Who has experience with KDP?

[Dana King]

I'm uploading a book to amazon this week. I've not subscribed to KP before, as I made previous books available at Barnes and Noble for Nook,a s well. This one is a Kindle exclusive. Is there any reason not to go with KDP? Plusses? Minuses?

Thanks.

[Andrew Drummond]

I found this recent thread on the KDP Forum:

https://kdp.amazon.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=586565&#...

But although the "correct answer" states that UK reviews cannot migrate to the US site, it also states that US reviews should show on the UK site.  This is clearly not what you have experienced.

I will consider my next step over the course of the weekend, which has just begun in the UK.

[Martin Roy Hill]

I published my two books on KDP Select and have been happy with it. The one thing that's nice is Amazon will promote your book in their emailing to Amazon Prime members. I've received several such emails aimed at mystery/thriller readers featuring my book, The Killing Depths, at the top of the book recommendations. Can't complain about that.

[Benjamin Sobieck]

The five free days are the real advantage of the exclusivity agreement in KDP Select. Although everyone has a different take on how best to leverage those days (the aim is to juice your ranking while it's free, then make real sales once it kicks back to paid), I made some serious paid sales doing this last year:

1) Split up your free days. 2-2-1, 3-2 or some other combination. The first day makes or breaks you. If you make a dent, the second day rockets your ranking. The peak interest is after that second successful day. Kick it back to paid after the end of the second day.

2) If it's not working, cancel the free day(s) and start over some other time.

3) A lot of people make their books free over the weekend cycle (Fri, Sat, Sun). Go against the grain to get the best ranking in a shallower pond of competition. Tue, Wed, Thur or Wed, Thur worked best for me.

4) Jack the price of the book up right before it goes free so it looks like the reader is getting a better value. Then knock it down to something more reasonable for when it kicks back to paid.

5) There isn't a science to any of this. Most of it is luck. So don't listen to me if it doesn't sound good to you.

[Andrew Drummond]

Sounds like good advice and a sound strategy to me.  Thanks.  I have not decided or needed to use my free days yet.  I've only been listed for 3 weeks, but I am well aware that the well of initial sales is not bottomless (sadly).  

[Dana King]

Thanks, Ben. I haven't thought about my free days much lately, busy with other stuf. I'll give all of the above a shot.

[Eric Christopherson]

The post free sales bump is gone, or largely gone, even if you make the top ten in free. Amazon has tweaked the algorithms repeatedly since the inception of the program, which was originally rather lucrative. Today I think the only benefit is that by giving away tens of thousands of free copies you'll end up with one or two new customer reviews and sales of your other books to the extent that the freebie grabbers actually read your work and like it enough to see what else you have to offer.

[Benjamin Sobieck]

Then it doesn't sound like three months of exclusivity is worth it.

[Eric Christopherson]

No, it's probably not worth it anymore. (I used to have all my books in it, now, only one.) On the other hand, the exclusivity isn't a big deal to me because I sell 99% on Amazon. There are those indie authors who've made inroads at B&N and Kobo, etc., but it's tough, I hear, and takes mucho effort...

[Dana King]

That's pretty much what I'm thinking. I think I sold a total of three books for Nook, counting my first two books together. Other venues were more trouble than I could see they were worth to get into, given the limited time I have to work on them. In my current situation, sticking with Kindle is no great sacrifice, so I might as well. If that changes, so will I.

[David DeLee]

I'm on both Amazon and BN, (for two+ years) as well as Kobo and all the other major retailers. My experience with Nook has been that it takes a long, long time to get traction with them, but recently (over the past year or so) I've had months when my Nook sales have not only kept pace with my Amazon sales but in some months have exceeded my Kindle sales.

Since I can put the book up and forget about it (except to obsessively check my sales) I can't see a reason to go exclusive with Amazon. The Select program promos aren't any better than what you get with Kindle as a whole and as others have pointed out free isn't working like it use too so that's not enough of an incentive to counterbalance the exclusivity.

Just my two cents.

[Bob Tinsley]

Oddly enough, I've sold twice as many books and short stories on Nook as I have on Kindle. Didn't do anything differently, so go figure. The thing I have discovered is that the ebook market ain't the Field of Dreams no matter who you publish with. If you don't find some way to promote, your books are just going to sit there. KDP does not have the Magic Bullet. No one does.

[Charles Harvey]

I didn't find it helpful at all. I may have gotten one or two reviews of some short stories, but that's it. Not one review of my novel. I'm not sure any program that offers a chance to make books free is very helpful. I have free stories through Smashwords. I get the reports for Apple and see where titles are downloaded sometimes a hundred per day. In paid sales so far it's under 10 bucks.