Next week I will release my long-awaited new children’s picture book.
A Reluctant Little Prince 
But here is my dilemma. I’ve never participated in KDP Select and I wonder if it will be helpful.
Have any of y’all used the Select program with any success?
Is it complicated to use?
Was it effective in selling your book?
I’m filled with questions and wanted to hear from all of you before I enroll.
Here are the rules as I understand:
- Sign up is for 90 days.
- I can’t sell or give electronic versions during the Select period. One exception, professional reviewers. There are two promotions available.
- Kindle Countdown Deals (limited time promotional discounting for your book) and
- Free Book Promotion (readers worldwide can get your book free for a limited time).
- The digital format of that book available exclusively through KDP while it’s enrolled in the program. That includes my website!
- It will also be included in Kindle Unlimited (KU) and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL).
- As a member, I read a lot of books through KU.
So what say y’all?
What do you think about this program?
Links to more information about KDP Select, so keep reading.
Does KDP Select Make Sense Anymore? By Paula Krapf
The Pros And Cons Of Exclusivity By
Is KDP Select Right for You? By Marcy Kennedy
In honor of my new book release, I’ve put on sale for $.99, A Most Reluctant Princess and Tryouts for Ben. After the launch of A Reluctant Little Prince, the e-books will return to their original price.
I’d love to hear from you, let me know how you’re doing! Leave a comment or click the “write me” tab or look for me on Twitter @jeancogdell, Facebook at jean.cogdell and Amazon.com, stop by and say hey! The lights are on, and I’m waiting.
Please remember to share this post with your Twitter peeps and Facebook fans.
I’ve had my books enrolled in KDP since I began publishing. I’ve found that even though you can still make a small profit using Kindlecountdown, Free is more lucrative. Combined with paid and free advertising, I get loads of downloads, which turn into a few reviews and new fans who want to purchase other books. Plus when the book is on promo the rating gets better helping with Amazon getting more eyes on our work. I’m quite happy with the process.:)
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Thanks for sharing. Think I might give it a try with one of my books. 🙂
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Definitely worth a try. 🙂
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Hi Jean, I haven’t tried Kindle select for some time. When I did it was for my children’s series. I found that the success (amount of free downloads) when I scheduled my free days, was very much related to how many sites I signed up to (both free and paid) to advertise my free title, other wise it can just get lost amongst the many other freebies.
On one occasion I did almost no extra advertising and the free downloads were very poor. I assume that was because no one saw it rather than a lack of appeal (I hope so!) Another time I listed the free days on almost forty sites and the uptake was much better but it did cost me.
This is all in the days before I started blogging of course. I have a feeling the blogging community is a much stronger network and with like-minded people, so if you remind your followers that may be your strongest asset. I am very new to blogging but it already seems to me that this is the best platform for the exchange of news and ideas.
People who use Bookbub often report massive download rates. I have not looked into that yet but I believe it is quite costly and reasonably difficult to be accepted.
I will download one of your discounted books. I am always interested in children’s books. I love the cover you eventually decided on for your new release and good luck with your promotion whatever you decide to do.
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Thank you Wendy for giving the wisdom of your experience. I’m on the fence. Forty sites? Whew that’s a lot.
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Yes, it was a lot of work. I believe now you can subscribe to some services that will put your promotion on multiple sites but I haven’t tried that as yet.
I downloaded your Little Princess book – review to follow!
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Thank you!
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I’ve had mine in and out, and in and out, as you only need to sign up for 3 months at a time. What I like most is the KU part of it, as I think people are more inclined to take a chance on names they don’t know. Looking at your competitors on Amazon, are they on KU? It might give you an idea which way to jump.
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Good idea. I’ll head over and see how many are on KU. I use KU a lot for my personal reading but not sure how it would work for kids books.
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Yes, I’m not sure either. Part of me thinks that a parent would devour constant new content voraciously, and part of me remembers just how comforting a book I’d read over and over again over the years, was.
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True and little kids seem to respond more the the touching of a book but on the other hand they love games on the ipad. Sigh…
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Good morning, yes I am using it. I like it. The advice I was given was that it was only any use if you have more than one book, so you can do offers on your chosen title and hopefully it will lead people to buy the rest of your work if they enjoy it. So far I’ve only used the countdown offer but it was moderately successful, I did sell more books but not by any great amount. Saying that the KU hasn’t been as good as I would have hoped. Maybe it just takes time, who knows.
I just worked on the idea of ‘what do I have to lose?’ and I think if it gets you a small amount of new readers then it must be deemed a success.
Good Luck 🙂
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Thanks, good point. Don’t have much to lose. 🙂
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Let me know how you get on 🙂 Good luck
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