Support for Indie Authors discussion

KDP Select is for being Amazon-exclusive. Which means being there and nowhere else - and thus probably requires selling direct through Amazon (even if you used D2D only to reach Amazon). And if that was your plan, the big question is: why go through D2D and not direct to Amazon?

The answer is no.

I went through Amazon for 3 previous books but, after researching recently what the trend is among indie authors, I discovered a move away from Amazon initially to other outlets with wider distribution, yet still with access to Amazon.

As others said, if you want to use KDP select, you can't have your book anywhere else. With D2D, you have gone wide, so no, you can't use select.

If you want to use select, put it there for 90 day, then pull it and got wide. I know several authors who do that to get traction on their books.

I went wide with D2D/Amazon for my eBook and Ingram/Amazon for my paperback however I have only sold 1) book outside of Amazon so far, (about 50 or so total with Amazon).

Considering this I have been thinking about going Select with Amazon, hopefully to gain some traction. Does anyone know if I can pause D2D, while retaining Ingram and go Select, and then later go wide again? Additionally does anyone know if such a change would in anyway impact my developed ranking with Amazon, (currently #1 in search results for: Christian Fiction Supernatural Thriller)? Thanks !

I am experimenting with that kind of thing myself. I still haven't tried D2D, I plan to do it in a while after I fully test my current methods, but I believe the more places you reach, the more readers you reach too.
Right now, I got more free downloads from Smashwords than from Amazon on my first novel. 3x more, and without any publicity.

One of these days just to experiment I might put a mystery-thriller-genre specific novel based loosely on my trilogy up on KDP. One reason I went with Lulu for my trilogy e-book/print book was their GlobalReach program which sells through Amazon and many others. As for free downloads of one of my trilogy books, lots and lots of downloads. Not in this for money, but to deliver a "spiritual message" so to speak, but have sold both e-book and print books. Amazon and others. You need to see what works best for you.

Deborah wrote: "You need to see what works best for you."

This. And one thing to keep in mind is that it might be very genre- (or sub-genre) specific. Some genres don't have many people reading via KU, in others it may be well over 50%.

You can Delist your D2D and later relist it under your book control panel in your book list

If you have gone wide, Try advertising on FB and LinkedIn. I got a few sales by doing that. Also Pinterest is another place. I don't spend a lot so I'm not getting the best returns. Then again, I'm still an unknown with only a few books out and 2 of them aren't that great and one of them is a reader magnet selling for $0.99 on Amazon since I quite fighting with them to get it permafree even though it is everywhere else.

Either way, good luck.