6 months now. I make about $160-300/month from the sales, though when I was just starting out I only made about $20/month. It can be very fru..."

I have 3 books in KDPSelect and sales with one. One is a book of poetry so I don't really expect sales, the other is a new memoir this month. The book that sells was my first Kindle book and the cover was just a painting with no title! But there were monthly sales of 3-6. I had a nice ebook done by iUniverse to accompany my paperback edition but KDPSelect informed me I couldn't use the program if that nice ebook edition was being offered everywhere. So I had iUniverse delete it and then made a better cover and re-published the book with KDP Select. At first it didn't sell but this month it started selling. I still am not sure how that program works but know it is exclusive.

[Topsy]

Samantha wrote: "I am a new author with two books currently on amazon. I did KDP. The first book sold over 2,000 on the free days. It has sold about 50 paid copies since it's release June 12 this year. The second ..."
HI Samantha - sounds about right to me. My 'freebies' went off in the thousands in a 4-day period, the paid copies sold 400 in the following month. My 2.nd book is due out mid-August, and I'm wondering what will become of it. Good luck with yours. Topsy

[Hugh]

Kenya wrote: "Hey,

I'm wondering if any authors are enrolled in the KDP Select program and what your experiences have been."

I put my book into KDP select when it first came out. I really like the borrowing with a royalty rate idea. I have had a very small handfull of borrows myself though over the last year and a half. The free promo days worked far better for me in getitng my book out there. I am working on it as a series so getting the first one into as many hands as possible is beneficial. It also has almost always resulted in some trickle in sales at the end of each promo as well.

[Sabine]

Hugh wrote: "Kenya wrote: "Hey,

I'm wondering if any authors are enrolled in the KDP Select program and what your experiences have been."

I put my book into KDP select when it first came out. I really lik..."

My experience has been the same, so working on getting the next two books out as quickly as possible

[Samantha]

I'm getting ready to put the third book of the series on line. Should I drop the price of the second one when I do this?

[Kevin]

I think it might help if you gave us a little more info about your books, their current costs, etc.

[Samantha]

Okay, sorry. The first one is $ .99 and the second one at $2.99.
The first I put on 3 days free and 'sold' over 2,000. The second one has been out about 2 weeks and has sold about 30 paid copies.

[Rosalind]

Samantha wrote: "Okay, sorry. The first one is $ .99 and the second one at $2.99."
You're doing great. Don't drop the price of the second. You just want the first book priced low to get people hooked.

[Stephen]

Rosalind wrote: "Samantha wrote: "Okay, sorry. The first one is $ .99 and the second one at $2.99."
You're doing great. Don't drop the price of the second. You just want the first book priced low to get people hooked."

I Agree...

[Sabine]

Samantha wrote: "I'm getting ready to put the third book of the series on line. Should I drop the price of the second one when I do this?"

Keep the price of second and third book at 2.99$. If people like the first, they will buy the second and third. You may want to run special promotions where you keep all three books priced at 0.99 for two days or a week. But before you run such promotions, make sure you draw a lot of buzz by contacting sites that can help you reach readers who are interested in deals.Best of Luck!

[Philip]

I published my first book at the end of January using KDP Select including free days, excellent downloads on the free days, even got to number one in the thriller category on .com. I got nothing of course. A few dollars from my share later. Since then I withdrew from KDP Select, but Kindle sales have continued slowly. My second book was a completely different genre so I decided not to do a promote one, keep one higher routine. Instead I have them both priced at 99c in the US and comparative linked prices worldwide.
Now I receive sales albeit at 35% because I'm less than $2.99. My second book is 150,000 words so I thinks its outstanding value for the money. I shall not be doing free promotions for the time being unless it's for reviewers. I remain undecided on the value of KDP Select

[Samantha]

Thank you all for the advice! I appreciate sites like this that help those of us just getting started.

[Loretta]

Can you use KDP select for just one of your books? And have the others not on KDP select?

[Loretta]

Alyson wrote: "Loretta,

Yes. You don't have to enroll all of your books in KDP."

Thanks Alyson. When I finally get mine on there I may use it for one of them, then. :)

[Philip]

Hi everyone

After my experiences with my first book - lots of free downloads but little follow up, I avoided KDP Select for my second book. This has sold OK. For my third book I thought I would try KDP Slect again as it's only available on Kindle. I have used 3 free days so far and it has been very disappointing. Maybe it's a genre issue, my first was a thriller, my second sci-fi and the third is in general fiction because there isn't really a genre for it.

So my view of KDP Select - it makes little if any difference.

[Loretta]

I write poetry so, realistically, I'm unlikely to sell big! But I am compiling a small book of short stories, and thought I might give that away for free, just to get my name out there a bit. So thanks for the feedback, it may be useful to me shortly. Assuming I can get my books Kindle-ready at all. All this techy stuff! Sigh!

[Gabriel]

I ran a three-day promo when my book, a legal thriller called The Guilty, first came out at the beginning of this year, with very little publicity and got around 500 downloads, from which I received exactly one review on Amazon. I wasn't very impressed. However, after a few months of different marketing strategies I decided to run another promo, although this time I did a better job of advertising it on a number of sites (only going with free listings though; I wasn't going to pay AND give my book away for free!). Anyway, the three-day freebies just came to an end last night and I got over 10,000 downloads. I feel great about having that many people reading my work, but as for the practical effects on book sale numbers, that remains to be seen. I don't have a sequel or other book that will be coming out soon (8 to 12 more months is a more realistic timeline for my next book), so the only benefits I'll be able to derive will have to be for this book. I suspect that it will be weeks, if not months, before I'll know if it was worth the effort.

[Philip]

Gabriel wrote: "I ran a three-day promo when my book, a legal thriller called The Guilty, first came out at the beginning of this year, with very little publicity and got around 500 downloads, from which I receive..."

Congratulations on the number of downloads that is excellent. I had 3-4,000 on my first book but I'm stuck on less than 100 on my third, hence my disappointment, and I advertised, twittered, blogged etc.

[Gabriel]

Philip wrote: "Gabriel wrote: "I ran a three-day promo when my book, a legal thriller called The Guilty, first came out at the beginning of this year, with very little publicity and got around 500 downloads, from..."

I can see why that would discourage you. I would think that somewhere online you could find out if others had such drastic drops, or if there were specific strategies to use for general fiction, as opposed to genre. Did you find that your more successful promo made a noticeable difference in sales for your first book?

[Andrew]

Gabriel wrote: "I ran a three-day promo when my book, a legal thriller called The Guilty, first came out at the beginning of this year, with very little publicity and got around 500 downloads, from which I receive..."

I've been in sales and marketing for decades and I wonder what the ratio of downloads to read is. There are many people who will download anything free then never read it. Please keep us informed about how many new reviews you get (good or bad). That will be indicative of new readers and potential fans.

[Gabriel]

Andrew wrote: "Gabriel wrote: "I ran a three-day promo when my book, a legal thriller called The Guilty, first came out at the beginning of this year, with very little publicity and got around 500 downloads, from..."

I tend to download a lot of free books as well, but I do try to eventually read them, and I always review what I get for free (except one time when I hated the book; I'm not out to ruin anybody's writing career). I suspect I'll have to exercise some patience here.

[Philip]

Gabriel wrote: "Philip wrote: "Gabriel wrote: "I ran a three-day promo when my book, a legal thriller called The Guilty, first came out at the beginning of this year, with very little publicity and got around 500 ..."

My first book had the downloads, it had no marketing at all I wasn't on Facebook, Twitter nor Goodreads for that matter. I can only put it down to early positive reviews and the genre. Writing a sequel now.

[Nancy]

I have run promos on KDP and gotten a number of downloads, but no reviews from the effort. The last three day promo I promoted extensively on FB, i.e.,author sites, LinkedIn and Twitter. The results were worse than when I didn't promote. I am leaving KDP when the present time period ends, because we are restricted by their policy of sole partner.

[Steven]

I have my first book in a trilogy up for free and whilst there has been 50 downloads over the last two days thus far it hasn't really encouraged others to buy the second book and I'd planned to write and finish the third by January of 2014. I find it a bit disappointing and can only suppose that my chosen genre, Zombies is not that great a deal nowadays lol. If it doesn't work then I have a number of ideas for other books in the pipeline so I'm not allowing myself to be discouraged but will carry on. The thing is, I think that I'm competing against all the other free books out there and this can be a pretty tough sell.

[Mark]

Steven wrote: "I have my first book in a trilogy up for free and whilst there has been 50 downloads over the last two days thus far it hasn't really encouraged others to buy the second book and I'd planned to wr..."

Give it time, Steven. It takes time for word of mouth to spread. It takes time for readers to get to, and then finish the first book before they can decide they want the next one. In the meantime, write something else. Watching numbers will just eat up your time and make you crazy.

[Chandra]

Yes, I have put my first book 'Memsaheb and the Thief' for KDP select. I am waiting and watching. This is set in India and traces the life of a rich pampered girl to a cop's wife....

[Jane]

im on it, i think its all fab, i have just signed up for another 90 days, my book paradox child and i am doing another of the kindle promotions on September the 8th which is my daughters birthday. I have almost finished my second book and am looking forward to enrolling that in the kindle program as well. jane yates