Debating KDP Select (Kindle’s Promo Track) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUESTION
Ester Benjamin Shifren is one of my Google + followers who tell me, "I'm debating whether
to do KDP Select which requires exclusivity for six months, or put my book out there with all the other e-readers. I'm
leaning towards the latter. I think some of the magic of Select is wearing off.
What's your opinion or thinking on the subject."
ANSWER
I did just the opposite, Ester, though I do think some of
the novelty is wearing off. I also see that there are many more support sites
out there for e-book freebies and that’s a big plus. Also B&N has pulled
support for the Nook and the other platforms require another kind of
language/format from the one Kindle uses. That means Kindle will not have that
competition in the future.
It does get to be quite a time-consuming project for
indie authors to reformat for all the different e-reader platforms. I had begun
to get ready to do it for Kindle and am kind of relieved I don’t have to do it
now. And Smashwords only pays you through Paypal which I distrust. Other
authors also say that their royalties with Smashwords is negligible.Thinking
back to my marketing theory that even promotions have to be promoted, that
sounds about right. People usually go to buy your book where you send them and
none of us can promote six to a dozen different e-book sites. Focus.
Focus! (A warning here. Don't focus on paperbacks only. We need to cater to readers who prefer digital, too.)
Of course, there's always an alternative. Use Kindle Select for six months. Promote it. Reap the benefits. And post on the other platforms once your commitment is up.
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .
Carolyn and Esther, that is my intention with my new book BETRAYED. It is currently on Kindle and in paperback. I haven't used the promotion days yet. I also enrolled it in the KindleMatch program. I'll give it 6 months, do all of the Freebies and then re-evaluate whether to spread out or stay with Kindle exclusively. I also agree with negligible Smashwords royalties.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I forgot to mention is that when you're a Select member, you're also enrolled for Kindle's lending library program. It actually works and, though it's free to lend, the author gets royalties paid by a fund set up by Amazon.
ReplyDelete