what to choose? KDP select for free promotion or Smahswords for my new ebook?

[hewitt]

i have written and new ebook and is all set to be uploaded. But i want your opinion about where to launch my book? there are 2 options -
1. Amazon KDP select with free ebook promotions - but if i select this option , i will not be able to launch my book at smashwords for 90 DAYS as per amazon's rules !

2. or launch at SMASHWORDS, which is the best distribution site , which will destribute my ebook to many 10+sites except amazon .

which one to choose? pour down your opinions please !

 

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[Charnell]

i have written and new ebook and is all set to be uploaded. But i want your opinion about where to launch my book? there are 2 options -
1. Amazon KDP select with free ebook promotions - but if i select this option , i will not be able to launch my book at smashwords for 90 DAYS as per amazon's rules !

2. or launch at SMASHWORDS, which is the best distribution site , which will destribute my ebook to many 10+sites except amazon .

which one to choose? pour down your opinions please !

You can upload it to both Smashwords and Amazon, you just cannot be in Amazon Select if you upload it anywhere else.

 

[hewitt]

You can upload it to both Smashwords and Amazon, you just cannot be in Amazon Select if you upload it anywhere else.

with Amazon select, i have the options to promote my ebook for free for 5 days over 90 days period. This was the only reason for choosing KDP select. How can i promote my ebook FREE for few days WITHOUT USING KDP SELECT? is there any way? if i launch my book NORMALLY at amazon( i.e not choosing KDP SELECT ) , can i price my ebook at $0 for few days as i want to give it for free and then i re-price it later? is it safe to do this?

 

[Charnell]

with Amazon select, i have the options to promote my ebook for free for 5 days over 90 days period. This was the only reason for choosing KDP select. How can i promote my ebook FREE for few days WITHOUT USING KDP SELECT? is there any way? if i launch my book NORMALLY at amazon( i.e not choosing KDP SELECT ) , can i price my ebook at $0 for few days as i want to give it for free and then i re-price it later? is it safe to do this?

You cannot price it at $0, but you can price it at $0 on other vendors that SW can publish to, then e-mail Amazon for a price match. A lot of people do this to make either the first book in a series or a hey-I'm-a-new-author-check-me-out-for-free loss leader permanently free for readers. I haven't heard about anyone having problems as far as Amazon getting upset with them, but it is at their discretion if they want to change the price back to the one setup during the KDP submission process.

 

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[hewitt]

You cannot price it at $0, but you can price it at $0 on other vendors that SW can publish to, then e-mail Amazon for a price match. A lot of people do this to make either the first book in a series or a hey-I'm-a-new-author-check-me-out-for-free loss leader permanently free for readers. I haven't heard about anyone having problems as far as Amazon getting upset with them, but it is at their discretion if they want to change the price back to the one setup during the KDP submission process.

so if amazon set up the price at $0 , is it for permanent? wont we able to reprice it ever after?

 

[Charnell]

so if amazon set up the price at $0 , is it for permanent? wont we able to reprice it ever after?

If they do a price match, it will not be permanent. Usually within hours of your other vendor prices going back to anything above $0.00, Amazon's price will be back to whatever you set it to before.

 

[Red]

which will destribute my ebook to many 10+sites

Make sure you're aware of the royalties paid out by all these other obscure sites. I utilized BookBaby (don't. just.... don't) & found out that 90% of the e-sellers they brag about distributing to pay out shitty percentages on royalties. Some as small as 30% (WTF). Basically, there's no way in hell I'm letting these shitty little sites sell my book & dribble out 30% back to the F*cking author. Make sure you know what you're signing up for when it comes to using 3rd parties to distribute. I wish I had never done it, but uploaded everything myself to the individual retailers.

 

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[hewitt]

If they do a price match, it will not be permanent. Usually within hours of your other vendor prices going back to anything above $0.00, Amazon's price will be back to whatever you set it to before.

so amazon does the price-matching thing ALWAYS? what if it doesnt do the price match in my case? i dont want my book to stuk at $ 0 permanently lol

 

[Charnell]

so amazon does the price-matching thing ALWAYS? what if it doesnt do the price match in my case? i dont want my book to stuk at $ 0 permanently lol

No they don't always do it. They reserve the right to change it. If they don't do a price match, then they don't do it.

 

[EricZ]

Don't sweat it.
You can upload to Amazon and try out the select features for 90 days. Then afterwords put your book on Smashwords too.

MOst authors will tell you that you will sell more on Amazon, but it all depends on your REQUIREMENTS.
For example, I published a few FREE cheatsheets, my goal was Subscribers -not- sales.
I got 20 new subscribers in 1 day on Smashwords, that was even better than Amazon.
And you may NOT set the price to 0.00 on Amazon, at least not right away.

So tell me your requirements and I'll tell you what's best...



Bottom line - you will probably get more sales on Amazon.

 

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[Ajtothec]

@EricZ: What are your thoughts on a typical kind of small promotion/entry ebook? I got a short ebook in the diet niche and I just want to get reach, get feedback, improve it, expand it and publish a large version to justify a decent price. I only thought about Amazon so far but I may be wrong. Got the minimum price now and will do my first for free promotion. Expectations are not very high unless I find some trick or push it really hard with PPC campaigns or similar. Is Smashwords or else a good alternative for this case?
Btw, the book is in German but I might get it translated too. But only if my strategy can make sense.

 

[EricZ]

@EricZ: What are your thoughts on a typical kind of small promotion/entry ebook? I got a short ebook in the diet niche and I just want to get reach, get feedback, improve it, expand it and publish a large version to justify a decent price. I only thought about Amazon so far but I may be wrong. Got the minimum price now and will do my first for free promotion. Expectations are not very high unless I find some trick or push it really hard with PPC campaigns or similar. Is Smashwords or else a good alternative for this case?
Btw, the book is in German but I might get it translated too. But only if my strategy can make sense.

The strategy, If I understood you correctly, in this case is to get it out to as many people as possible.
That means not being select to Amazon. You would be surprised how many people use Smashwords and I also recommend Barnes & NOble, they are coming on really strong and putting the pressure on. Of course when you publish in Smashwords AND your -epub passes, it goes to B&N and iTunes automatically.

The .epub check and validation is a real pain in Smashwords, but you can get throught it. (at this point I have to shamelessly offer that you join my members list at zbooks.co . I am still helping people for free, but not for long! )
They also check your content, e.g. if the book title in your manuscript does not exactly match the book title on your book cover they will reject it.

Also, they do NOT publish cheatsheets or preliminary versions of a book! They had one of my free cheatsheets up for over 4 months and then took it down!
So there are a lot of differences in platforms.

My recommendation:
1.) publish to Amazon - but NOT KDP select
2.) publish to Smashwords - set price to FREE
3.) publish to GooglePlay - set price to FREE
3.a.) Remember the smashwords guys have the tightest regulations so do not call it a cheatsheet or prelim. etc.
4.) In your KDP authoring dashboard, start a ticket with the help desk- tell them to price match your freebie, include a link to your smashwords book and googleplay book. BTW Google is the by far the easiest platform to publish to.


Before all of this you have of course collected emails on your website and "massaged" your mailing list , right?

Brgs.

p.s. THE strategy for this has been laid out in the free ebook by Nick Stephenson "Reader Magnets". Check it out - it's free! (just google it or amazon it).

 

[Ajtothec]

Thanks a lot @EricZ
My book is very clean, no cheatsheet or similar.
Anyways, it is in German for now. Is there an issue with the outlined strategy?
Just bought Reader Magnets and will read it later today.
Thanks for the hint.

 

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[EricZ]

Thanks a lot @EricZ
My book is very clean, no cheatsheet or similar.
Anyways, it is in German for now. Is there an issue with the outlined strategy?
Just bought Reader Magnets and will read it later today.
Thanks for the hint.

Nein, keine Probleme, hau 'rein!

Do it now, fail forward...

MfG
Eric

P.S.
We should have proper forum etiquette and respect @hewitt and not "hi-jack" this post. Would love to move this over to email or pm, just mail me.

 

[ChickenHawk]

If it were me, and I were just starting out, I'd probably go exclusive with Amazon for 90 days by enrolling the book in KDP Select. Then, after the 90 days were up, I'd distribute the book to other retailers. Here's why: If you're looking to build a new pen name, Amazon's Kindle Unlimited subscribers can read your book for "free," but you get a modest royalty from the borrow. Usually the borrow-royalty is around $1.35 regardless of your cover-price or book-length.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of Kindle Select/Kindle Unlimited. But it's still a useful tool for picking up new readers and making some potential money in the process.

(Note: If you decide to go this route, make sure you go into your KDP/Amazon dashboard and uncheck the auto-renew box for KDP Select, otherwise you'll find your self accidentally enrolled for another 90 days automatically.)

P.S. Oh hey, I forgot to say, congrats on finishing your book! Lots of people talk about writing one, but a whole lot fewer actually do it. Bravo!

 

[Ajtothec]

Thanks for the hint @ChickenHawk, have deactivated auto renewal now!

 

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[hewitt]

Nein, keine Probleme, hau 'rein!

Do it now, fail forward...

MfG
Eric

P.S.
We should have proper forum etiquette and respect @hewitt and not "hi-jack" this post. Would love to move this over to email or pm, just mail me.

@EricZ how can i send you pm? or give me you email, i need to talk to you

 

[KennyJA]

I prefer Amazon simply for the KDP select bonus if people 'borrow' your book. If you're starting out I would recommend going KDP select, they'll advertise for you, free for up to 5 days.

Smashwords won't guarantee anything other than that your book is up for sale. Unless you're already a popular author with a dedicated fanbase, choose Amazon KDP select.