KDP or Kindle Select?

Hi guys. Could anyone advise me? I'm about to release a book direct to Kindle. As far as I can tell there are two options KDP, or Kindle Select. It looks like Kindle Select means you are automatically enrolled in their lending library program, but doesn't this mean that fewer people actually buy your book, and more people borrow it? Is this worth it? I have lots of people waiting to buy this book, and was thinking of avoiding the select option. Can anyone with experience of Kindle Select (and specifically it's effects on revenues) advise me?

Thanks,

Duncan

Apologies for the apostrophe error!! Call it forum laziness!

The KDP Select guidelines are here: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A6KILDRNSCOBA

"How is my share of the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library fund calculated?
Your share of the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Fund is calculated based on a share of the total number of qualified borrows of all participating KDP titles. For example, if the monthly fund amount is $500,000, the total qualified borrows of all participating KDP titles is 300,000, and if your book was borrowed 1,500 times, you will earn 0.5% (1,500/300,000 = 0.5%), or $2,500 for that month."

$2500/1500 = $1.66/book borrowed

70% of $2.99 = $2.09

Work out the royalty on the price you intend to set to see how much you will lose every time the book is borrowed.

Duncan Pile wrote:

Apologies for the apostrophe error!! Call it forum laziness!

Click on the "edit" button top right of your post to edit mistakes/typos.

I figure $1 in royalties per book - because I factor out the costs of promotion. That means I have to sell 2000 books each month to earn $12,000 per year (that pays the mortgage only, nothing left over).

"Lots of people waiting to buy the book" need to be in the thousands, 12000 at a minimum, to have anything near a living income. $12,000 annual is below the U.S. poverty line.

My point? I wouldn't worry about the difference between the royalty amount from lending versus selling. Chances are, it will take both markets to make a dent.

My personal opinion is that the amount of royalty is not as critical as the number of books sold.

Thanks Shelagh. That's a helpful formula. I'd seen it before but you made more sense of it for me. What I don't yet know is how many people borrow as opposed to buy. I'd be losing several dollars per purchase as I intend to put it up at $10, but if 5 times as many people borrow, then it's worth it, because you expand your readership. And perhaps those who borrow would not buy anyway, in which case it can be seen as a second revenue stream.

What I'm hoping for is someone with experience of the lending library to say "No way, don't bother with that," or "it's brilliant. You should go for it!" There are too many variables for me to work it out on maths alone. Still seeking wisdom!

Oh, just saw Dk's response. Thanks for that. Yeah I'm not talking in those numbers yet. I know what you mean - both markets sounds like a good idea.

Is anyone willing to share how many borrows they've had over sales in the last year for instance?

Just a couple of things to consider:

With Kindle Select you are limited to Amazon, and cannot sell your book through other sites, such as Smashwords and B&N's Nook. Smashwords will distribute your book to other markets, like Kobo, iBooks, and Sony.

Amazon Prime members are limited to one loan per month, so they are going to go for the higher priced books as "loaners." A lower-priced book is far less likely to be borrowed.

On the other hand, Amazon has a far larger market than the others, so you would want to consider that as well.

Different hooks for different books?

Thanks Ann. I'm reading through some forums on the benefits of Select. Got a couple of days till the artwork is ready anyway, so today is not decision day.

Think I'm gonna give KDP Select a try. The draw for me is the free promotion. If sales start to dip I can make the book free for a while, grab a load of new readers, and then bump it up again once momentum has been established once more. Thanks for the advice/comments.

Dunc

Duncan,

The free promotions on KDP Select have not worked for me--and may have hurt. I still enroll two of my books in Select but will not do the free download days. Others have had different results.

As Ann noted, there are downsides beyond royalties and sales to consider. If you choose Select you will be locked in for three months. As to the free promotions, these are also available through Smashwords--as well as "coupons" to discount your books by whatever amount you wish, including making them available for free.

As with anything else, your returns will ultimately depend on your own efforts at marketing and promotion. (My efforts are minimal at best and my sales for two of the three self-published books on Kindle show that--they are very low.)

Victor D. Lopez wrote:

As with anything else, your returns will ultimately depend on your own efforts at marketing and promotion.

... and this is true whichever way you choose to sell your books. I have made sales on Amazon in print and ebook format. However, the time I spent promoting the number of books sold meant that the rate of pay was extremely low. Selling a thousand books that took a thousand hours to promote is not a great claim!

That's my point, Shelagh. We need to sell thousands to overcome the costs of promotion (unless you consider your time without value) that also include promotional materials in addition to time.

Truth be told, it was the book that led to the newspaper writing that also led to a couple other lucrative freelance gigs. Putting it all together with royalty checks and books sold by me that were long ago paid for, I am scraping along.

Better to get speaking gigs. I went to one last night with 2000 in the audience - 2000 book sales and he has one speech he gives all over the U.S. - U.S. schools are designed for the 1900's and not for today - of course he says it with cartoons and overheads. Yech! He made a fortune in one hour. He's an adjunct at Harvard. He said nothing - but he said it well and people were sliding their credit card for the unseen book just off the press.

Thanks Victor. I'll bear that in mind and look into Smashwords too. Yes DK and Shelagh, I know what you mean. The first 500 books were expensive to promote, and it was only worth doing to try and get things going and also to gain experience. I have been lucky enough to gain viral sales (Kindle) since then and have sold another thousand at full price without doing any marketing, so that's been a real bonus. I think it's partly because of a very appealing cover and partly because I write shameless pop fiction, so it has a good chance of getting those viral sales. The sales dropped off majorly before Christmas though, and am hoping the new book will help get things going again.

Thanks again for all your helpful advice.

I signed up for KDP Select - the 90 day period is out on 1/30 and I'm not renewing it. Only 3 people have borrowed the book and I've found other sites where I can sell it and get more of a royalty.

Not to mention I can sell it in a downloadable format from my website- at least I hope I can- I'll have to ask my web guy, but I don't see why not.