KDP Select for Non-Fiction Authors

Are you wondering about Amazon's programs and whether you should tie the knot with Amazon and go exclusive in their KDP select program? There are some pretty important considerations beyond just making more money per book sold. So if you're wondering if you should enroll in Amazon's exclusive program, then this video is for you. Hey there, I'm Julie the book broad from Book Launchers. We're your professional self publishing team helping you write, publish and and promote a nonfiction book that will help you have a huge impact on your readers and done right will help you grow your brand, build your business and make you money. The best part? You yes, you keep all rights and royalties. Andrew hall, one of my fabulous YouTube friends, noted that my video on going exclusive with KDP was a little old now and he's right. It's time for a refresh. So Andrew, this is for you and anyone else wondering if they should go exclusive with Amazon and enroll in KDP select in 2021. And bey KDP select is free to enroll into and it gives you some cool Kindle promotional tools, but it means you're locking yourself in with Amazon for a full 90 day period when you enroll. Amazon has the exclusive right to sell your ebook. You can't sell or distribute your own ebook on your own website through Apple, Kobo or anywhere else besides Kindle for the next 90 days. Your ebook sales are Amazon's for that period, full stop. Some people think they can give their book away for free on their websites when they're in this program, but because it's not selling, it's distributing. But that's not the case. You are tied to Amazon with all ebook distribution if you sign up for this program, but it doesn't apply to print books or if you have your book translated into other languages. It doesn't fit with this agreement either. But as long as the ebook is in KDP select, you're only allowed to sell it through Amazon and you must leave it in that program for 90 days. So should you do it, maybe go back to the most important goal for you with your book. If it's important for you to make the most money per copy sold and your audience is likely going to be primarily buying print or they will use Kindle. This could be a great addition to your promotional mix. If you want visibility and building your credibility was a really important goal for you when you wrote your book, then you may want to go wide and not be exclusive. Because if you are exclusive, you're not focusing on libraries international buyers who use Kobo more than Kindle. It's ultimately going to limit your your visibility. The Amazon KDP select program is an option for authors in Kindle Direct Publishing KDP and if you enroll it gives you access to Kindle Unlimited, Kindle Countdown deals, Kindle Free promotions and increased royalties in Brazil, Japan, India and Mexico. It should be noted you don't get all of the above. You get to choose between Kindle Countdown deals, which are time bound promotional discounts for your book while earning royalties, or free book promotion where readers worldwide can get your book free for a limited time. You can't do both of those. Kindle Unlimited, and if you're not familiar with it, is a subscription program for readers that allows them to read as many books as they want. When you enroll in KDP select, your books are automatically included in Kindle Unlimited. It's often called ku and if you put your book in the KU library and someone reads it, you get paid based on the number of pages read. Your book will still be available for people to buy in the Kindle store because some people aren't part of Kindle Unlimited and you'll continue to earn royalties from those sales like you do today. Amazon sells this like an advantage for reaching international readers because Kindle Unlimited subscribers are in the us, uk, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, India, Japan and Australia. But just like the increased royalties in those other countries, it's not going to be a huge advantage for most nonfiction authors writing their book to grow their business to be available widely in those countries. Canada, India and Mexico will likely be of most interest to most of our authors, and India and Mexico will pay higher royalties for KDP select authors, so that's worth noting. I'm not a huge fan of Kindle Unlimited for two big reasons. One, you won't make that much money from it. You make less from someone reading from Kindle Unlimited than you do if they buy it. And two, and this is really the bigger reason free books aren't valued the same that books that are paid for are. Many people grab a free book because it's free and then they never ever read it. Did you write your book hoping people would read it or just download it? Of course, even when people pay for your book, they don't always read it. But there's a financial investment which has more of a commitment to reading it and also places a value on what you've written, but especially for business owners. Think about your ideal client. Do you want people who read your book for free or people who invested in themselves by buying your book? If you're a fiction author with a series of books, or even a nonfiction author with a series. You may want to do everything you can to get that first book read if it creates massive desire for the next book in the series. So free might be great. But for a typical nonfiction author with a content heavy book that's going to showcase their expertise, showcase their story, or really share their best advice, I think you want it valued appropriately for your business purposes. Sure, you want leads and an audience, and free book can do that for you if if you get contact information which Amazon doesn't give you, but you more likely want clients who value you before you call or visit your website. So that's where I'm coming from with this. Now one of the reasons we do recommend our clients enroll in KDP select is for the Kindle Countdown Deals because this can be a really useful tool for nonfiction authors. What are Kindle Countdown deals? You asked. I'm so glad you did. Kindle Countdown deals let you set a limited time promotion pricing for your book. Changing the price is something you can always do, but the Countdown deals have several advantages over manually changing the price. They show the readers the usual price next to that discounted price so they can see how much they're saving, and they show readers a countdown clock adding time pressure to the sale. These run automatically once you set them up so you don't have to keep changing the price. And they let you set tiered pricing over time so you can start at a really low price like $0.99 and slowly raise that price up to your retail price over a period of time. You do get to keep your 70% royalty even when the price is below $2.99. There's a dedicated Amazon page that promotes Kindle Countdown deals, helping potential readers find new books. Some of our clients are focusing on Amazon Bestseller status and want to give their book army or clients a first kick at the book sales with 99 cent deals and then they want to raise the price up to showcase its value and of course get that book to whatever it's normally placed at. So if it's normally a $9.99 purchase and then it's at 99 cents or $2.99 or even $3.99 and readers can see that it can be a great way to generate sales over multiple days, which is really, really great for Amazon performance overall. So if we recommend a client enroll in KDP select, it's usually to take advantage of this. We rarely use the free promotion, but let's Touch on it quick. Normally KDP authors can't offer free ebooks. The lowest price KDP allows is $0.99. Kindle Free Promotions let you set your book for free, but I've already shared about how I feel about free books. Now here's a pro tip for you. If you do enroll in KDP Select, Amazon will automatically renew that enrollment until you opt out. So to do that, go to KDP Select Info and uncheck the enrollment box. Then click Save. So let's come back to the start. Should you put a ring on it and go exclusive with Amazon? Is KDP select the right choice for you? I like options and I don't want to be tied to any one company. I like to have as much control as I possibly can over my book and my ability to reach my readers. Giving Amazon more and more power doesn't ultimately benefit the author community, even if it has short term benefits for you. Of course, Amazon's done a lot for us authors, but we should also support other companies to ensure we aren't beholden to Amazon for everything in the future. That aside, if you want to take advantage of their promotional tool for 90 days, go for it. That's a good reason. If you've written a memoir or a book where your primary goal is to make money from book sales, it could be the right move for you. But long term, if you wrote your book for your business, your brand and your credibility, you want to attract clients or speaking engagements or media attention, I'd recommend going wide with your book. Use Draft2Digital or upload directly to a variety of places like Kobo, Apple, Nook and more. And then focus on getting your books into the hands of influencers and media to reach your readers. Did this help you make a decision around KDP select or not? If it did, go ahead and smash that thumbs up button. Try it. It feels so good. It's a pick me up for any blah day for me. And for after you do that, let's chat about whether you're going to use KDP select or not, or if you have why or why not down below in the comments. And when you comment, the day a video is released, you'll be entered to win some sweet noboringbookswag like this fabulous noboringbooks mug or this oh so soft journal and sometimes hoodies too. And when you comment regularly on videos, you can move yourself one step closer to being one of my beloved YouTube besties like Mary Lynn Turner. Andy W. Efren Delgado Hope you're loving your mug Efren Steven Serrell, Martha Tetenborg, Keto Cancer Dietitian and Robert Bell. Thank you so much for your likes, shares and comments. You guys are awesome. We have new videos every Tuesday and Friday. Make sure you catch everyone by subscribing to the channel and turning those notifications on. Well, I think you're rather fun. Would you like to spend more time together? Okay, great. This video right here is the latest and greatest from the channel. And this one right here is all about Amazon Author central. Pretty important for all authors whether you're in KDP select or not. If you sell on Amazon, you need to pay attention to that one. But frankly, both videos are going to be pretty great. I really can't wait to see you there. So go ahead and click on one.