# KDP Select



## Steerpike (Dec 9, 2011)

Amazon is announcing a new program called KDP Select, where you can receive payment from Amazon for making you ebook exclusive the the Kindle platform for 90-day periods.

It was a no-brainer for me, as all of my sales have been through Amazon and not through the other eBook outlets. I'm going to see how it goes.

What do the rest of you think of their new idea?


----------



## Benjamin Clayborne (Dec 9, 2011)

Steerpike said:


> Amazon is announcing a new program called KDP Select, where you can receive payment from Amazon for making you ebook exclusive the the Kindle platform for 90-day periods.
> 
> It was a no-brainer for me, as all of my sales have been through Amazon and not through the other eBook outlets. I'm going to see how it goes.
> 
> What do the rest of you think of their new idea?



I'm unsure. Starting out, I'd want my work available in as many places as possible to start building an audience; according to their website, you cannot distribute digital copies of your work in _any other manner_ during the 90-day period, which would include (presumably) giving copies away for free on your blog, or to personal friends, or in any way whatsoever. As a new author, I wouldn't do this because I'm still trying to get exposure, and I need that a lot more than I need the (probably small) amount of extra cash that I might generate through Select.

Consider that if a few big authors use KDP Select, their audience will seek them out, and they'll get the lion's share of the funds available. In that respect, this doesn't seem like a good idea at all unless you already have a sizable audience.


----------



## Telcontar (Dec 9, 2011)

I don't currently have any stake in the matter, as I have no books out on either Amazon or anywhere else (hope to change that soon enough) but I don't like the sound of it. Anything involving 'exclusivity' had better have a hefty price tag associated with it, and when you're talking about a pot of only 500k for who knows how many tens of thousands of authors that might sign up... I'd have to see how it goes with other people.

The good thing being that it's only for a three-month stretch at a time. Still, I don't like Amazon's barely disguised tendencies to shut out competition any way they can these days. They're turning into the latest Evil Empire.


----------



## Steerpike (Dec 9, 2011)

Those are good points, both of you.

I've already done the free distribution to friends and family and a few others. The book has been available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, and Google eBooks for about two months now. Every actual sale has been through Amazon, so it seems at this point I don't have anything to lose by giving it a try. If it is a bust, then after 90-days I can return it to those other platforms with a single click.

I do agree that Amazon's practices are not the best in all cases. Like a lot of big players in a given market, they use their clout in ways I don't always agree with.


----------



## Telcontar (Dec 9, 2011)

Yeah, but then again you've got to put your interests first. If all your sales so far have been on Amazon anyway, you're not really giving up anything by pulling it from others for a time.


----------



## Ravana (Dec 9, 2011)

Benjamin Clayborne said:


> you cannot distribute digital copies of your work in _any other manner_ during the 90-day period, which would include (presumably) giving copies away for free on your blog, or to personal friends, or in any way whatsoever.



Do that before you sign the contract. 

Ninety days isn't much, especially for a starting author. Think of it as a three-month break between getting the thing done and in circulation, and having to start actively promoting it. If Amazon wants to see any benefit from their exclusive distribution, it will become _their_ job to push the title. (Which they will be doing simply by putting it in their "select" queue, even if they don't do anything beyond this.)

Just be sure to read the contract carefully (as always), to make sure there isn't anything hidden in there about your rights after the 90 days are up.


----------



## Kevin O. McLaughlin (Dec 12, 2011)

There's a really eye-opening article on this over at David Gaughran's site, "Let's Get Digital".
How Much Do You Want To Get Paid Tomorrow? | David Gaughran

I was more or less with most of you on this - tentative, but interested. My idea was to put one book there at a time, leaving the rest up for sale regularly. I'd then rotate a book in every three months, always keeping the rest of my work available everywhere. That would make Select a nice promotion for that book, and through that book ideally help my other work as well. And once I get a decent body of material out there, losing one book on other sites out of will be bunches of them isn't that big a deal.

David pointed out, however, that subscription based reading is coming. And I think he's right. It IS coming. Monthly or annual memberships, or even ad-based services perhaps, which take books and get them out there to readers. It's the dominant model in video. It is growing in audio. It is almost inevitable that we'll see a similar move in books, and once we do, it will likely grow to become a large percent of each writer's income.

So, consider: right now, writers know how much they will make from each sale. We don't know how many sales we'll make, but we know we get about 35 cents on a 99 cent book, and we know we get about $3.50 on a $5 book (roughly). These numbers are solid. We can create financial plans based upon them.

It's a lot harder to calculate revenue if there is no set (or even minimum) amount you'll be paid per reader. Suppose your last five ebooks sold to about 10,000 readers each. You know you'll make about $35k on the next one, if sold for $5. Maybe a bit less, maybe a bit more. Now, suppose that half those readers get it via subscription. And the subscription "rentals" paid you only a percentage of a large pool, like Select does ($500,000, divided up by the number of books rented in December).

If only 100k books get borrowed, each one makes $5. But if 500k get borrowed, each make a buck, and if a million are borrowed, each gets only fifty cents. In short, you have NO IDEA how much each sale will net you.

David points out that while Select is cool in terms of a promotion tool, Select is *terrible* if you look at it from the perspective of potentially representing half or more of your sales. And he's right in pointing out that in the not so distant future, that could - probably will - be the case, as subscription based book reading becomes the norm. He suggests we need to work on a better deal, one which will help ensure writers still earn sustainable incomes from our work.

I agree.


----------



## Benjamin Clayborne (Dec 12, 2011)

Kevin O. McLaughlin said:


> There's a really eye-opening article on this over at David Gaughran's site, "Let's Get Digital".
> How Much Do You Want To Get Paid Tomorrow? | David Gaughran



Good article. I think I'm on the same page as him, and you. Whatever benefits there might be from KDP Select, they aren't obvious enough of a win to worry about missing out at this point. To elaborate...

I really don't know to what degree financial success as a writer is dependent on your ability to create good works, versus your ability to market and do the business side of things well. Back when I was trying my hand at screenwriting (I don't recommend it), I kept reading that if you write a truly great script and then bury it in your back yard without telling anyone, the next morning you'll find talent agents and a backhoe in your yard digging it up.

But obviously more business savvy will serve you well _if_ you get to the point of having created something that people want to read. I just wonder whether or not people focus too much on marketing/sales gimmicks like KDP Select, rather than focusing on the content itself. I mean, for me, worrying about any of this at all is premature; I haven't even completed my first novel yet (though I'm close!).


----------



## boboratory (Dec 12, 2011)

I looked at it, yesterday I think, read through it, and I thought... "Man, that's pretty cool if I were writing a series specifically for it." I dismissed it obviously for the books that we have already released as a small press (I just got stuff INTO Google, I dread the thought of pulling it out . But it could make a great tool for a series that is intended to introduce readers to your style, or your name. In other words, it's ONE WAY, not the only way- you write with a palette of language, why not sell with a pallet of methods?

There is no denying that a subscription lowers the "perceived" risk for a reader, 

"Why not grab this 25,000 word quick fantasy in my subscription?"
"Oh, I liked that, they have a $3.99 book, I'm good for that..."
"That was even better, you say their new book is $9.99? Sign me up."

At the moment, I/we have nothing that I would put into the program, but I/we have alot of stuff coming up in 2012 from some peeps that are unknown and publishing their first work... it seems like having it in the program, AND PROMOTING AS BEING IN THE PROGRAM, might provide some value for future name recognition. I'm going to talk with some of them about it, and see what they think, and have them read David's article.

David's article is fantastic, one of those you wish you had written yourself...


----------

