By Lorilyn
Roberts
The first time I read about Kindle
Direct Publishing, also known as KDP, I couldn’t see the value of it. Why would
I want to give away a Kindle book for up to five days every three months and be
forced to yank it off all other distribution sites, including Smashwords?
I had
three ebooks at that time being sold through Smashwords, and with their premium
distribution, my books were available to Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and other websites I learned
about later. I didn’t understand the fine print about the KDP Loan Option, which
sounded like a lot of hype about nothing, and I didn’t know anyone who was
enrolled. I wrote off KDP thinking it was
too much trouble to implement and I would be wasting my time.
For those
who don’t know me, I lead the John 3:16 Marketing Network, a network of over
two hundred Christian authors. Our chief focus is to help Christian authors
launch their books when published on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. One of the most
valuable aspects of belonging to the network is the sharing of information. In January
2012, we had a new member, Bob Saffrin,
who emailed me about his success with a Kindle book, Moses –Steps to a Life of Faith, in the KDP Select Program. After offering
it for one day free, he had almost four thousand ebooks “sold” and topped the
charts in all the nonfiction subcategories.
In over
of year of launching books, we had never had anywhere close to that number of
books sold in one day—and we are a network that launches books. Of course, Mr.
Saffrin’s ebook was free, so my next question was, besides the great exposure he
had received—four thousand books loaded on Kindles in the United States and
Canada and even other countries sounded awesome—would those downloads translate
into royalties? Or was if a fluke? Many people had bought Kindles for Christmas
and were looking for cheap ebooks to load on their new “toy.”
I started
paying attention to KDP Select through other authors in the John 3:16 Marketing
Network. Some were willing to share their numbers. Martin Roth, an Australian author
of international thrillers, emailed me about his success with Kindle Direct
Publishing. He, too, had “sold” thousands of ebooks with KDP. Now I had
validation that it wasn’t just nonfiction books that were doing well with KDP
but fiction books also; and it couldn’t have been just an after-Christmas rush to upload new ebooks on
new Kindles. This was for real.
I decided
to give KDP a try—which required a lot of effort on my part. Mr. Roth warned me
that it was important to make sure you removed your ebook from all distribution
sites except Amazon. Your book had to be exclusive to Amazon. My first thought
was, how would they know anyway?
Don’t be
fooled—Amazon will find your ebook on other websites and contact you to remove
it. They are serious about this. When Amazon says exclusivity, they mean it. I waited
a couple of months before enrolling my book in the program to ensure it was
removed from all the websites I knew about, and Amazon found more later and
alerted me.
My book Children of Dreams is an adoption
memoir, and that was the first book I put into the Kindle Direct Publishing
Program. In the meantime, some of our John 3:16 Authors had compiled a list of FREE
websites where you could promote or advertise your ebook the days it was free
on Amazon. I went through that list to maximize my book’s exposure.
For two
days, over Mother’s Day weekend, I offered Children
of Dreams for free on Kindle. By the end of the weekend, I had almost
17,000 ebooks downloaded and it hit number eleven out of all free books on
Amazon.
I was ecstatic
to have that many books downloaded on Kindles all over the world. In comparison
to the number of ebooks I had sold previously, it was astounding. The question
then became, how can I make money with this?
Since
that weekend, I have offered my other ebooks for free through Kindle Direct
Publishing. For the month of July, I received a royalty payment from Amazon for
$350. Another author in the John 3:16 Marketing Network made $4,000 last month through
Kindle Direct Publishing. The numbers vary widely, but you can make money using
KDP. I am delighted that even I can make a few dollars to pay a bill, and the
most important thing is, I didn’t spend a dime hiring a publicist or a marketing
firm—and, to be honest, they will soon exhaust anyone’s financial resources and
may not sell you a single book. I am speaking from personal experience.
What about the exclusivity requirement?
That means my book can’t be sold anywhere else.
Here are my thoughts: If it bothers you,
then don’t do it. Amazon has come up with a marketing method that works. It’s a
win-win for Amazon and the author. You have a choice, and as long as authors
have that choice, I see nothing wrong with it. Amazon is in business and they
are good at it. Looking at their growth and market share, they are probably the
best. The challenge is for another company to come up with a better “KDP Select
Program” than Amazon’s.
Here are some suggestions for anyone who
is listening: Implement a similar program
that doesn’t require exclusivity. Challenge Amazon. Become a bigger player by
offering authors more. What about an 80 percent royalty instead of 75 on books
priced at $2.99 or more? What about a 50 percent royalty on books that are only
99 cents? What about allowing us to make our books free whenever we want—ten
days a month instead of five?
Just like a lover woos his mistress, you’ve
got to convince me to give up KDP Select in its current form and prove that you
can offer me something better.
The royalty payments I have received from
Smashwords pale in comparison to what I have earned with Amazon, even with Smashwords’
premium distribution. In fact, the $65 in my Smashwords account isn’t enough to
deposit into my bank account based on their minimum requirement for direct
deposit.
Until another company convinces me
otherwise, I will stick with Kindle Direct Publishing, despite its exclusivity.
Amazon needs more competition from other companies to entice them to adjust their
paradigm. As long as KDP continues to put more money in authors’ pockets, including
Smashwords, Amazon won't have any inclination to “rock the boat” and change it.
In a couple of months, I will be
releasing my new YA novel, Seventh
Dimension – The Door, and I plan on enrolling it into the KDP Select Program.
One thing I want to stress, however, is you still need to promote your book.
Laziness in promotion won’t sell books. KDP Select will require effort in terms
of letting websites and others know when your Kindle book is free. Then you
have the opportunity to make some money after the free promotion is over. It’s
the uptake in sales following the free promotions that rings up that royalty
check. Amazon also pays every month through direct deposit into authors’ bank
accounts if it’s set up that way. My question is, why would anyone not want to do
it?
