Kindle Countdown Deals are a great way to draw attention to your book without giving it away for free. KCD allows publishers (authors) to run limited-time promotions which, in turn, can help earn more royalties, boost your “paid” rankings as well as garner more targeted readers.
Benefits
Here are some of the benefits of Kindle Countdown Deals: [source Amazon.com]
- Time: You control how long your book is discounted, anywhere between one hour and seven days.
- Discount: You set the level of discount, which must be at least $1 off the regular price.
- Royalty : You will earn royalties based on your regular royalty rate and the promotional price. As a result, if you are using the 70% royalty option, you’ll earn 70% even if the promotional price is below $2.99.
- Reporting: A new KDP report displays sales and royalties at each promotional price side-by-side with pre-promotion performance, so it’s easy to compare.
- Customer experience: It’s easy for customers to see the great deal they’re getting, as the regular price is included on the book’s detail page, right beside the promotional price. Customers will see a countdown clock with the time remaining for the promotion. It’s also easy for customers to discover Kindle Countdown Deals on a dedicated webpage at www.amazon.com/kindlecountdowndeals
Promotion Options
As of Dec 2013, only two markets are available for the countdown deal, the United States (Amazon.com) and the United Kingdom (Amazon.co.uk). When setting up your promotion, you may miss the drop down menu where you can “choose” your market.
The selection of the marketplace (Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk Kindle Store) for your Kindle Countdown Deal is not automatic and you may have to choose the marketplace for which you wish to schedule the Kindle Countdown Deal promotion for your titles. You can schedule the Kindle Countdown Deal (KCD) promotion for a title in both marketplaces at the same time or even schedule them on different time periods, its purely up to the publishers choice.
Books Eligible for Kindle Countdown Deal Promotions
- Your book must be “exclusive” to Amazon and registered with Kindle Select.
- Only one promotional program can be enabled per enrollment period. This means you can choose either the Kindle Countdown Deal or the Free promotion — but not both!
- Currently [Dec 2013], KCD is only available in two markets—Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
- Books enrolled in KDP Select are eligible if their regular prices fall within these limits:
• $2.99 – $24.99 (Amazon.com)
• £1.99 – £14.99 (Amazon.co.uk) - Here are some other parameters for scheduling Kindle Countdown Deals:
• Your book has been enrolled in KDP Select for 30 days or more.
• The regular list price for your book has not been changed for 30 days or more.
• The minimum discount for your book is $1.00 (£1.00 Amazon.co.uk).
• The maximum duration of the Kindle Countdown Deals is 7 days.
• The minimum time increment is 1 hour.
• The maximum number of price increments is 5.
• The latest end time for your Kindle Countdown Deals is 14 days before your KDP Select period ends. However, If you renew your book in KDP Select for another consecutive 90-day period, the latest end time of your Kindle Countdown Deals may be the last day of your current KDP Select period.
How To Schedule Your Kindle Countdown Deals
[I want to thank Amazon support, Vinoth, for providing the easy to follow instructions]
Below are step by step instructions on how to schedule a KCD promotion and choose the marketplaces for your books:
- Go to the KDP Dashboard.
- Click the Manage Benefits link next to any KDP Select enrolled book.
- In the Create a new promotions drop down, select either Kindle Countdown Deal (or Free Book Promotion).
- Click Create a new Kindle Countdown Deal for this book.
- Enter your selections for marketplace (Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk), date and time, number of price increments, and starting price.
- A table appears, listing the price increments and start times. Check the table to make sure it’s how you want the promotion to run. You can make edits in the table.
- When you’re satisfied with the deal, click Add Promotion.
Check out this link for more information on Kindle Countdown Deal promotions: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A2MJTCAYTCBNW2
