Quote:
Originally Posted by rhadin
Hmmm. How long would it take to run through the 17,000 books to find a new book by author XYZ, assuming you didn't already know of the author or the book? Seems to me that 17,000 is a large sea in which to get easily lost, so what's the advantage to doing exclusivity?
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My opinion is that unless your book is
already a top seller, there is probably little advantage to Amazon exclusivity. Prime members can borrow only one ebook per month, and readers aren't likely to choose a relatively unknown book over a bestseller. But many authors seem to feel differently. Yesterday morning there were 10,732 books in the program, and now there are
35,019 (at this moment—and climbing fast)!
One perk is that participating authors can choose to make their book free for 5 days during the 90-day term. If you have a series of books, this can be a benefit because if the reader likes your free book they may purchase other books in the series. And it's always good to expose as many people as possible to your work. Before this program, indie authors could not request that their books be priced free at Amazon; they had to go through price-matching hoops, which doesn't always work. So that is an advantage for some.
Every author's experience is different, but for most Amazon is where they sell the
vast majority of their ebooks. So if 98% of their sales are coming from Amazon already, having the potential to share in the $500,000+ monthly pot is very enticing. I don't blame them really. Many do depend on royalties to pay for everyday expenses. If your book's doing well and most of your royalties come from Amazon already, this may be a smart business decision. If you were selling only 2% of your books elsewhere, there's little risk and potential for gain. And you can opt-out of the program after 90 days, so you're not committed for life.
The decision to not participate in KDP Select was relatively easy for my husband, but I know that many authors are
very torn about this. They truly do
not want to alienate readers who use ePub, but many
do have to follow the money and feel that it's worth taking a short-term risk for a potential gain.
I'm certain that the top-selling indie authors participating in KDP Select will be raking in some
serious cash. I'm very interested to see how this works out for relatively unknown authors and how many will choose to continue after the initial 90-day period.