In this episode, we’re going to explore the benefits of the programs KU, Kindle Select and the ability to sell your books on other markets. As many of you know, if you setup your book for KU or Kindle Select, you cannot put your book on other markets such as iTunes, Kobo, or Barnes & Noble.
So, this leaves us with one very important question. Should an author enroll in KU? Tune in to find out and listen to the stories of two author who have different opinions but have seen success in their choice. What you’ll discover is that while they are both different, they both share one important aspect that allowed them to be successful.
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Benefits of Kindle Select, KU and KOLL:
The Benefits to Kindle Select are:
- You can do Kindle Countdown Deals where you can put your book on sale for a limited time and create a little urgency and a super good call to action.
- You’re able to set your book to free for a limited period time, known as Free Book Promotion
- You get 70% of royalty earnings on sales to customers in Brazil, Japan, India, and Mexico.
- Automatic Enrollment into Kindle Unlimited, known as KU. KU is a subscription that Amazon owners can enroll in that allows them to download as many books on KU as they want. You’ll get paid based on the KU pot and how many pages a person reads.
- Automatic Enrollment in Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, also known as KOLL. KOLL is the program that allows those who are in Amazon Prime, to download one book a month. Like KU, you’ll get paid based on that month's KOLL pot and the number of downloads.
So, What of That Actually Helps Us?
- Kindle Countdown Deals and Kindle Free Book Promotions are excellent and afford the use of Book Promotion Site tactical pushes in Sales.
- Increased Sales in Brazil, Japan, India, and Mexico really won’t do much for most of us
- KU and KOLL will increase your conversion rate, which also increases your rankings in Amazon search results.
The Main Lesson from this Episode
Both authors were successful. Not because of the choice to put their book on KU or All Markets. But because when they made the choice, they dug down deep into the benefits of both and used them to their advantage.
Tracy Cooper-Posey went into each market and gave it attention and promoted those markets, not just Amazon. She reaped major benefits and gained a competitive advantage in markets that had less competition. She now sees over 40% of her sales come from those markets.
Shayne Silvers used the mass audience capability of KU and converted those users into email subscribers. He got more out of the KU buyers than just their download and short attention to his books. He uses KU’s deals and worked book promotion sites to his advantage and ultimately translated all that extra work into real results, not just for those books, but his future books as well.
So, they both used the advantages of their choice to their own benefit.
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Shayne Silvers is a man of mystery and power, whose power is exceeded only by his mystery. In other words, a storyteller. He currently writes the Amazon Bestselling Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Series, which features a foul-mouthed young wizard with a chip on his shoulder attempting to protect St. Get your FREE Nate Temple Starter Library today at www.shaynesilvers.com
Tracy Cooper-Posey is an award-winning author who’s published over 90 books since 1999, been nominated for five CAPAs including Favorite Author and won the Emma Darcy Award. You can check out her works and even ask her questions at her site at http://tracycooperposey.com/.
Resources Referred to in this Episode:
- Tracy Cooper Posey’s Author Page
- TracyCooperPosey.com
- Shayne Silver's Author Page
- www.shaynesilvers.com
- List of Best Free and Paid Book Promotion Sites
- More information about KU, KOLL and Kindle Select Programs
- Kindle Direct Publishing 
Is KU worth it if my books are short? I have five in a series that are between 50k and 60k. Thanks for your thoughts.
They can be.
Dave,
I’m enjoying your training on AMS ads. What effect does KDP Select have on AMS ads? I think we’d expect that Amazon would favor those books in KDP Select?
Glad you’re enjoying it. With KDP select I just see higher conversion rates, becuase Seelect peeps have a higher propensity choosing KDP select books, over just paid. But from Amazon`s side? No…they do not do any favoring that I’ve seen.
Thanks for sharing this, I loved that you included both perspectives. I had been “all in” with KDP and recently put my new book out wide via Pronoun (who just announced they closed) and will probably go back to Kindle select now that it will have to be republished. I guess it takes constant experimentation to get it figured out.
Absolutely and me too. It’s important to have both because neither is perfect or always the ‘right’ answer.
LOVE this episode Dave. I would love to know if it makes a difference if you’re a fiction or non-fiction author re KU vs. going wide… I’d love to hear from some non-fiction authors to see their results. I’ve toyed with KU and going wide and have some books in KU and some not, I’d love to see a case study to do a comparison… hmm, I might try it! Thinking 6 months in KU and then take the same book and go wide with it for 6 months. Thanks so much for these podcasts, loving them!
I personally don’t think there is a a marketing difference between fiction and nonfiction having a factor because I’m sure there will be people that say yes and no. I think the most unifying part to whether one is better than the other is if you, as the author, are ready to take advantage of either’s benefits and use them to your advantage, and include them into your marketing plan. But like I had in the example with my editor, your competitors and what they did can have an affect too.
Thanks Dave, got it. Like anything, it’s about what you focus your efforts on. I’m going to put all my books back in KU and see what happens with focusing my efforts on that and then I might take a few out and do a case study. It’s really about figuring out what is right for you and your author business. Thanks again, I’m loving these smaller episodes, so easy to listen to and digest 😉
One of the key takeaways for me was that, whichever channel you pick, you have to actively market. Being in KDP Select doesn’t guarantee sales (or pagereads) in itself, neither does having a book on, say, Kobo.
Yup…most definitely. That was the defining thing I saw from those that were successful and those that weren’t.