Taking part in KDP Select can offer some distinct advantages when selling your Kindle ebook. Amazon boasts “more readers, more earnings and increased sales potential”. This all comes at a cost of exclusivity. Let’s take a closer look.
If you haven’t done so already, take a gander at the first three articles in this series: Creating the eBook, Uploading, and Rights, Royalty and Pricing.
It’s not forever
Going exclusive with KDP Select requires a commitment of at least 90 days, and I can choose to auto-renew. With that, I would get a slice of “KDP Select Global Fund dedicated to independent authors and publishers.” As of writing, the November fund is $12 million. My “slice” is determined by how many pages of my books are read, when borrowed from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library or from Kindle Unlimited. Yes, you read that right. Amazon knows how many pages are read of any book bought. This is how Amazon calculates that extra slice of the Kindle pie. Take their example with a grain of salt, because it is overly optimistic. 100 million pages read in one month seems high but in reality is very low.
Special Promotions
When my books are part of KDP Select, I have access to special promotions, which are designed to increase sales of my book in the long run.
Kindle Countdown Deals allow me to set a discount to my book and have the price adjusted over time, according to the dates and times I set. I’ll be sure to promote the deal as much as I can, wherever I can, to maximize the deal’s effectiveness. My books will then be listed in Amazon’s special countdown deals section of their website.
Free Book Promotions is another method to try and gain readers, and ultimately increased sales. This option allows me to set my books to “free” status for up to five days. I can pick my days or run multiple days. When my books are in “free” status, my paid sales rank stops collecting data and switches to the free sales rank. Hopefully, the drop in my paid sales rank will bounce back after my books revert back to regular price.
I don’t like the free promotions, because it seems that people don’t value the things they don’t spend their money on. I have found that free books are less likely to receive reviews compared to paid or countdown deals, and reviews help get my books noticed. However, I have read about people who have had their paid rankings go through the roof after a free promotion. My suggestion is to experiment. It’s only 90 days at a time.
One last note about promotions: I can only choose one method of promotion per 90 day cycle, so I must choose wisely.
Pay Amazon to Promote
Another option is to have Amazon advertise my book for me. I think a personalized social media campaign through Facebook, Twitter and other websites can be far more effective and have more reach and longevity than a CPC (cost-per-click) advertising campaign (see note below). If you want to try it, you can find more information here. Let me know how it worked out for you.
Now that my book is online, I can earn money from its sales. But for foreigners, there are tax implications. Read on… It’s a long one.
[Note: I wrote this when I was GREEN and inexperienced. Advertising works and is a necessary part of getting your books seen. Social media promotion helps too.]
