Amazon Kindle market place

[MichaelSullivan]

I have two short stories up there now: The Viscount and the Witch (free) and Greener Grass ($1.57).

In the past I have 5 different novels out there, but they were pulled and are now re-released through a big-six publisher.

 

[ALB2012]

Are the free days really worth it? I only have 1 book up there and have heard so many mixed reviews as to whether it is worthwhile or not.

 

[MichaelSullivan]

Are the free days really worth it? I only have 1 book up there and have heard so many mixed reviews as to whether it is worthwhile or not.

I would not put a book "to free" when you have only one title. Using free is much more effective when you have other books to funnel people into. Also Amazon has changed their algorithms. In the old days the "free books" counted such that when you went off free you could find yourself very highly ranked and therefore get some nice sales because you appear high on the "paid" bestseller list. Now they changed the calculations so that free books only represent a "fraction" of a sale (no one know the exact fraction. But the result is people often don't find themselves on the bestsellers lists when transitioning back to paid as they once were.

 

[yachtcaptcolby]

I've done three free periods since self-publishing my novel via KDP. I always see a boost in sales the week after. On the one hand, I'm losing prospective revenue; on the other hand, I have no name or brand recognition, so anything that gets someone to read my work is a positive in my book.

 

[ALB2012]

Thanks I think that answers my dillema then

 

[robertbevan]

Amazon could do a lot more to tell authors about who's buying their books. Their tools don't tell me whether a sale came from a link on my Twitter, on the aforementioned website, or from Facebook, or wherever, so I have no clue what the best places to promote my book are.

i know what you mean. the thing i like about smashwords is that they give you at least a bit of statistical information to chew on. i can see a graph of how many people have clicked on my book's site, how many people have downloaded the free sample, and they'll send me an email whenever i do make a sale.

with amazon, i just have to continually click on the site in order to find out i'm sinking deeper and deeper into their rankings toilet. and that's all i get... a crappy rating (despite my solitary, yet shining, review), and the number of books i've sold.

The people whom I hear are doing well all have several books in the Kindle store, so maybe that's part of the secret.

from what i've read in other places, that's the lion's share of the secret. i'm looking forward to finding that out.