I’ve put my entire catalog (save for one book) back into KDP Select.
Why? Because I decided, at this point in time, it would take more marketing effort than I want to expend to try to go wide.
Don’t get me wrong. I still think Amazon is the evil empire. Although, on the whole, they’ve treated me well. At least up until now. The future? Who knows?
Plus, everything is geared towards indie authors being in KDP Select. Guru advice. Promotional services. Software.
It’s a cascading effect that will eventually force everyone else out of business. The again, perhaps not. Hopefully not. The Amazonification of the world is not a good thing.
Now that Draft2Digital has finally gotten the integration completed with the Smashwords store, I will approach going wide more thoughtfully.
In addition, there’s Kickstarter. And more and more authors and readers are turning to the platform to find their newest read.
And there’s Patreon. Many authors are successfully using the platform to reach non-Amazon customers. Or even Amazon customers.
Amazon has over 30 million books on its virtual shelves. Ads have gotten completely out of hand, to the point where half of your search results are ads – not books you’re searching for. I don’t search for books on Amazon anymore. Too many ads. Although Google is getting just as bad. I’ll probably have to use my Brave browser to search ad free.
Showing readers there’s an easier way to access your content is, IMO, a definite plus. For both you and the reader. Anything that makes you stand out in the crowd.
I see my return to KDP Select as temporary. Time to re-group and plan a systematic re-entry into going wide.
In the meantime, if you’ve subscribed to Kindle Unlimited, go ahead and read my books. You’ve already paid for them.
Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!
CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with three bestselling novels. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.
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