tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post8060447320594653948..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Kindle CountDown Outcome, by Chris LongmuirKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-84214977406198877022014-07-19T18:56:09.582+01:002014-07-19T18:56:09.582+01:00Thanks for your comments folks. I've now untic...Thanks for your comments folks. I've now unticked the box for KDP Select, and come August my nonfiction book will join the others on Smashwords. I'm kinda out of circulation at the moment and am doing this from Harrogate. The Crime Festival is great and the highlight for me was Lynda La Plante this morning, she was a bundle of energy and very entertaining. Close second was JK Rowling as her alter ego Robert Galbraith.Chris Longmuirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02488093821886798927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-5840671581965936992014-07-19T11:53:43.161+01:002014-07-19T11:53:43.161+01:00Meant to say in my comment that I haven't done...Meant to say in my comment that I haven't done a freebie for ages. They could work well at first - in fact I dimly remember making a rather large amount of cash one month! - but then the free books were separated from the not-free books, so there seemed to be no point in it at all. The whole point to me seemed to be to increase visibility. However, I know some people in the US who do very well indeed with free promotions of the first one of a series. I just don't really write series (although I have one in mind!) Valerie, that's Kindle Unlimited. Lots of wild speculation about it. It will overtake the lending library, I'm sure. Best place to get an overview without too much panic is probably (as ever) The Passive Voice. Catherine Czerkawskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554969254207924049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-17435654870413470692014-07-19T11:38:29.085+01:002014-07-19T11:38:29.085+01:00I think the thing to remember about any kind of pr...I think the thing to remember about any kind of promotion is that it is a roll of dice. And in most cases the die is a D100 (betraying my D&D past there). It is a chance of improvement, no more, and in most cases it won't work. But it's still worth rolling, just in case you do make that saving throw...Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08191176209084540085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-80292408068201256782014-07-19T11:37:26.331+01:002014-07-19T11:37:26.331+01:00Oh, and amazon have just emailed with some new ben...Oh, and amazon have just emailed with some new benefit for Select about lending but it didn't seem clear how it differed from the lending scheme they already have, plus it's only in the US. Frankly they don't give nearly enough for Select books, in exchange for not being able to promote your books by quoting much on blogs etc. Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-15837705410893231672014-07-19T11:36:04.372+01:002014-07-19T11:36:04.372+01:00I have a feeling that the big benefits of free pro...I have a feeling that the big benefits of free promos were more marked earlier on - there are now so many free kindle books they get lost in the crowd even if you get them listed on various freeby sites and twitter accounts. I've had all mine on select for ages but never seem to get round to using the free days, and the one time I tried a countdown not much happened - my books are low in price anyway, if people don't want to spend 99p or £2.97... I'm taking mine off Select and putting them out there. Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-30679651117333510212014-07-19T10:10:06.322+01:002014-07-19T10:10:06.322+01:00I don't think they work for most non-fiction, ...I don't think they work for most non-fiction, Chris. But I've had a lot of success with certain fiction books. I did one recently with the Curiosity Cabinet and saw a big spike in sales which in turn resulted in a big spike in visibility (I was up there with Diana Gabaldon for a short while!) and then a knock on effect afterwards at full price. And some sales of other books too. I think like everything else, you have to give it a try and see what works for you. I'm slowly but surely planning to take things off Select and get them out elsewhere, but at the moment, my decision is that I'll also keep a few on Select and see whether Countdown continues to be good for me - and also what happens with the Kindle Unlimited deal which may or may not be a poison chalice. One thing's certain about Amazon, they never stand still and all we can do is experiment and monitor the results. I'll happily pay full price for a book too (as long as it's not Big Five high!) but I know a lot of people won't. And in some sense,it's the visibility you're after. But to take advantage of that, you have to have an optimum number of books out there, I think. The people who write novellas and have a lot of 'inventory' seem to do best with a judicious use of Select and Countdown. Catherine Czerkawskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554969254207924049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-42919218838033817762014-07-19T07:42:05.956+01:002014-07-19T07:42:05.956+01:00I'm with Madwippit on this - if I want to read...I'm with Madwippit on this - if I want to read a book, I'll happily pay full price for it. If I don't want to read it, special offers probably won't tempt me much. Perhaps the Countdown deals work for certain books and authors, but the Select exclusivity clause puts me off. Not everyone uses a Kindle, or buys from Amazon.Mari Biellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14221256993468150226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-5759880257369186432014-07-19T06:55:01.647+01:002014-07-19T06:55:01.647+01:00TBH I don't quite get the whole Countdown thin...TBH I don't quite get the whole Countdown thing. If I'm going to buy a book, I buy it. If I can't afford it at the time, it goes on my list of books to buy until I can afford it. I certainly don't hang around waiting hopefully for it to be discounted ... And nothing pisses me off more (forgive the language, but it really does rile me) than buying something at its full price and then finding a day/week/month or whatever later that it has been knocked down to a cheaper price. While the 'buy while its still in stock' mentality might work with some physical purchases, its never going to apply to an ebook. madwippitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02595748471651052552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-66170849081094289002014-07-19T05:14:32.308+01:002014-07-19T05:14:32.308+01:00KDP didn't work for me either Chris - so maybe...KDP didn't work for me either Chris - so maybe I don't write the right kind of books! Giving the books away free doesn't work for me either - you go right to the top of the rankings without any increase in sales afterwards. I'd rather just put the books on multiple platforms. Kathleen Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07645566938871914385noreply@blogger.com