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KDP Select report
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Thanks for all the detail, Kris! I joined KDP Select right out of the gate when I published my first two books simultaneously--I never did the free days before my 90 days expired because I was waiting to build up enough reviews. I THOUGHT that by being in the program I would get additional exposure (as Amazon claims). Well, if I did, it didn't matter, because the sales of my non-KDP book were identical to those of my KDP book (next to nothing), and they're both in the same genre, etc. Now that I've got about 8 reviews for each, I probably will try it again in the fall (summer seems to be slower, with vacations, etc.). But I've read that the program has been undergoing changes, as well as being inundated with more books/authors every day, which reduce its effectiveness. My hopes are not high, but I have no budget, and it's still free.
Oooh that's interesting - and congrats on those rankings! A nice moment, is it not?Bill, for what it's worth, summer is always slow, and free is very good if you have at least two books out. As a general rule as far as we can see, you get one sale of the second book for every ten freebies you give away - but this is only based on the moment and we have no way of guessing how many copies are languishing unread on people's kindles who have got a bit clickhappy on the freebie sites!
On the other hand, my view is that my book has a better chance of being discovered in a folder of say 500 other books on someone's kindle than loose on Amazon in amongst the other 400,000 on there (or however many it is these days)!!
Others have differing opinions of course, and it depends on whether you want readership or royalties in the first instance, but free is a useful tool for shifting copies off the shelf!
JAC
Thanks, J.A.! Bill, I had Whispers in the Dark enrolled in KDP Select for about 85 days before using the free days, and I don't think I got any borrows, and very few sales. So you definitely need to use the free days to make it worthwhile. And I believe you need to spread the word aggressively.As J.A. pointed out, it's most effective if you can use a free but to sell your other books, but I did sell more copies of Whispers than ever before as well.
I have also heard that changes are making KDP less effective, but it was still worthwhile for me a couple of weeks ago, when the changes took place months ago.
On the downside, there's a popular romance blog, Dear Author, that will no longer accept books for review unless they are available in all electronic formats. So I have to figure out how to balance that kind of thing with the Kindle-only benefits.
That's an interesting twist, Chris (sorry, have been sorting out the paperback for months so a bit behind the times).I doubt it is widespread enough to cause much chaos, but if it did catch on, that would be a bit of a game-changer, perhaps?
JAC
I usually kill threads so Ill revive one for a change on here! I am strongly considering using KDP for my upcoming release of my 2nd book. I heard from other authors its hit or miss really but would of course be hopeful of positive numbers, downloads and sales. I really want to go all out here so I think KDP will be good!
Hi folks ... just spotted this thread. Here's my experience of KDP select between Xmas 1012 and March 2013 with a newly self-published book that had no reviews. I don't have a blog/site and my original intention was to have the book on both Amazon and Smashwords, but due to a "wrong click" I ended up exclusive to Amazon for 3 months. I figured Amazon for the visibility and Smashwords for the flexibility, i.e. the ability to gift books without buying them yourself.
For 3 months NOTHING happened. I started at 99c. Nothing. Then raised the price to 4,99 for about a month, up to the freedays, thinking the 4,99 reduction in price may entice some readers that like a bargain.
I got one sale. (Later refunded when the freedays came out!)
I tried a free day three weeks before the end of the 90 days. 200 downloads. I was quite happy. Until I discovered that other books get thousands of downloads per day...
Anyway, I figured I'd get one or two reviews that may help increase visibility for when I used the last 4 freedays, but got none at all. I've since learned that quite a few other authors have the same problem, that lots of downloads does not always equal lots of reviews.
For the last 4 free days, I contacted half a dozen sites/blogs that advertise free books a week in advance, and figured Id easily get at least 800 downloads over the 4 days (including a weekend). I got 300. And still no reviews from the free downloads.
In total, since December, I've made about 4 sales.
My book is a supernatural thriler, The Devil's Bloodline and its not YA/romance, so I was aware that it wasn't going to go viral, but even so, I've found the results disappointing.
I'm also aware that no downloads can be because a) the book is crap, b) the subject is not in vogue and c) the cover and/or blurb aren't attractive/interesting. Even so, I was still surprised at how little interest the freedays generated, compared to other books in similar circumstances.
Two things (speaking as a self-published author, of course) I didn't like about Amazon KDP select:
First, the exclusivity. This means you can't use a site like Smashwords to give free copies to people who may read and review. Amazon force you to "gift" (=buy) your own book, and even then the person can redeem the "gift" against something else!
Second, Amazon doesn't seem to allow you to set a zero price to run your own promotion. This makes sense, considering it costs them to send the book to a buyer, and Amazon exist to sell things for a profit.
I'm still undecided as to whether the select part is worth the exclusivity clause.
Currently, its still on Amazon at 2,99, but also on Smashwords for the same price where I can at least generate redeem codes for readers prepared to review.
I'd be interested in hearing other authors experiences/strategies/tricks.
What do you do to help increase visibility in order to make best advantage of the freedays?
My experience was disappointing. I prefer smashwords over Amazon. I think the market is so flooded right now that getting seen is hard. I have done it all, but I do not think the KDP Select is the way to go anymore. I have given away 200+ copies in a week on my price matched amazon title. I hardly advertised and made it to the top 100 free in two days. I advertised and got to #33, but only through a 10 dollar promo from a friend. That is more than I ever got from Select. I even got a sale! I think if you have more than 1 book you should try to make it free on Smashwords and have Amazon match it. Not easy, but permafree is forever!
I know I must sounds stupid asking this, but I just enrolled my novel HOUSE OF MIRRORS on Amazon's Kindle Select program and I have no idea how to find out what your ranking is for say the bestseller paid list or free list. My free days are this Saturday and Sunday (April 27-28), so I want to make sure I know what my ranking is before, during, and after the program. Thank you if anyone can give me some info on where to find this.Best,
Lisa
I think KDP is no longer useful. I have five books on amazon and have been using KDP for about nine months now. Maybe it was useful earlier, now it just attracts the junkies who believe they are entitled to free stuff. This bunch of thankless nincompoops only hoard our free books - nor do they read them or review them. As a result, KDP is as nutritious as a rare steak to a pious Hindoo.
Fed up with KDP. I'll leave my current books with it (the sales have hit rock bottom anyways), but my new novel out in two weeks will no longer be a part of KDP.
Really an awesome story! I just enrolled KDP select and it is great to come acrsoss such information, know how it has been for you and what you got of it.
Very useful! Many thanks :)
Very useful! Many thanks :)
I submitted the information a few days ahead to EReaderNewsToday, Indie Book List, and Thefrugalereader.com. Some other sites either had a fee or didn't seem to be active anymore. I also posted the info on Facebook, sent Twitter announcements, posted to a couple of GoodReads groups, sent a notice to DorothyL, MMA, and two listserves for children's book writers I'm on.
Saturday, 721, it showed up on Indie Book List, http://thefrugalereader.com/, and http://www.freebookshub.com/ (I did not submit it there, so they must have picked it up from somewhere else). Here are some rankings from that day:
11:45 AM MST: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,789 Free in Kindle Store
• #39 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Romantic Suspense
• #76 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Action & Adventure
3:30 PM MST: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #220 Free in Kindle Store
#4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Action & Adventure
7:00 PM Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194 Free in Kindle Store
#4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Action & Adventure
On Sunday showed up on EReaderNewsToday.com. That day's rankings:
2:30 pm: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96 Free in Kindle Store
#5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Action & Adventure
#7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Romantic Suspense
3 pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70 Free in Kindle Store )
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Action & Adventure
8:45 pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32 Free in Kindle Store
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Action & Adventure
#5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Romantic Suspense
On Monday, I didn't find any place new it posted, but it reached its highest rankings:
8:20 am Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14 Free in Kindle Store
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Action & Adventure
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Romantic Suspense
11 am, 1:40 pm, and 3:15: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13 Free in Kindle Store
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Action & Adventure
By Tuesday, 8 am, it had dropped out of the category rankings, but kept going up slightly in paid rankings: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,461 Paid in Kindle Store
Sunday, 7/29: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,716 Paid in Kindle Store
In the top 20 romantic suspense free books, most had an average of four stars, with a few slightly over three stars. The number of reviews ranged from zero to several hundred, and didn't seem to affect ranking. Based on my own habits, I would have expected the number of reviews to matter more, so I would have waited until I had around 10 reviews to promote the book. It doesn't seem that other people shop the same way, at least for free books.
In all, I had 15,149 free downloads (obviously those aren't all people I know personally!). Now on to the important stuff – how did this translate into paid sales?
Unit sales covering period 07/01/2012 to 07/31/2012:
Whispers in the Dark: 71 sold, 9 refunded, 62 net sold, 16 borrowed
Rattled: 23 sold, 1 refunded, 22 net sold, 0 borrowed
8/1-8/11 – 28 Whispers, 11 Rattled sold.
Almost $400 from Kindle in 3 weeks
A few other notes – I raised the price on Whispers in the Dark to $4.99 before I made it free, figuring that people tend to think they're getting a better deal if they get a five dollar item for free than if they get a three dollar item for free. I don't know if that affected the number of sales I've gotten since then, but my guess is it brought in more money. Rattled is still at $2.99.
I know some of my friends and children's book writing colleagues picked up the book because it was free. While we might prefer that people we know pay for our books to support us, realistically, that doesn't always happen. At least some new people have gotten a look at my books for adults, and one of them already read and reviewed it.
I did this kind of in a rush, because my 90 days were about to expire. I debated signing up Whispers in the Dark again versus starting my next book in KDP Select. I decided to do Whispers again, even though the bump might not be as good the second time around, so I can use the giveaway to help drive traffic to the next book. I'll probably make the new book, What We Found, available on Amazon and B&N for a month or so and try to get a few early reviews, then enter it in the program as well. I don't think I'll publish it on Smashwords, at least at first, because it's harder to pull down from there to make it exclusive on Kindle, and I've hardly made any money from Smashwords anyway.
This got really long, but hopefully it will be helpful or at least of interest to a few people!
--
Kris Bock
"Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Adventures" -- suspense and romance in the Southwest
www.krisbock.com
Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Kris-Bock/e/B00...
@Kris_Bock