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Any authors in the KDP Select Program?
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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K...
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I've got my book up on Smashwords (for the electronic version) and Createspace (for the paperback). Now Createspace is asking me if I want to publish on Kindle, and to sign up to the KDP Select Program. Reading the rules, it appears to be saying that I will have to remove my book from Smashwords if I sign up to KDP - is that correct? And will the KDP version then become the second edition?I want to make sure I understand this before I hit the KDP 'agree' button. I've only sold 8 books on smashwords (and no paperbacks on Amazon yet)and people keep asking me 'when will it be on Amazon' so I guess that's as big a hint as anything as to what I should be doing...
Pretty sure I've understood the rules correctly, but just thought I would make sure by checking with you good folks. I also assume I have to unpublish with Smashwords BEFORE I apply to KDP - will they refuse to publish me if I don't??
Thanks, and apologies if these seem like really stupid questions... I just want to be sure.
Edit:I've just read a post further up the page (didn't see it before!) which confirms that I can ONLY sell my book on Amazon if I enrol in KDP. So my question now is should I remove the smashwords version from publication before I hit 'agree' on the KDP agreement, or only when they notify me that it has been accepted? Or is it accepted as soon as I hit 'agree'?
Elaine
Elaine wrote: "I've got my book up on Smashwords (for the electronic version) and Createspace (for the paperback). Now Createspace is asking me if I want to publish on Kindle, and to sign up to the KDP Select Pro..."Hi Elaine,
Yes, I've done the KDP w/ Amazon like three times and I did take it off Smashwords first. I wanted Smashwords because a friend said he gets all his books from there and he is a prolific reader, however, I wanted to try Amazon, especially for the summer.
I'm just about through and will now attempt to put my book elsewhere for awhile.
Are you pleased with CreateSpace? Does it cost? Did you do Createspace and then publish to Amazon for e-book and paper?
Thanks,
Caroline
Hi Caroline - Many thanks for your speedy reply - I'm sitting here with the agreement open in another tab! When you say you're through now - does that mean your book is only available on Amazon for a specific period of time through KDP? I can't have read the small print properly then because I didn't realise that books are only available for a limited time - I assumed they were up until you took them down... boy, have I got a lot to learn!
I'll unpublish from Smashwords now, then, and hit 'agree' as soon as I know it's done - thank you again for coming back to me so quickly, really appreciate it.
Yes, I found Createspace MUCH easier for book formatting than Smashwords or (for the first hardback version) Lulu.com (guess I'll have to unpublish from Lulu too, now the paperback is up on Amazon as well)- and Lulu really messed up the cover printing too, which they'd never done before (have used them for other things and they were always fine). Yes,I created the books with Createspace and then published to Amazon - have to say it was easier than I thought it would be, and the CS preview tool is excellent.
Elaine wrote: "Hi Caroline - Many thanks for your speedy reply - I'm sitting here with the agreement open in another tab! When you say you're through now - does that mean your book is only available on Amazon f..."
Well, I like Amazon and will keep all my books there. I just want to try a few other places like Kobo or iTunes, which I know nothing about. I may change my mind as it all is so complicated. I have many other things to do.
Possibly, I'll try Createspace; what did it cost?
My first book is in KDP select for a second round, I gave away maybe 300 copies. The paperback and Large Print paperback are still available worldwide. Only the ebook is exclusive to Amazon. I tried the Kindle Countdown last go around and sold none. Kindle Countdown's don't seem to be promoted by Amazon in any way. I did sell a few on Amazon.uk Countdown Deals, maybe they promote them. When I went into the US site it was hard to even find the countdown deal. I plan to give it another try with the Large print edition, but am still not convinced that either promotion did much. However, it takes time. I have sold more paperbacks at the local farmers market then Amazon has so far. It acts as an impromptu book signing. My book is "On the Rocks" by Barbara Neville A humorous western action adventure. Best of luck to us all!
Caroline wrote: "Elaine wrote: "Hi Caroline - Many thanks for your speedy reply - I'm sitting here with the agreement open in another tab! When you say you're through now - does that mean your book is only availa..."
It doesn't cost anything to publish with Createspace...:-)
Barbara wrote: "My first book is in KDP select for a second round, I gave away maybe 300 copies. The paperback and Large Print paperback are still available worldwide. Only the ebook is exclusive to Amazon. I trie..."Thanks for that info, Barbara - I've since read further and see now where it says the KDP is for 90 days. I've got the paperback up on Amazon, and the electronic version is now 'under review' so I'm hopeful that will be up soon, too.
It's a real learning curve, isn't it - and made much easier by my fellow writers who've been so kind with information. I remember reading once on Goodreads that all authors hate each other - I can categorically say now that I have not found that to be the case at all. More power to our elbow!
Thanks everyone!
Elaine
Barbara wrote: "My first book is in KDP select for a second round, I gave away maybe 300 copies. The paperback and Large Print paperback are still available worldwide. Only the ebook is exclusive to Amazon. I trie..."Also, KDP automatically renews after 90 days unless you tell it not to.
These days with self-publishing, authors support and work together to promote each other's work on twitter and other sites. Rave Reviews Book Club is a great site for authors. Getting reviews on amazon is important and by reading each other's book and writing reviews it can be really helpful to get your rankings up on amazon. Goodreads of course is a good place to get the word out. Competition among authors? People read more than one book usually! Have not had much luck with KP Select with regularly giving out free copies of "Fugue" a psychological thriller.
J.p. wrote: "Getting reviews on amazon is important and by reading each other's book and writing reviews it can be really helpful to get your rankings up on amazon. Goodreads of course is a good place to get the word out. "I should point out that Amazon doesn't like this practice, and some readers frown upon it as well because there's always a question of whether or not the reviews are honest. In addition, the content of the review must disclose if a review was given in exchange for a free copy or a review swap. This disclosure is required by US law.
I always give an honest review of a book I have read and a thorough one so you can see I have actually read the book. I will definitely research the law part since it is only in amazon's interest to sell more books. What I found was..."We don't allow anyone to write customer reviews as a form of promotion and if we find evidence that a customer was paid for a review, we'll remove it. If you have a direct or indirect financial interest in a product, or perceived to have a close personal relationship with its author or artist, we'll likely remove your review. We don't allow authors to submit customer reviews on their own books even when they disclose their identity." A fellow author's review is not a promotion but paying someone to promote it is....
Okay just so things are clear for everyone. KDP is Amazon's self-publishing program. Having a book on KDP DOES NOT mean that it is exclusive to Amazon.
KDP Select, on the other hand, is a special program available on KDP. KDP Select runs for 90 days and means that your WILL have your book exclusively on Amazon for that period of time. KDP Select will AUTOMATICALLY renew at the end of the term unless you check the box to opt out of it. KDP Select allows you to have one promotion of either a Kindle Countdown (99 cent) or 5 day free promotion. It also puts your book into Kindle Unlimited.
So you CAN have a book on KDP without having it in Select, allowing you to have your book on Smashwords, iBooks, Google, etc. But you won't have it in Kindle Unlimited then and you won't have the option of special promotions on Amazon.
I just went through this process in publishing my second book using Smashwords. My first book,ebook only, is on Amazon in the KDP Select program, and yes it is only for 90 days. During the 90 days, it can only be sold on Amazon. The reason I elected to enroll in KDP Select, is the five day promotional program that lets a user download for free. I wanted to be able to use that promotion. Once my 90 days is up, I will not renew. The book will still be sold on Amazon, but I can then go through Smashwords to distribute the book to other retailers.
My second book, ebook only, was through Smashwords. I excluded distribution to Amazon and uploaded the book direct to Amazon, but did not select enrolling in KDP.
The reason for the dual publication had to do with the ISBN numbers and distribution from Smashword to Amazon if you are using one of their ISBN numbers. I was also concerned over the reported delays in Smashwords publishing the book.
I am experimenting to see what is the best combination in publishing a book, so this has been my experience so far.
I enrolled on Amazon's KDP. I have pitifully few sales. I have used the free promotion resulting in over 1,000 downloads. When the promotion ends there are, however, no accompanying follow on sales or reader reviews. Its great to give it away but how do you make a sale?
Nick wrote: "I enrolled on Amazon's KDP. I have pitifully few sales. I have used the free promotion resulting in over 1,000 downloads. When the promotion ends there are, however, no accompanying follow on sales..."And that is THE question we all want answered. Good luck everybody. 1,000 copies is awesome and don't you get some money from their big monthly pot?
I ran my first promotion over the weekend and was pleased with the number of downloads, though it was not near as many as you had. I am a new author in the fiction area, so my objective was just to get my book out there to create visibility. I waited to run the promotion until I had published my second book and am hoping if someone liked this book, they will be interested in ordering my second book, or even the non-fiction. Whether it works, is another question.
Caroline wrote: "Nick wrote: "I enrolled on Amazon's KDP. I have pitifully few sales. I have used the free promotion resulting in over 1,000 downloads. When the promotion ends there are, however, no accompanying fo..."That is an amazing number. I was very surprised. I hope I do get something from the pot of $ but I'd like to make a sale or too.
Caroline wrote: "1,000 copies is awesome and don't you get some money from their big monthly pot? "
Nick said he enrolled on Amazon's KDP, not the KDP Select. You don't get anything from the monthly pot unless you're enrolled in the KDP Select program.
Nick said he enrolled on Amazon's KDP, not the KDP Select. You don't get anything from the monthly pot unless you're enrolled in the KDP Select program.
Mod
You DO get a bit from 'borrows' and from discounts offered through KDP Select's Countdown deals.
The problem with free downloads? I've probably got a few hundred of them on my various devices; I'll probably read them at some point, at least some of them. Maybe.
Downloads doesn't equate to readers, and readers do not mean reviews.
Bradford wrote: "Caroline wrote: "1,000 copies is awesome and don't you get some money from their big monthly pot? "Nick said he enrolled on Amazon's KDP, not the KDP Select. You don't get anything from the month..."
Thanks, I did not know that.
Bradford wrote: "Caroline wrote: "1,000 copies is awesome and don't you get some money from their big monthly pot? "Nick said he enrolled on Amazon's KDP, not the KDP Select. You don't get anything from the month..."
But you can't use the free promotions he mentioned unless you're in Select, so he must be in the program.
Those of you in the KDP Select program may be enrolled in the Unlimited program as well. Have you noticed that the borrows under Unlimited are contributing to an increase in your Book Rank numbers?
Yes, earlier today I was at 9,380. So under 10K is a lot better than 3 or 4 million in rankings!
Bradford wrote: "Those of you in the KDP Select program may be enrolled in the Unlimited program as well. Have you noticed that the borrows under Unlimited are contributing to an increase in your Book Rank numbers?"How do I register for the Unlimited Program?
I'm not entirely sure but Kindle Unlimited is automatic, I believe when you are signed up for KDP. It is the newest program they have. Feel free to correct me here.
Norm wrote: "How do I register for the Unlimited Program?"Caroline wrote: "I'm not entirely sure but Kindle Unlimited is automatic, I believe when you are signed up for KDP.
If your book is enrolled in KDP Select, it will be available for free to Prime and Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
When you log in to http://kdp.amazon.com, look at the KDP Select column on your Bookshelf page. Next to each book you've published, it will either say "Enroll" or "Manage Benefits."
(It also says "Info" if you want to see when your current enrollment ends, and if you're set to automatically enroll again at that time.)
I am in Kindle Select and incredibly happy with it.
Mark wrote: "I am in Kindle Select and incredibly happy with it."Excellent, Mark. What is it about Kindle Select that has made you happy? Exposure? Sales?
How has it worked for you? It'd be great do see some positive feedback.
Norm Hamilton, Writer, Copy-Editor, Proofreader
Author of From Thine Own Well , Sarah’s Embrace , The Digital Eye
Website
Norm wrote: "Mark wrote: "I am in Kindle Select and incredibly happy with it."Excellent, Mark. What is it about Kindle Select that has made you happy? Exposure? Sales?
How has it worked for you? It'd be gre..."
I'm interested in knowing also. I haven't done Select just KDP and free give-a-ways.
Norm wrote: "Mark wrote: "I am in Kindle Select and incredibly happy with it."Excellent, Mark. What is it about Kindle Select that has made you happy? Exposure? Sales?
How has it worked for you? It'd be gre..."
The number of borrows and Kindle Unlimited purchases have matched the number of buys, nearly. That has been the biggest. I am guessing this outweighs what would be purchased on other sites. Also, I did a Bookbub freebie giveaway, which really helped. (16,087 downloads) I am mixed on this, however, as it always causes the "I don't even like this genre" one star review. And I am sure some who got it for free may have eventually bought it. I am going to try my first kindle countdown deal soon.
Biggest thing is, the number of kindle select/borrows has been huge. More and more publishers are using it, it seems.
Should mention that, after a freebie giveaway, sales tripled for a few days, then doubled for about ten days after that. Of course, the bookbub ad costs me 90 bucks. I blogged on it here: http://www.markmatthewsauthor.com/201...
I have also done giveaways that made zero dent on sales. These days, you need to put out ads for freebies for it to make a difference it seems. Crazy huh.
Mark wrote: "Should mention that, after a freebie giveaway, sales tripled for a few days, then doubled for about ten days after that. Of course, the bookbub ad costs me 90 bucks. I blogged on it here: http://ww..."My experience with KDP Select was that I had hundreds of downloads -- no expense. I wrote about it on my blog. There's two follow up posts.
So, I moved a lot of free books, but it didn't make any difference to the paid sales ... I also didn't get a single review out of the deal.
Norm Hamilton, Writer, Copy-Editor, Proofreader
Author of From Thine Own Well , Sarah’s Embrace , The Digital Eye
Website
I tried the KDP Select - got over 4000 downloads for a nonfiction book but got few reviews and not many sales. That was two years ago. The next year I tried it with two additional ebooks and got a fraction of the downloads...and few residual sales. In May and June of this year, I put three books on the countdown program to see if it was any good and got about 50 purchased at 99 cents. I get almost no borrows anymore. I don't know what's up with Select or Countdown, but they aren't working for me.
Many of the long-time members of the KDP Community Forum feel that free promotions are worthwhile when they make only the first book of a series free; if people like the first one, they're likely to want to read the others. Linda
I think promotions like Countdown only work, these days, when they;re heavily advertised. I've done several, with and without paid advertising. The one that produced the best results was when I advertised on E-reader News Today.
My first Kindle Countdown Deal is going on right now. It started on Thursday and ends on Tuesday. I advertised on Facebook the first day and only saw a few sales as a result. Then Ereader News Today featured my book on Friday, and that's when the sales picked up. Sales are still trickling in. I agree with Ken; the Countdown Deals probably only work in conjunction with advertising. I highly recommend ENT. I am trying Riffle (which is just as reasonably priced as ENT) for my next Countdown Deal in late November. Good luck to everyone. This marketing game is tough!
Mod
I recently tried another ad campaign with The Fussy Librarian. It's a fairly new site and is still building readership, but I had a decent spike in sales. Not as much as my Countdown promo with ENT, but their prices are very reasonable. They're also one of the few sites that will let you advertise a book at full price, which is what I did.
Done a few promo. Only managed like a few dozen of download and a few reviews. Can't complaint too much judging from the response here it seems.
I have used KDP select exclusively, and have been very pleased with the results. My promotions (Countdown)have gone extremely well, and the Kindle Unlimited allows people to receive free books. My experience with Kindle Unlimited is that the 'purchasers' actually read and review, as compared to the "free giveaway" readers merely getting another book which sits on their Kindle unread for potentially ever. Since my first book, I have not had a free giveaway.
I typically sell around 6-10,000 copies of (erotica)ebooks upon the first six weeks of release.
Hope this helps.
I'm not actually in Select, but I do publish through kdp. I also publish through Kobo and other retailers, via D2D.For my last book, I sold loads through kindle, and only a few through all the others put together. So, for the next one I'll be using kdp only, so will go Select for the extra benefits.
I should say, I'm in the UK.
I published through Kindle because of Amazon.com. I think just about everyone that shops online shops there at least sometimes. So KDP select was no problem. The only downside is that you only have the two promotional items and you can only use one of them per enrollment period, which is 90 days.
Beware of copyright infringement !!! I placed my book title on Google Alert and received an alert telling me my book was fFREE Sure enough followed the link and there it was on google docs... Anyone else ever have this problem.? I only publish on Amazon.
Amazon says they can't do anything about it to contact the people who are offering it free...
No replies yet?
Try your book on google alerts and see what happens.. This incident happened shortly after a promotion on a KDP
Pat, something similar happened with my book. I Googled the title three days after publication and found a Wordpress blog that offered a free download link. The link took me to a site called Download Genie. From what I understand, they probably did not have my book but were just trying to get people to sign up for the site and provide credit card info. I issued a DMCA takedown notice to Wordpress, and the next day they shut down the blog. I also signed up for Google alerts - great service. I know this info isn't relevant to the thread, but I figured people might find it useful regardless.
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When your book is enrolled in KDP Select, you can only sell it on Amazon, but you are not limited in where you can advertise it.
The Kindle app is free. People can also read on their computers with the Cloud Reader that is also free.