Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Hi! I need some help. I self-published my book, both in Ebook and Paperback format, not that long ago through Amazon. Ever since I have been hesitant about enrolling it in KDP Select. I have investigated and read all the pros and cons but I'm still really unsure. Having said that, I honestly don't have (at least for the moment) any intentions of selling it elsewhere so I might as well do it, right? Has anyone seen the benefits of KDP Select? And once the 90 days period is over, if I decide to, I could put it on to sale on other digital platforms such as iBooks, is that correct?
If anyone could give an answer or their opinion/advice I would appreciate it a lot, thanks!

Hi Valentina, others will have more info for you, but for me, I've done both, KDP exclusive and open to all retailers. I felt both were helpful in marketing opportunities and sales, but for a few of my books, I make more thru 'pages read' on select than sales. If you're not opening to retailers yet, I would try select and yes, the day your book is done with the 90 days, you can open it up to others. Just make sure to uncheck the 'renew' button so it doesn't auto renew for another 90 days.

Currently I have one book in KDP Select. Personally, I haven't seen any negatives as long as you are willing to give Amazon exclusivity for the 90 day term. Yes, after that you can opt not to re-enroll the ebook and are free to go wide with it.

KDP Select gives you access to a few exclusive sales tools for your ebook. Also your ebook can be made available in Kindle Unlimited, which will entitle you to get paid for page reads. Actual benefits you might anticipate receiving can vary. Some genres seem to do better than others in KU. There is definitely a cadre of readers who choose and prefer to get their content via KU. KDP Select gives you a chance to tap into that.

It's worth noting the 90 day restriction applies just to the digital version of your book. You are at liberty to do whatever you want with your paperback during the KDP Select term.

In all fairness and with my overall history, I haven't seen great rewards come from my books participating. Nor do I feel like it cost me anything as a consequence. As in most things, your own mileage may very. Good luck to you!

Gail wrote: "Hi Valentina, others will have more info for you, but for me, I've done both, KDP exclusive and open to all retailers. I felt both were helpful in marketing opportunities and sales, but for a few o..."

This is so helpful! Thank you so much!

Todd wrote: "Currently I have one book in KDP Select. Personally, I haven't seen any negatives as long as you are willing to give Amazon exclusivity for the 90 day term. Yes, after that you can opt not to re-en..."

Thank you for sharing your experience. I appreciate it a lot and I will take your words into consideration! :)

Hi,
I have my both books enrolled in KDP Select, and because I am a new author and have no large following out there, I kept the prices of my Kindle ebooks really low, so, absurdly enough, I earn more money when people read my book over KU than when they buy it. Most of my "customers" are KU members, and so far that's where I had the most resonance. So, I had a positive experience with KDP Select so far.

What is KDP select? How did you get involved with that? Did you use a traditional editor before self publishing? He he I have lots of questions... good to have writing friends.

Dena wrote: "What is KDP select? How did you get involved with that? Did you use a traditional editor before self publishing? He he I have lots of questions... good to have writing friends."

If you publish with Amazon you are publishing using their KDP platform. When you do that you can choose to join KDP select, this just means you are agreeing to only sell your ebook via Amazon for 90 days. This gives you access to KU readers plus the ability to put your book for free or 0.99 without losing the 70% royalty (for 7days per 90 day term). Normally if you chose to have your book at 0.99 you’d only get 35% royalty and you can’t make it free.

Jane wrote: "…you can’t make it free."

You don’t need to be in select to make a book free. You simply set it free on the other platforms and Amazon price matches to zero. A permafree first in series is a handy marketing tool.

Tilly wrote: "Jane wrote: "…you can’t make it free."

You don’t need to be in select to make a book free. You simply set it free on the other platforms and Amazon price matches to zero. A permafree first in seri..."

I should have said if you were only on Amazon you couldn’t otherwise make it free - very true you can force Amazon to put it free if you have it free on other platforms 🙃

Following... I also published through KDP, and my sales are exclusive to Amazon.

I just enrolled in KDP select, but I don't see how it will attract more readers. I thought it would display more through the KDP select platform, but the only difference I notice is when I go on Amazon and search my name, it now shows my book for $0.00 through Kindle Unlimited.

Julia wrote: "I just enrolled in KDP select, but I don't see how it will attract more readers. I thought it would display more through the KDP select platform, but the only difference I notice is when I go on Am..."

I have done both, Julia, listed books wide - all retailers, and KDP Select. For me, I found I make more money on KDP Select. Readers' pay a monthly fee and can read all the available KDP Select books they want. Authors are paid a "per page" royalty, which can add up quickly if enough readers find and read your book(s). You'll need to give it a bit of time to see if it is beneficial to you or not, but the KDP Select has a required 3 month enrollment, so if yours doesn't produce enough profit for you within that 3 months' time, you can go back to wide.

Thanks, Gail. Yes, I'm curious to see what happens. Every day is a learning opportunity.

Hi Valentina, as an author for two years I've left my book in KDP select. A good 90% of my sales come through this. And I'm making good sales. So good that I left all my books on there even though the 90 days ended for some of them over two years ago.

But KDP select only gets you halfway. Without marketing you won't get sales. You need to market your book and self promote. That will draw people to KPD select and then you'll make sales.

Elizabeth

Julia wrote: "I just enrolled in KDP select, but I don't see how it will attract more readers. I thought it would display more through the KDP select platform, but the only difference I notice is when I go on Am..."

It will show as 0.00 on Kindle Unlimited because what happens is all those who buy the Kindle app to read the KPD select, their money goes into a pot. The the pot is split depending on how many pages are read per book, per author. I make a good 90% of my sales through this. But as per my previous post, you need to market your book, no one will find it otherwise!

Elizabeth :-)

Thanks, Elizabeth! Which marketing strategies do you use? I don't find Amazon ads very helpful.

Valentina wrote: "Hi! I need some help. I self-published my book, both in Ebook and Paperback format, not that long ago through Amazon. Ever since I have been hesitant about enrolling it in KDP Select. I have invest..."

Hi Valentina
You can enroll in KDP select for 90 days and opt out after, and you can still put your print book in Ingram Spark and elsewhere. This is what I've chosen to do and so far so good. I'm not sure if I'll renew in KDP but it's working well so far, and since I can still sell to bookstores via Ingram with the paperback, it seemed like a good compromise. After the 90 days, you can opt out (it will auto renew, so beware of that) and then you can put the ebook everywhere. Good luck!
Bonnie

@Bonnie: I've considered Ingram Spark, but I'm not sure how to create an epub. Is this a large expense?

Aloha from Hawaii. My name is Lester Fisher and my two books are a memoir www.LesterFisher.com. However, I have a third book written to complete the series, but I will probably be looking for a low-cost publisher. From what I read, that sounds like KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). But I don't really understand what KDP Select means? I have contacted Peace Corps Writers about endorsing my 3rd book, but I understand that they work through KDP. I have been happy with my current publisher, Authorhouse.com but it has been expensive. I just put out an additional $1500.00 to initiate a Social Media Advertising campaign with LAVIDGE. My hope is that I will learn about KDP from this Discussion, and be able to minimize my publication costs. Frankly the first two books have not paid for themselves in 7 months. Hope springs eternal!

KDP did not cost me anything; I paid for the copyright through the government. I've enrolled in advertising, which has not yet cost me anything or made me any sales.

KDP distributes through Amazon. KDP Select is a branch of KDP, and it is a choice you can make for your book: it's like Netflix for books. People will see the ebook available for $0.00 because they pay a monthly fee to read any books available on Select. On the author end, I don't see my book being promoted other than by what I am doing myself.

My ebook is still available at regular cost to non-KDP select members. I hope this helps.