A Writer On Writing: KDP Select - Is It Worth It?
Author Sally Jenkins considers the value of enrolling in the Kindle Direct Publishing Select program.
Enrol your e-book in Amazon’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) Select program and you get two advantages:
• Amazon Prime members are able to borrow the book for free and this will generate a royalty payment for the author
• The book can be offered free for 5 days in every 90. Offering a book for free is supposed to generate large numbers of downloads which will then convert into reviews of the book on Amazon, which in turn will drive an increased number of sales.
There is also a downside to joining KDP Select – the e-book must remain exclusive to Amazon i.e. it cannot be sold on Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Kobo etc.
Many e-book authors swear by KDP Select and its advantages. They don’t see exclusivity as a disadvantage because Amazon is by far the biggest retailer of e-books.
I’m not sure. I’ve had e-books available in KDP Select for just over three months now and I’ve had only one Amazon Prime loan (it was in the US). So that doesn’t seem a massive benefit. Are any of you Amazon Prime members? I don’t know anyone who is.
I’ve run one free promotion. In the five days that One Day for Me was free, http://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Day-Me-Award-Winning-ebook/dp/B00B4XCYJC I had 135 US free downloads, 93 in the UK, 2 in Germany, 1 Japan and 1 Canada. As far as I can tell, only one review (it was in the UK) was written as a result and I noticed no increase in sales. This was despite spending an age adding my book to the many websites and Facebook pages that offer to list free e-books.
But I didn’t remove that book from KDP Select after the first 90 days, mainly because whilst I was dithering about what to do, the Amazon automatic re-enrol swung into action.
Looking on the bright side – maybe next time I’ll do better!
My second anthology Old Friends is also available. Old Friends is a collection of 13 short stories. There are tales with a twist, stories about the ups and downs of family life plus a little romance. Perfect to enjoy with a cup of coffee and a biscuit! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Old-Friends-Coffee-Stories-ebook/dp/B00BJIKIBI
