Considering the KDP Select Program for My Books

Hi all,

I've been doing a lot of research lately on Amazon's KDP Select program in order to decide if I should try it for my books. From everything I've read, I am leaning toward trying the program. Here are my reasons why:

• I Want to Get the Word Out About My Books

Right now I am spending most of my time finding ways to promote my two books and even promoting my new book which I plan to have out by the end of March. Twitter, Facebook, author interviews and advertising are all wonderful and I'm sure I've made some of my sales through each of these mediums, but there has to be another route to take. Frankly, from everything I've read, people who promote their books through KDP Select generally see an increase in interest in their books due to the free promotions. I'm curious to see what that will do for mine.

• I Want to See if the Free Promotion Will Lead to Sales

I am really curious to see what a free promotion through the KDP Select program will do for the sales of my books. Many people report that for days, or even weeks, after offering one book for free their sales continue to either remain high or steadily increase. Right now I am not selling a bevy of books, so any increase in sales would be a boon.

• I Sell 99% of My Books on Amazon Anyway

I know the big downer for most authors is the exclusivity agreement with Amazon for sales of their eBook. I really don't have a problem with that. About 99% of my sales are through Amazon so I won't make many (or any!) readers angry if my book isn't available in any other format. 

• I Want to See If the Free Promotion Will Help Sales for My Other Books

Since I will be releasing my 3^rd book soon, I would like to see if I can give it a good opening month by being a part of the KDP Select program. If I do a free promotion on my "Widow…" book, maybe it will help with my new one. I have no idea, but it's worth a try. Getting your name and work out there is half the battle and this program seems to be doing just that for many authors.

Make Sure to Have a Plan

Before trying KDP Select, however, I wanted to make sure I had a plan that would help maximize free downloads and sales. Sure, I could just jump into it and hope for the best but that doesn't seem smart, especially when so many people have tried it and share their own tips. So, after reading up on what works and doesn’t work for others, I've decided that if I do go through with this, this is how I plan to go about it.

• Publish my new book first – Having more than one book to offer makes sense so that if people like the one they download for free, they are more likely to buy your other one. While I do have my children's book, Outlaw Heroes, it is better to have another women's fiction novel ready for purchase. (I'll be placing Outlaws on KDP Select separately at some point.) So I'll wait to join KDP Select until after my next book is out.
• Plan my free days carefully – From what I've read, people seem to have the most success using their 5 free days in intervals of 2-2-1. Also, planning your days right before a weekend seems to be the best since book sales boost on the weekends. So this is the strategy that I will most likely use.
• Promote-Promote-Promote – There are a multitude of sites that will promote your FREE days to their readers, so I will be sure to let these sites know in advance when I will be having my free days.

Okay, those are my reasons for trying the program and my plan on how to maximize using KDP Select. If you are considering trying this program, here are a few blog posts you should read. I've done the research – might as well share with everyone else. J

John L. Betcher: http://selfpublishingcentral.blogspot.com/2012/01/kdp-free-book-promo-results-covert.html

Jeff Bennington: The Writing Bomb – How to have a successful KDP Free Promo: http://thewritingbomb.blogspot.com/2012/02/are-you-planning-kdp-select-promo-soon.html

M. Lousia Locke: http://mlouisalocke.com/2012/02/01/kdp-select-free-promotion-discoverability-experiment-one-month-later-and-feeling-fine/

David Kazzie: http://wahoocorner.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-kdp-select-saved-my-book.html

Michael R. Hicks: http://authormichaelhicks.com/2012/01/02/amazons-kdp-select-update/

Karen Baney:  http://authormichaelhicks.com/2012/01/02/amazons-kdp-select-update/

Karen Baney: http://www.everythingauthor.com/?p=97

So, what are your thoughts?

Cheers,

Deanna