Sometimes the amount of options and tools available to an author can be overwhelming. You have your book, you want it published, why does it have to be so complicated? If you want your life to be a little more stress free then you’ll be happy to hear more about Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing program. The best way to take advantage of awesome marketing tools is to know about them in the first place!
What is Kindle Direct Publishing Select?
Kindle Direct Publishing Select, or simply Kindle Select, is a free program that allows you to self-publish a digital copy of your book on Amazon. KDP Select comes with a lot of benefits and tools to help you to successfully market and sell your book. Probably the nicest part about KDP Select is that it takes away a lot of the stress that is normally found when trying to get your book published. You don’t have to send out query letters and hope that a publisher will decide to ‘take a chance’ on your book. With KDP Select everything is in your hands, and you can have your book published on Amazon in 24 hours instead of waiting weeks or months to have a physical copy of your book printed by a publisher.
So what’s the catch? KDP Select does require the exclusive rights to the sales of the digital copy of your book. You may sell a print copy of your book anywhere you like, but you can’t offer a digital copy of your book anywhere else, even if it’s free. This includes on personal websites and blogs. Enrolling in KDP Select also automatically enrolls your book in the Kindle Unlimited program.
What is Kindle Unlimited?
Kindle Unlimited is a monthly subscription service that allows customers to read as many books as they like and keep them as long as they want. Kindle Unlimited certainly seems to still be geared towards the consumer over the author, but some have still find it beneficial. If you want to know more about Kindle Unlimited feel free to read the articles The Pro’s and Con’s of Kindle Unlimited and Is Kindle Unlimited Good for Authors?
Kindle Countdown Deals and Free-Book Promotion
Kindle Countdown Deals allow you to set discount prices that slowly increase each day as they progress towards the original book price. Free-Book Promotion allows you to offer your book for free for a limited amount of time.
Both of these options can be a great way to foster interest in your book. To learn more about Kindle Countdown Deals read How To Set Up Kindle Countdown Deals. (Note: You can choose either the Kindle Countdown Deal OR the Kindle Free Book Promotion during the 90-day Select program (not both))
Sales and Royalties
The royalties for paid book sales range from 35% to 70%. So what you can do to make sure you qualify for the 70% royalty rate? First you need to make sure that your book satisfies list price requirements. For example, a book sold in the U.S. needs to have a minimum price of 2.99 and a maximum price of 9.99.
It is also important to note that enrolling your book in the 70% royalty program will include enrollment in a broad set of features in the Kindle Store, such as text-to-speech. Amazon reserves the right to update this list of features as they grow over time and continue to add more functionality to Kindle and the Kindle Store.
Sample Chapters and Pre-Orders
Sample chapters and pre-orders are fantastic marketing tools. Amazon automatically takes the first 10% of your book to offer as a sample download so that readers can get a feel for how much they might like your book.
The pre-order option is great way to foster excitement and anticipation for your book. Pre-order sales influence the ranking of your book before it’s even technically available, which is a fantastic way to boost exposure to more readers.
