Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Belle wrote: "Hey everyone,

I’m hoping you guys can help me. I’m one of those people who has been secretly writing, and now I realize I’ve written something I’d like to turn into an ebook. I understand all abou..."

You can do all of the above. You just need to learn how to use the KDP system. The help files are a bit of a pain, but wading through them is a necessity.

There are restrictions on pricing in other than US markets, and there are restrictions on free book promotion, but pretty much everything else you mentioned in your post is doable, and the changes generally take a few hours to a day to post online.

Note, Amazon also reserves the right to change the rules at any time.

Whether you decide to enroll in KDP Select is up to you whether you have one book or several. Enrollment is by the individual book, not the author. If it works for you, it can be a good deal. If it doesn't work, you may want to try something different.

Good luck.

The royalty rate is governed by price and territory. At a price under $2 the author receives a 35% royalty, over $2 it's 70% (and I believe it drops back to 35% over $10). So it depends how you price your novel. In some territories, even though you are on a 70% royalty rate you may only receive 35%. You need to read the fine print when selecting your pricing structure. The rate also affects how delivery fees are treated - on the higher rate the author bears the cost, on the lower rate Amazon does.

KDP Select (ie Amazon exclusive) vs going wide is a personal decision. What works for some authors/books doesn't work for others. You need to experiment and find what strategy works for you.

Belle wrote: "Hey everyone,

I’m hoping you guys can help me. I’m one of those people who has been secretly writing, and now I realize I’ve written something I’d like to turn into an ebook. I understand all abou..."

You can use KDP (regular) in conjunction with distributing on other platforms ... which I highly recommend. If you go KDP-Select, you are only allowed to sell on Amazon. This cuts off a good deal of your potential audience (hint: the most popular reader abroad is the Kobo, although in the US it's the Kindle).

My personal experience is that my books sell 5:1 in ePub compared to .mobi (which is the Kindle format). As A.W. points out, other people's mileage may vary, but I'm not interested in cutting off 80 percent of my audience. Besides, since I distribute via Smashwords, I can offer a sale at *my* convenience, for as many days as I wish ... so KDP-S' "five freebie days" is a matter of no importance.