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I was rear ended a few weeks ago. Unpleasant.
My doctor had some not-so-good news to share with me at my last visit. Unpleasant.
My Kindle died. Unpleasant.
My Blackberry fell in the toilet and now won't work. Unpleasant.
I ran a KDP Select campaign for 5 days (1 day at a time) and got 1200 downloads.
- Say it with me; unpleasant.
Okay so let me analyze these situations:
My car can be fixed. Cool.
I can commit to better eating and exercise . . . consistently . . . and improve my health. Got to.
The Kindle can be replaced . . . at a discount. That's better than nothing.
My Blackberry still won't work. Sigh! I guess I'll live. Or at least upgrade.
Now as far as my KDP results? Oh gosh. What can I say about 1200 downloads over a five day period? Yuck! How do you fix that? Can't figure it out. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the results I did get, however they are unimpressive in comparison to what I've read from others' results.
And no reviews to date.
Oh well. It's a tool, not a magic pill right?
Will I stick with KDP Select? After several runs with no worthwhile return, nah . . .probably not. There's no need to limit myself for baby results. It's a great program for those it works for, but as for me, if it's not working, there's no point. If I'm going to do that kind of hustling, for for little results, I might as well make $.35 out of it. Now if I figure out how to make it work for me, I'll change my mind but as for today - no more KDP Select.
Final answer.
Leave a comment. It will make me feel better.
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14 comments:
It could be worse. I'll loan you my "ex" if you want to see just how much.
It pains me to see people with your verve, your cleverness, your refreshing honesty not be noticed in this world for the writer you are. I'm afraid it says something much worse about the world than anything else. Do us all a favor - hang in; no questions asked!
I had good results a while back, haven't tried anything since early June. From what I am seeing and reading of others, I think KDP Select is done, it will just take indies a while to figure it out.
I've also read some compelling arguments for higher pricing and Amazon algorithms supporting this...it's all very interesting.
Moral - keep at it, those that don't give up will make it :).
Best of luck to you.
I have gone back and forth on KDP Select. I had good results in April, then saw a big decline in May, June and early July. But last week, I ran free days on one of my books on Sunday and Monday. I had more downloads than I had seen since April and saw sales on several of my other books over the course of this last week. This leads me to believe that in the last week or so Amazon has again changed something about the algorithms so that they are returning to a pre-May form. I don't know if that timing coincides with your experiment. I am staying with KDP because of the borrows that account for a good percentage of my sales. I had two books up on BN for a while and saw only a couple of sales, so I am opting to stay with KDP.
Like Christina said above: Stay with it. Readers will find you.
I think the market is utterly oversaturated right now, due in no small part to all the freebies through KDP Select the past several months. KDP Select bastardized the market for a while, throwing "market rules" out the window.
Now that the effectiveness of those free days to build immediate paid sales has vanished, perhaps more authors will opt out of giving away their heart and soul. I hope so.
At any rate, I think the market correction -- getting back to economic basics -- is going to take several months, at least. Ultimately, those offering a quality catalog of products for a fair price will prevail.
Consumers demand value (Value = Quality:Price), and they're getting increasingly frustrated with low quality books, even if they're free. So write good books, first and foremost.
Brand-building is a slow, dreadful grind. Unless you have tens of thousands of dollars for broad-based advertising, there's simply no way to shortcut that process. Frustrating, but that's the reality.
I don't have any answers for the KDP thing since my experiences with it pretty closely mirrored yours, but I have something that might help your Blackberry.
I've dropped mine in water, a rain puddle in southern california of all things, and I managed to bring it back to life. Buy a box of instant dehydrated rice dinner of some kind (Rice-a-roni or whatever), make sure the phone is off if it even still turns on, drop it in the rice box, make sure it's covered by the rice, which is easier if you take the flavor packets out, and then leave it inside overnight. That'll suck out every last bit of moisture trapped inside the casing. In the morning, it might work again if none of the components were shorted out.
I've rescued my Blackberry and iPod touch doing this.
Jack, the spot of "ex" has already been filled. No need to loan me yours! LOL!!
In the meantime, I will keep writing and keep marketing and keep plugging away at new methods. I understand that results are not guaranteed.
Cassandra - I'll will definitely try the rice trick and see what happens. Hopefully it can be salvaged - I'm too close to the end of my contract to get sucked in to another one for a discounted new device.
Cassandra? Brilliant lateral thinking re the Blackberry!
Kimberly, I am about to publish my debut novel and have been considering KDP, so thanks for your experience.
Kimberly, there is a list of about a dozen or so sites that will list your book on the day its free. Some need a couple weeks advance, but they are all free. Last time I did this, and banded with 7 other authors, retweeting the event, etc. I had 18,800 downloads over two days and reached #4 in the Free Bestsellers. Before I was seeing similar crappy download numbers. If you want the list, DM me your email and I will send it.
Also, my second Amazon royalty check (for KDP Select loaning, etc.) is a nice bonus. I still feel like the jury's out, but I'm more and more inclined to think most of the downloaders (whether 1200 or 18,000) are just freebie Kindle hoarders that will never read (ergo never recommend to another) our books.
Agree with Rob Guthrie. There are other giveaway options, though several I'm aware of require a minimum number of reviews with an average 5-star rating. Frustrating, since one of the reasons I do giveaways is to get reviews.
Sometimes it feels like we're walking up the down escalator. The only answer to the past disappointment is a fresh disappoi--um...to write a new book and keep slogging. Sorry you had a tough week, but you're so relentlessly positive and sweet, I'm sure things will turn around. And you have an excuse for a new kindle and blackberry! Hey, that's not so bad! Take care! ~ Chazz
Hey Rob! I'm always open to learning so I will take you up on that listing offer. Thanks so much. It definitely take a village to raise a ch- ...I mean sell a book! LOL
Thanks for the encouragement Chazz. Of course we as writers know that we have to keep at it through the ups and downs. So I guess I will.
And while I have a GREAT excuse for some new toys - my wallet is not exactly putting it's stamp of approval on those acquisitions. I'm going to have to sweet talk it a little more and see it I can get it to release a few (eh hem.. . hundred) dollars.
Sorry you didn't get the results you wanted. I did the program with two books. Initially, the program was good for me--I had a over 7,000 downloads for one book--but things tapered off. From what I understand, there was an algorithm change that greatly affected free downloads. In other words, the party's over. That's fine with me, though. I don't like cutting off my other e-book channels just to be in this program exclusively for 90 days. I'm done with the program. Never again.
Sorry you didn't get the results you wanted. I did the program with two books. Initially, the program was good for me--I had a over 7,000 downloads for one book--but things tapered off. From what I understand, there was an algorithm change that greatly affected free downloads. In other words, the party's over. That's fine with me, though. I don't like cutting off my other e-book channels just to be in this program exclusively for 90 days. I'm done with the program. Never again.
Hey, Kimberly,
On the KDP select, at least you can say you tried. Hopefully, some reviews will come down the road. Hope things take an upswing for you.
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