Getting out of KDP Select and other related questions

[Dr. Drib]

I have some questions for the more knowledgeable authors here at Mobileread.

A little over a week a go, I published a short story using Amazon's KDP Select, wherein I made the story available free for 5 days.

What I would like to do is make it always free and to get out of the KDP Select 'contract'.

How do I do this? Or can I do this? Or must I wait another 80 or so days before the time-frame ends?

Basically, what I want to do is this:

1) Have the story always free at Amazon
2) Be allowed to legally submit it to other venues - also free


Thanks.

[Dr. Drib]

I think I just discovered part of question.

1) I found the button to automatically NOT renew Kindle KDP Select. (I selected it.)
2) It appears as if I have until Feb. 3 before the contract ends.

At that point, however, when I choose NOT to use KDP Select, can I make my story always available for free? This is what I want to do.


Thanks.

[ATDrake]

I have no experience with actually publishing stuff, but IMHO, probably the best way to have your story permanently free is to have it in Smashwords, and thence to iTunes (or directly at iTunes and separately at Smashwords, as some backlist authors seem to do), and freebie it there.

I've noticed over the past few years that author/small-publisher-released things that are free at iTunes seem to have a far, far greater chance of being price-matched at Amazon in multiple countries, even more so than ones that have been free at Smashwords for some time, or in other outlets like Kobo & B&N.

It may take a while, though, and sometimes things never seem to drop to free outside of Amazon US/UK when being matched (which is why I suspect that having things internationally free at iTunes where people around the world can specifically "Report a Lower Price" for their locale in the separate easily-checked country stores, as compared to Kobo, which serves up a page based on the user's IP or account address, and Smashwords, where it's non-obvious that things are internationally free all the time, makes a bit of a difference).

However, this is solely anecdotally from long-term observation of vagaries of the KDP slushpile, and YMMV, as may the actual experiences of your fellow authors who've actually done it.

[Dr. Drib]

Thank you for the response.

One of my goals is to also have it permanently free at Amazon. Is this possible?

[ATDrake]

Certainly. Leave it free at Smashwords/iTunes/Kobo/etc. long enough, and it'll drop and stay there, at least for the US*.

Over the years, I've gathered a bunch of 1st-in-series introductory backlist novels that were freebied long ago on Smashwords from romance, mystery, and sf/fantasy authors (e.g. Stephen Berry's The Biofab War, which first came to my attention in 2012 and remains free to this day, price-matched everywhere†), which have since propagated to and stayed free in pretty much all the stores, and they've become my mainstays when I want to recommend quality freebie genre titles which I can be reasonably certain will still be there when the Gentle Reader finally gets around to downloading them (if ever they do).

* Very occasionally, things that were once free for years at Amazon for Canadian accounts and still remain free in other Canadian-accessible venues go up in price and this is very annoying, but seems unavoidable. However, Amazon seems very consistent about keeping US and UK store long-term freebies free.

† Well, except Amazon Canada, where once it was free but now at 87 cents, which is apparently from the 99 cent price it had before being made permanently free at Smashwords. So I think the moral of this story is to set your story to "Free" at Smashwords from the outset and try not to ever give it a price that Amazon can revert to.

But it's still free in the US and UK, if not the other specific Amazon country stores that I was able to quickly check. And they do sometimes bounce back down. Sometimes.

[mr ploppy]

For Amazon to make it free you need to have several people report it as being available at a lower price. Anecdotally I've heard you can get out of KDP Select by making it available in places other than Amazon, but there might be unforeseen repercussions if you do that. But having it in Select does mean people can read it free with a monthly subscription, which might be worth considering.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

For Amazon to make it free you need to have several people report it as being available at a lower price. Anecdotally I've heard you can get out of KDP Select by making it available in places other than Amazon, but there might be unforeseen repercussions if you do that. But having it in Select does mean people can read it free with a monthly subscription, which might be worth considering.

I understand that if I withdraw the book (and lose whatever has accrued - comments, money, etc.), and then start over again, that this would be one way.

However, in doing further research and understanding what I'm reading, it appears that what I need to do is wait until the 'agreement' period is over and then put it at the lowest price ($0.99), and then do what has been suggested in the comments thus far: Put it on Smashwords and some other places for free and then I either report it to Amazon or have someone else report it as being free, whereupon they will then lower the price to $0.00.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

For Amazon to make it free you need to have several people report it as being available at a lower price. Anecdotally I've heard you can get out of KDP Select by making it available in places other than Amazon, but there might be unforeseen repercussions if you do that. But having it in Select does mean people can read it free with a monthly subscription, which might be worth considering.

Can you explain the "Monthly Subscription" idea, please?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Can you explain the "Monthly Subscription" idea, please?

Meaning they can buy the free book, OR they can borrow the free book through Kindle Unlimited. I think.

[Gregg Bell]

Okay, here's been my experience with making ebooks free on Amazon. Yes, you have to wait for your KDP Select contract to expire. Then go to Kboards (register if you haven't already). Then specifically to this link:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,78571.0.html

This is the "make it free" link. See, making the book free on Amazon with just a couple of people requesting it may take forever, if it happens at all. On the Make It Free link you expedite the process because all kinds of people are requesting that it would be free.

First you have to make your book free somewhere. (And word is the bigger the outlet ie. like B&N or iBookstore the better.) Then on the Make It Free link you post:

It's free at: (the link where it's free)

Then post the Amazon link.

Then the people on the Make It Free link page will request your book be free and you should return the favor requesting that several of theirs be made free as well.

Some little things I noticed back when I was doing it. B&N does not allow free postings. So what I did was make the book free at Smashwords and then have Smashwords distribute it to B&N. (B&N will accept it being free from Smashwords.) Also if you don't have a Macintosh computer you can't submit to iBookstore, but you can go through Draft2Digital to get into the iBookstore. (Draft2Digital takes a cut of the profit but since it's free it's a cut of nothing. )

It took about three days for my book to go free on Amazon. Results vary but it seemed like everybody on Make It Free got their book free within a week or two.

[Dr. Drib]

Thank you Gregg (and everyone else).

You've been most helpful in explaining how to make one's book free.

I'll follow your advice and wait until the KDP Select contract ends.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Thank you Gregg (and everyone else).

You've been most helpful in explaining how to make one's book free.

I'll follow your advice and wait until the KDP Select contract ends.

One last thought. When you go to Kboards, you'll find the Make It Free thread in the Writer's Cafe forum.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

One last thought. When you go to Kboards, you'll find the Make It Free thread in the Writer's Cafe forum.

Thank you!