What do you think of Kindle Select? is the question I’ve heard several times over the past two weeks. When the market for eBooks is dominated by one company, and that company offers special promotions and cash, you need to pay attention.
Here’s how it works: the publisher appoints Amazon the only store where someone can buy their book and Amazon will share a pool of money based on how many times a person borrows that book from their new “lending library”. Similar to a traditional library where people can borrow books for free, Amazon’s lending library is available to their Prime members to read books for free. The publisher can also make this title available for free for up to five 24-hour periods during the minimum 90 day exclusive period.
I’ve highlighted below a number of considerations but the two most important questions a publisher should be asking themselves are:
1. Am I selling my title in other stores and if so, how much money am I making?
2. Do I believe that promoting my title at $0 will lead to increased sales or exposure?
Looking at question one participation is a no-brainer if you are not selling your title in another store and do not have plans to do so. Otherwise you’ll have to remove your title from the other stores during the exclusivity period. If you do you are hoping to make more money from the Amazon lending program than you’d make from selling via the other stores. Tough call.
The answer to question two is more complex. There is ample evidence that offering a book for free is a great way to introduce readers to an author. However, this works best when an author has several titles that their new readers can choose from. Offering a book for free is a great tactic when it is part of a larger marketing and promotions strategy.
Still undecided? Here are a few less obvious things to keep in mind.
1. If you don’t remove your books from other stores you are taking a chance. Amazon’s systems are sophisticated. If you get caught you run the risk of being cut off from the largest eBook retailer.
2. The program is available only to Prime members in the United States who own a Kindle. Amazon doesn’t release Prime membership subscriptions but a Wall Street analyst estimates it to be 5 million members. How many of them will find and borrow your book?
3. If you do opt-in Amazon will automatically renew the 90 day period if you don’t opt-out!
4. You can’t distribute your eBook from your website but you are not prevented from promoting your books on your website by referring people to Amazon. This is a key distinction.
5. It is important to understand the restrictions placed on people borrowing books because this limits the number of potential borrowings you might expect.
• Readers can read Kindle books on just about any device but only Prime members in the USA that own Kindles can borrow from the lending library. That means anyone using an iPad, PC, Android device, etc. is not eligible.
• Readers can borrow only one book per calendar month. They can keep it as long as they like but must “turn it in” to borrow a new one. If they borrow it a second time you won’t get a commission.
Like any new program there are going to be people who complain when terms and conditions seem restrictive or unfair. That’s why it is important to think through the trade-offs with this program before signing up. Also keep in mind that Amazon is making commitments to its customers based on your intentions. For more information be sure to read the Amazon KDP Select FAQ.
This is no good. Only the most desperate of writers (and sadly, they are LEGION) will take this up. Why does Amazon offer some odd POT of money to be allegedly distributed? Why not just PAY the authors in a straightforward fashion? Instead of plotting to offer their work for free what self published authors ought to work on is improving content so people will actually PAY for their work. THAT is how you gain readers. Instead they are hitting rock bottom with giving their books away for free to get people to read them, and once this FREE level is saturated, these so-called writers will have nowhere left to go. They already ran from 99 cents because so many of them were doing it that it no longer has any effect.
I’ve recently read that over 50,000 self published writers have signed up for the program. I’ve never seen a lot that was sadder than writers. This is really eye-opening. I thought 99 cents was pathetic but FREE? I will gladly bypass thei free ebooks to pay $10 or more for books that are worth my attention. Those KDP Select books ought to be free because they are not worth 99 cents or even 1 penny, and I’m glad those writers will not earn any money. I hope their books stay free and garner 1 star reviews from the hard-to-please Walmart crowd these authors are begging to read their garbage ebooks. I hope those 1 star reviews sting. Those authors deserve it.
Self published kdp select authors: put your free crap up for free. I will download it and trash it online for you. I will leave scathing 1 star reviews! Ha! Can’t wait to read your next, free work so I can trash that, too.