KDP Select Review: Is it Worth It?
Vložit
- čas přidán 4. 08. 2024
- Does Amazon really rank their own Kindle Unlimited books higher than a regular book published? Or do buyers really download Kindle Unlimited books more frequently than others?
We will be answering both of those questions in this video along with to pros and cons to going KDP Select. Everything you need to know about the service and more.
0:10:20 - Dave's Rule of Thumb
WANT TO SELL YOUR BOOKS LIKE A PRO:
Kindlepreneur.com
GET MY FREE BOOK ON INCREASING YOUR EBOOK'S RANKINGS ON AMAZON
kindlepreneur.com/amazon-kindl...
WHAT TOOLS TO SUCCESSFUL SELF PUBLISHERS USE?
Check out my Resources: kindlepreneur.com/resources
LET'S SOCIALIZE!
Facebook: / kindlepreneur - Jak na to + styl
Thanks again, Dave. Very clear.
Also, love the way you do your videos so that there is nothing distracting to take away from my (sometimes perhaps limited) focus.
Haha...thanks and I TOTALLY know what you mean. My editor and I work on scripting and a lot of edits to make sure it is to the point, and now distracting :)
I was thinking your recommendation before you arrived at it. Awesome video. Thank you for this detailed analysis.
Excellent video, Dave. I was a bit disconcerted when I initially went with KU because my ebook sales seemed to take a hit, but when I saw the number of "pages read" from those who downloaded it from KU, it changed my whole perception of it. Thanks for all you do!
Glad it was helpful! Yeah, it really seems to change the way we think about it.
Thank you. So professional and informative. I like how you give a suggested time stamp for people who may not need the information in the beginning; although, I watched the entire thing.
Glad it was helpful!
Great pros and cons explained, Dave! Thanks!
Thanks, Dave! Excellent points made and well thought-out. See you on the next video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
wow! This was great. I learned a lot. You have me thinking of putting all my fiction books back in KDP Select!
I'm going to take a look at my sales compared to Draft2Digital and make a decision. Awesome content :)
Invaluable information, Dave! Clear, concise and on target! B&N are super smart to seek your help. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks, Dave, you make some excellent points, backed up by research. So appreciate this.
Glad it was helpful! It was a fun process and I hope to dig in a bit more in future videos as well.
Great video, Dave! Concise and well informed as usual. Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
Thanks Dave for the insight. This is very helpful when determining whether or not to go KU. You make the publishing world a better place
Glad to help!
OMG! This was so helpful! Thank you. You're awesome Dave.
Glad it was helpful!
Can't thank you enough Dave...you're a fabulous teacher and I've learned heaps! 📚😀
Awe shucks :)
Thank you for all of this valuable info, Dave! (And you're sooo easy on the eyes, so there's that;)
Great advice. I write both fiction and nonfiction so it makes it clear for me to put my fiction in KU but not my other books. Thanks
Awesome and glad to have helped!
Good clear explanation. thanks bro 👍
Terrific video, Dave, and very helpful. A topic my biz partner and I have been grappling with.
Fantastic!
Thanks for the advice! I've been in KU for a while and it def helps with my sales. Still a small fish in the big pond but now that I have 3 books out I'm ready to hit those ads and really see what they can do (Publisher Rocket is going to be a big help I'm sure 😉). Thanks for the video, I'll be digging into your others!
(And since you like the genre, I write a bit of game lit mixed with portal fantasy myself.)
That's awesome and you bet. If you have an audiobook version of it, send me the link. I'm currently a audiobook only for fiction. Get my Gamelit fix while i workout...haha.
Thank you, Dave. Much appreciated information.
Very welcome
Hi, Wow! Thank you! That was excellent advise, KU for me then....KDP Select, it all came together after I watched your video! Thank you for all your hard work, Subscribed, Liked and Yes! I hit that bell. Have an Awesome Day!!
Great to hear and you too!
Great advice, as usual, Dave. Thanks!
My pleasure!
Outstanding informative video... Congrats! You got yourself a new subscriber!
Thanks and welcome
Thank you for the great information Dave. Any thoughts on poetry books and KU?
Excellent overview. Much appreciated.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you! I learned a lot from this video.
Glad to hear it!
Such an informative and interesting video. Thanks for the info. 🙂
Glad it was helpful!
Great explanation
Thank you and thank goodness for your expertise, information and resources, Dave! What do you think of the idea of starting with Select/KU and then, after the required 3 months, leaving to go wide?
Thank you very much! This was crazy helpful
Glad it helped!
Thanks Dave. Very helpful.
You bet
Bravo, great video 👏👏👏
Another solid video!! Thank you! What’s the GU on your shirt!?
Thanks! That means a lot. It's another company that I own and operate but unrelated to writing. I just love writing in that shirt. Super comfortable, and I love a light cover on my forearms and elbows because after 5+ hours of writing, without it, they can get chaffed.
This is a great description of the overall program.
Thanks!
I agree with your fiction/nonfiction rule of thumb. In most cases. Great video, thanks.
Absolutely...in most cases. I really wanted to say "it depends" but I also feel as though that is usually a copout when I do that. So I do my best to give some kind of guidance or Rule of Thumb.
Good advice, but it should be mentioned that you can leave KDP select after three months. A good idea might be to start off with select, and then move on to other platforms once you are comfortable with the basics.
Very concise! Thank you! KDP seems like a good fit for me.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you, Dave!
You're welcome and glad you liked it.
I’m digging the new background layout. The back lighting really makes you pop. Well done!
haha...thanks. It's a bit of a work in progress. As for the backlighting, that's something I've wanted to do for a bit.
Kindlepreneur Brilliant placement. I dig the miniature tree. Nice coloring. Fills the space in a tasteful way.
I love the content of the video and the video itself, what software do you use, Camtasia? Thanks!
Appreciate Video! Apologies for chiming in, I would appreciate your opinion. Have you thought about - Proutklarton Winner System Plan (do a google search)? It is a great one of a kind product for discovering how to write publish and sell your ebook in 7 days without the normal expense. Ive heard some incredible things about it and my work buddy after a lifetime of fighting got astronomical success with it.
Hey Dale you're the best! Such a lovely helpful personality
Hi Dave, another great video - thanks so much. I have a non-fiction book, and signed up for Kindle Select. I may not get as much traffic as fiction, but can't see the down side to having it. Is there a down side?
Always good to remind oneself of KU etc - many thanks!
You bet!
Great video bro
So helpful. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
That's an instant sub. Thank you.
Thank you, I am a rookie and really needed this information.
Glad it was helpful!
Great video
Dave. Is there a way to find out what genres work well in KDP and which don't? My understanding is that Romance, Fantasy, and Horror all seem to do well-others not so much. I write gritty Family Saga (not the cozies you'll usually find in Family Saga) I'm thinking that when I finish my WIP-a follow-up to my Saga book1-I might write something in a popular KDP genre and see how it works. What do you think?
Thank you so much! Cheers
You're welcome!
Thank you for the video. Is excellent. A couple of brief questions. Can I rerelease an e-book on KDP select? What if the first time around it was on Ingram Spark as well as Amazon? And is KDP select for the International Market. I live in Australia.
Thanks so much! This was great information. Are there any differences when it comes to children's books? I'm in the process of re-launching a children's book series that was previously published for me by vanity publishers. I'm having difficulty in determining how best to use KDP's offerings. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Hmmm..that's a great question. I would think that KU would be better for children's than not. Parents who are on KU would probably pick books based on them being 'free'
Hey, thank you for this video, really clear explanations! I have a question : can we send ARCs (from Kindle) while being enrolled in Kindle Unlimited? Is that okay with the exclusivity rule?
Yes you can and here is an explanation on exactly that: czcams.com/video/RD_ZvwBGYAo/video.html
Hi Dave. Great video. I am getting to self-publish a short story, 23,000 words. Will it be better to do wide distribution or KDP select? Thank you.
Thank you Dave. This was really helpful. The only pitfall of using Select is that it does not permit an author to use both the Countdown deal and Free Promotion in succession, for about three months.. As a young author, aged 18, I would be immensely grateful if you could clear one conundrum: are free promotions worth it? Many download the book but don't really read it, while those who purchase it happen to instinctively peruse it considering that they have invested in a product... Would like your opinion on this.
Really appreciate your tireless efforts🙏🙂
The tactic isn't as effective as it used to be back in the day, but it is a way to drum up relevancy and popularity in the book again.
Great class👍🏽
Glad you think so!
Thanks you and Dale are so helpful... I am confused when to build reviews, when to start ads to rank well or get bestseller. Do we do this and publish on Kdp program first or get reviews first?
Set up so that you can get reviews immediately upon launch. Then do you launch process, and once you're launch process is nearing completion, start ads.
Really, really helpful. Thank you...Richard McKeown
Glad it was helpful!
Dave great video but my book is in that middle ground so to speak so I am always left wondering in videos like this. My book is an adventure travel memoir from my African safari. It is nonfiction...but not really the type of non-fiction that you talk about. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you ,, im just starting up and ive got 4 live,, they keep asking me to do KDP and I really didn't know what to do. Thank You again , I do have a question but I will try to reach you on facebook.🙂
Another Excellent video. I would like to know what would be your recommendation for a self language learning book. I wrote a book for learning Spanish but I not sure yet what to do. I will appreciate your opinion. Gracias :)
My guess would be no. Generally, nonfiction doesn't do as well under KU as does fiction.
Useful vid. Need to a see a vid on which % royalty is really worth it.
Sounds good
@@Kindlepreneur BTW, using Publisher Rocket as we speak my my latest novella, The Last War Mage. I purchased it maybe 6 months ago, and used it to help optimize the stuff I had. This will be the first time I'm applying to a new book, so it's a great tool to have and I recommend it to others. Where I have had the least success is in finding what works in Amazon advertising, which is clearly as much art as science, but would also be a huge PITA to accomplish without Publisher Rocket.
@@willbrink That's awesome to hear. As for Amazon ads, yup - a balance between both.
Really useful, cheers 👍
Glad it helped
Question: I've heard it is a good idea to use KDP select when your novel is first released and then change it to wide after the contract term is up. I believe that's three months? What do you think of that?
Hi Dave, great video. Can an author be enrolled in KS and NOT be a part of KU? Thank you!
As a Kindle author, I have agonised over this question a lot. Well, after all this careful deliberation, I have decided to opt out of Kindle Select and go wide with Draft2Digital.
Glad to have helped!
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Very detailed !
I have One question is the 70 percent option for authors in the regions or audience in the regions ?
70 percent is what you set it as.
Great video, Dave - thank you! My first book launches next Thursday 😍🚀 I enrolled in KDP Select because I wanted to do a countdown deal during launch week. Then I discovered you have to have been enrolled for 30 days! Is there any way around this?
Awesome ! And as for your question, no. BUT in truth, the countdown deal is usually best when you're trying to re-drum up relevancy and popularity of your book. During your launch, you probably have the most visibility and excitement around it. Then when that starts to die off or wear off, then kick in the countdown deal to pick it back up :)
Kindlepreneur fab! Thanks for taking the time to explain 🚀😊
Update! My book launched on Thursday, hit #1 in three categories and has 46 five-star reviews! HUGE thanks to you and your amazing advice, Dave 🚀😊
Very interesting and useful as ever Dave. I write non-fiction. Wouldn't enrollment in KU allow me to have my cake and eat it? That is, KU subscribers could choose my book over a paid one, but non-KU users would simply buy anyway if they could see the value from looking inside. I would not be bothered about not being able to use non-Amazon marketplaces. Plus I tend to buy a reasonable number of business books as well as fiction. I'm not sure I see any downside in going with KU in this circumstance, unless you think otherwise ...?
In truth, I say the most accurate statement is "it depends." There is value outside of Amazon, but only if authors put some sort of marketing effort towards it. As for KU, what my data shows on fiction vs nonfiction is:
1. Most readers buy into KU program for their fiction reading.
2. People who have KU will predominantly use it for fiction books in their genre
3. Slightly, but there is a higher percentage of Nonfiction books that get downloaded but aren't read in KU. I personally think it might be that people undervalue a KU nonfiction book. But don't do the same for Fiction - but this last part is my guess.
Thanks, Dave. Cleared up some misconceptions I had. Question though: do some fiction genres do better in KU than others, and are there any genres where KU tends to be less viable than going wide?
Glad to have helped. As for your question, yes. Romance is almost a must, but I'd say most of them have a big advantage. As for genres that don't do well...memoirs, picture books, and that sort of thing. But most fiction genres seem to do better in KU.
@@Kindlepreneur Awesome, thank you!
@@erikfromc No problem and glad to help.
@@Kindlepreneur This explains why my memoir doesn't sell a lot.
Hello Dave, Quick question. What if you change the meta details lets say to change the title and the book cover design. but of course the interior will be the same do you think it will bypass the kdp select exclusivity?
Not sure.
Hi Dave, recently released my debut novel. If I enrolled onto kdp select and kdp unlimited, is there any situation where I could end up owing Amazon money?
what about if you think your book will be popular in a place like China? Would you stay with just Amazon or go to all the markets?
Thank you for this valuable information! I have a question - how does this page counting works? If someone read my this twice, will I get a money for that? And what if they will jump from page to page?
As far as I understand it, you'd be paid if they read through it twice, and if they started skipping through pages to jump ahead. But I'm sure Amazon has ways to tell if someone is scheming and doing wrong.
What would you recommend for a children's picture book? Typically pic books are more popular as physical copies vs. eBooks. So would you enroll in KDP Select?
awesome as usual,,, tooo much fan of you,u r the best
please dave tell me if i want to give my book for free in my website is that allowed even out of the free promotion days, and how can I do it
merciiiii
Thanks and glad you liked it. As for your question, if you are in KDP Select, you cannot give your book away for free on your website.
@@Kindlepreneur thank you, and if out KUhow can i make it
Publishing e-book on Amazon kdp or on my website? Which one is best according to you...and what are pros and cons of both?
Hi Dave...Is it worth adding my childrens story book to KDP as it's very much a picture book and from another post i see that you mention picture books not doing so well....Perhaps maybe i should diversify where i'm publishing over being exclusive to KDP?
You can add them, and still diversify as well.
I like, very good.
Thank you! Cheers!
brother what about paperback sales...how much royalty i will get in paperback in kdp select?
I already have 7 books (essentially) permanently enrolled in Select. For my next one, I'll experiment and keep it out for at least the first three months. I want to see what going wide entails and also I want to be able to sell the book as a digital download on my site.
Awesome and sounds good! Be sure to give a bit of marketing effort on the other markets
@@Kindlepreneur thanks Dave! I've been a huge fan for months, thanks for replying
if i enroll in kdp select, and promote the quotes from the books in social media ( to promote the book itself) , is it a violation of terms ?
I began four years ago and posted on a lot of sites with my Vanity books. What needs to be done to keep with Amazon and kindle only? One book in vanity is still under contract . Do I have to re publish once it is released? I did this with another just to get rid of priced ISBN by Vanity. How can I switch it over if I a
have priced ISBN and want to keep it?
The key is the ebook can't be 'sold' or 'given away' anywhere else other than on Amazon. So, if the ebook is being sold somewhere else, you'd need to have that place remove it.
Hello.
Please can someone use Amazon's free ASIN for the ebook version and an ISBN for the paperback version of the same book ?
I wrote love poetry, sports fiction, and sports poetry. Would it be a good idea to inscribe my book of that genre on kdp select?
It could.
Interesting discussion. Your market share chart looks to be US only, however. By going into KDP Select, the author loses access to most international markets - this is Google Play's big potential advantage.
I completely agree with your recommendation, however. My fiction generally goes into KDP Select (as it's aimed at US readers), my nonfiction goes wide - partly to access libraries.
True, the market share might be a slight different when including international markets in it, but overall., Amazon still takes a huge chunk. As for fiction/non-fiction...yup. Good call.
I think I'm gonna have to watch this five or six times, there's a lot to take in. One thing I couldn't decipher was whether KDP Select was appropriate for somebody producing a KDP Paperback, which is what I'm gonna have to do because the book is a children's book and contains quite a few illustrations.
Nope. Only for ebook
Kindlepreneur Thank you.
Tiimely video for me because I have just enrolled. Two questions: Someone said on a blog post that a particular reader must read through the whole book for it to count in KU, so individual pages or chapters don't count at all. Is this so? Secondly, if I signed up for Kindle Select am I automatically signed up for KU? One comment: another real perk for authors of book series is that, if KU readers enjoy your book enough, they will likely purchase the second in the series, which is not on KU. Thanks for being my trusted mentor, I reader all your posts.
As I understand it, you get paid for every page read. If someone reads a quarter of your book during one month, you'd receive the royalty for those pages in your monthly royalty payment. If they read another quarter the next month, you'd receive payment for those pages as royalties for that month. If they never finish it, you still have received payment for all that they read. Pretty straightforward, I believe. Hope this helps.
Yup, exactly what @Katie Berry said. You get paid for pages, not completion of a book. Plus, to further that, say someone downloaded your book in 2017, but never read it. Then in 2020 they finally read a couple of pges, those pages count for you now. As for KDP Select and KU...you an enroll in KDP Select, but you can opt out of KU.
How about memoirs? Though non-fiction they read more as a fiction book than a “how-to” non-fiction book?
So can people still purchase The Book While it's enrolled in KDP Select will I stay warm money from it
Dave, could you put a list of all the stores where can I put my book for sell ( of course without upfront cost like on Amazon:) )
Please find out if there is possibility to sell both ebooks and paperbacks
Great proposition for a video? ;)
I would see that as well
I'll look into that. But you could just use Draft2Digital who will automatically submit your book to those stores. I'll say this though, the amount of sales you get outside of Amazon, Barnes&Noble, iTunes and Kobo, is very very very small.
@@Kindlepreneur so you think those 4 are enough for making money, I am right?
I didn't know about draft2digital
Thank for that Dave!
@@damianzielinski71 Yup
8:08 what program is he talking about?
Does the $2.99-$9.99 price range apply only to kindle format to get 70% royalties? Is there another price range to follow for paperback? Thank you!
Yes
Thank you!!.. So if the book is now 3.99 on Kindle and I increase the price on Kindle to 6.99 for 2 days then decrease it after 2 days to 2.99... . Does that mean that during the promotion I will make 70% of the 2.99 or of the 6.99? Here's what amazon says. "Customers will see both the regular price and the promotional price on the book's detail page, as well as a countdown clock showing how much time is left at the promotional price. You'll also continue to earn your selected royalty rate on each sale during the promotion" . Please explain. Thank you so much !
Since 2.99 and 6.99 are inside Amazon's 70% royalty, you'd get 70%
You’re the best
Thanks! :)
So about fiction with KU, I wrote a dark fantasy novel, would KU be good?
Like I say in the video, yup.
Dave, what if nothing does help, what does it mean?
Thanks for the video!
Nothing helps to sell your book? Then it looks like there is a problem with the way the book is being presented - either not getting to your target market or something isn't appelaing enough about it.
@@Kindlepreneur maybe because I do not promote it for money anymore. Lol. Or I didn't reach my own audience and where to find it? This is a big question.
Gotcha! No KDP Select for me. Thanks!
Should we be doing Arc since it won't be verified.... Is it worth doing
It is worth doing because having reviews show up when you launch will hel pyou convert other people to buy. Furthermore, in my full guide on ARC launches article, I explain how you can set up a situation to turn it into a verified review.
Hi. How can I add some pictures to my kdp listing?
Not possible
Btw, as a foreign author I faced that Barns and Nobles does not support my country. Very pity. They must work on it!
Bummer
I love the training but unfortuntely in these times the price is too high even with just a 2 payment plan.
Um, not sure what you're referring to. I don't have any paid training, and nothing that has 2 payment plans or things like that.