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Three myths about KDP Select (and how you can capitalize on them)

Guest Post by Maggie Ball

Are you a self-publisher? In 2011, Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) started a program called “Kindle Select”.  To enroll in it is easy.  When you upload your book into KDP, you’ll be asked if you want to enroll. Tick yes, and you’re in.  That’s all there is to it, but is that all?  What does it mean?  In a nutshell, enrolling in KDP Select means that, for the period of enrolment, you have to commit to making the digital format of your book available exclusively through KDP. You aren’t able to distribute your book digitally anywhere else, including on your website, blogs, etc. This means that it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to enroll in KDP Select if your book is with a traditional publisher, as they’ll want to sell it from their own site and other sites as well.  The benefits of doing this are:

•    Your book will be available from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library for anyone who joins Amazon Prime.  Every time someone borrows it, you’ll get a share of at least $6 million throughout 2012
•    70% royalty for sales to customers in India instead of the standard 35%
•    Use of a Promotions Manager tool that allows you to schedule 5 free book days a year.

It seems like a simple trade off – exclusivity for benefits, but confusion and mis-information abounds.  Read on for the three biggest myths about KDP Select and what you can do to make sure that you utilise the benefits of this program to its full capabilities. 

Myth one: KDP Select means you can’t sell your book on other sites.
When you enroll in KDP Select, you only have to commit to 90 days – roughly three months.  After that you can put your book up anywhere.  This means you can try it out, use it for a bit, and then opt out.  But be careful.  When you sign up, there’s an auto-renewal box.  If you don’t tick off that, or diarise the renewal date, you’ll automatically be renewed and then you’ll have to wait another 90 days to opt-out.  Also remember that you are free to sell print and audio copies of your book anywhere while you’re in KDP Select – it’s only for digital editions.

Myth two: If you put your book into KDP readers will come.

No promotions work without effort on the author’s part, and as more and more people become aware of  KDP Select, the number of people participating in it will grow, which means more noise and more competition for attention.  You’ll have to get the word out and promote your involvement as hard as you promote anything else to do with your book.  Tell readers that your book is always free to borrow for Amazon Prime (you can see what Amazon gets out of it!).  Tell your readers when there are free days and make sure you maximise those.  Tweet and use appropriate hashtags (like @KindleBookPromos). Tell Kindle book blogs. Don’t just hope people will find out about it. 

Myth three: KDP will cause you to lose sales.
Giving your book away doesn’t cause a loss of sales.  It’s well known that giving your book away can dramatically increase readership awareness, potential reviews, and ultimately, sales (just ask Cory Doctorow).  The more people who have heard of you, the more people will hear of you. That’s called “buzz”.  It’s good.


So there are your three myth, busted. Of course I’m practising what I preach and two of my books are free this month. For Christmas, there's the poetry book Blooming Red, which I co-wrote with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, available (just click on the link below) on the 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of December (that would be now – go!). It makes a great thoughtful, fast electronic Christmas gift for someone you care about, and yes, you’re welcome to download, and then send it to someone. Then there's Black Cow (just click on the below) available between the 20th and 24th of December. I hope you'll download a free copy of both of these books, and try out KDP Select from the users point of view. Then drop me a line when your book is up so I can grab a copy.



Magdalena Ball runs The Compulsive Reader. She is the author of the poetry books Repulsion Thrust and Quark Soup, the novels Black Cow and Sleep Before Evening, a nonfiction book The Art of Assessment, and, in collaboration with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Deeper Into the Pond, Blooming Red, Cherished Pulse, She Wore Emerald Then, and Imagining the Future. She also runs a radio show, The Compulsive Reader Talks. Find out more about Magdalena at http://www.magdalenaball.com.



GET YOUR FREE COPIES TODAY:

BLOOMING RED: CHRISTMAS POETRY FOR THE RATIONAL

BLACK COW

~~~~~

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Author and poet Maggie Ball is on a promotional book tour for her new novel Black Cow and I'm thrilled to be a part of it.

Using Video for Promotion
By Maggie Ball

Video is hot. It's official. In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views, or almost 140 views for every person on Earth. More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years. Video is a very powerful promotional medium and a fantastic way to connect with readers around the globe. Creating a video can be as complex as making a movie (and indeed it can be a small movie), or as simple as opening your webcam and reading a little from your book. I've done both in the promotions for my new novel Black Cow.

The formal, fancy cinematic video is more of a showcase - it's stylised and designed to promote or focus on the key theme of your book. It's quite powerful but also detached somewhat from the author. This creates a very professional impact, especially, as in my case, you hire a professional to create the video with moving images and a voiceover. You can, of course, create your own cinematic video using products like Windows Movie Maker which usually comes with MS Office using your own recorded voiceover, royalty free stock photos or your own photos, and cinematic effects, but unless you've got a high quality mic and are reasonably tech savvy, the end result may not be of a quality that matches your book. If you do want to make your own, Joanna Penn has a very good primer here: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2008/12/03/book-trailers-11-steps-to-make-your-own/

Here's my video, which was created for me, to my instructions, by Accent. The whole thing took less than a week to make and was under $80 including the voiceover. Even if you only take into account the time it takes to make your own (I'd say at least 6 hours work), and not the quality, I think it's a pretty good deal.



Of course book sales today are very much driven by human connection. You want to draw your readers in, not only through the book's theme and plot which you've presented in your professional cinematic video, but also through a sense of trust in you, the author, the brand they're purchasing. The best way to do that is to allow your readers to see you, hear you speak, get a sense of you as a person. To do that is relatively easy -- you just need to use your webcam and video yourself reading a portion of the book. Choose good lighting, take a little care over your appearance, speak clearly and smile often to what you imagine as your supportive audience, and you will almost certainly engage readers.