# Kindle Select-How to Make it Work for You



## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

I want to add a section on the "Kindle Primer" about techniques for making the Kindle Select free promo option produce mega sales. If anyone wants to share their techniques, please add your methods. (For the Kindle Primer, go to: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,42600.msg1581159.html#msg1581159.)

Here's some I've picked up:

1. Wait until you have at least 6 good reviews before going free.

2. There has been much discussion about how many and which days to choose. I am tending to believe 1 or 2 day promotions are best, Wed, Thurs, or Sunday. You might try skipping a day between two free days.

3. Several weeks before your free promotion, alert ENT (Ereader News Today) and POI (Pixel of Ink). Google their names and look for sign-up forms. Alert other book blogging sites, particularly those in your genre.

4. The day before your promotion, consider upping your price by a few dollars. For instance, if your normal price is $2.99, make it $6.59. That way, when it goes free, people think they're getting a great deal. Then lower it again after the promotion. Especially consider if your book is .99. There is no huge incentive to grab up a book that normally is so inexpensive.

5. On the first day of your promotion, alert all your followers on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter. Ask your Twitter followers to retweet your promotion.

6. Twitter about your book to all Free Kindle twitter addresses (do a search for them on Twitter). Here are some Twitter accounts that tweet and retweet about free books.

@DigitalBkToday
@kindleebooks
@Kindlestuff
@KindleEbooksUK
@KindleBookKing
@KindleFreeBook
@free
@free_kindle
@FreeReadFeed
@4FreeKindleBook
@FreeKindleStuff
@KindleUpdates

That should get you started.

7. Email all good reviewers of all of your books. Many reviewers have email links on their Amazon Profile. Invite them to "gift" free copies to friends.

8. List your link here on Kindleboards, both on this link for free books, and on your individual book thread in the Bazaar.
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,97167.0.html

9. List or update your book thread on mobileread.com about your free book. 
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/

10. On the first day of your free promotion, get up very early (like 3 A.M.) and add your book to the Amazon Kindle Forum thread for free books. Also add a comment to your book on the Amazon Kindle Forum Meet Our Authors thread that your book is free.

11. If you have several titles, try staggering free promotions. Free promotions seem to work particularly well for books in series, drawing people to buy other books in the series.

12. After your free promotion when your rank is slipping, gift copies of your book to boost your rank.

13. Several weeks after your promotion, run a .99 special on your books that are NOT in Kindle Select. Simply change your prices on Amazon, or lower your prices on Smashwords. Amazon will match the price. It will appear that you are slashing your prices, with the original price and discount. (Everyone likes a deal.)

Any other suggestions?

(See the Kindle Primer for other promotion ideas: 
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,42600.0.html)


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## Elmore Hammes (Jun 23, 2009)

I don't think you should wait for 6 reviews before going free. You may get some of those reviews from your free downloads, and if you don't have them the first time you may the next time you use a free promo.


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

Elmore Hammes said:


> I don't think you should wait for 6 reviews before going free. You may get some of those reviews from your free downloads, and if you don't have them the first time you may the next time you use a free promo.


That's a good point. You may be right. And giving away the book may get you some good reviews. But with so many free books out there, I think readers are more inclined to download those with at least have some good reviews.


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## Debra Burroughs (Feb 17, 2011)

I agree that you should have as many reviews as possible to go free. One way I do it is to offer a free Kindle ebook in exchange for a review. I tweet it several times during the day to catch different people going on Twitter, and have gotten a number of reviews that way. I gift them the .99 version, which in the end costs me .64 because I get royalties and rankings when I gift my book. Sometimes you have to follow up with people because they take the book and never leave the review, but if you get 15 people to agree to do it and get 8 - 10 good reviews, that's a good thing.

Another thing I am doing when going free is to do it with other authors and we heavily promote the event and the other authors and they promote you, so you don't sound like you're promoting yourself.


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## L. A. Burton (Sep 1, 2010)

Thank you for all the great information. Although I just found this post I followed almost all your recommendations. Great stuff.    Which made me top twenty in the U. K. and the U. S. and #5 in Germany.


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

"Another thing I am doing when going free is to do it with other authors and we heavily promote the event and the other authors and they promote you, so you don't sound like you're promoting yourself."

Excellent idea.


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

Thanks, Ruthie! Going free tomorrow so timely.

Question about the second #8  : Is that an Amazon site you refer to that has a free books thread?


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

Eric C said:


> Thanks, Ruthie! Going free tomorrow so timely.
> 
> Question about the second #8 : Is that an Amazon site you refer to that has a free books thread?


Yes. Go to Amazon and select any Amazon Kindle book. Then highlight "Discussions", which will take you to the Kindle Forum. Everyday, some angel gets up very early and starts a forum thread for free kindle books for that day. List your book amid others to avoid label of self-promotion.


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

Thanks! With the infant I'm often up at 3 AM anyway ...


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

Good suggestions!

My strategy differs a bit around the social promo and the reviews advice.

I've used free to launch 4 brand-new releases -- all without *any * reviews -- to some success:

Book 1 reached #5 in the overall free store and has sold 2300 books and been borrowed 200 times in the 3 weeks following

Book 2 reached #47 in the free store and has sold 2100 books and been borrowed 75 times in the 3 weeks following

Book 3 reached #65 and has sold 1100 books and been borrowed 40 times

Book 4 reached #188 and sold 700 copies and was borrowed over 100 times before it got its first review -- 6 weeks after going free!

Also, if I know one of the major freebook sites will be featuring a book, I may tweet a time or two, but I don't do a lot of social promoting. I save those bullets for more targeted campaigns. My social network can't begin to compete with the reach the major freebook sites have. A couple of dozen downloads for the noise isn't really worth it. However, for books not receiving a mention on the big sites, it's time to exploit social media for all its worth.

The books above, plus another that reached #25 in the overall store, were all featured on at least one major site, and I waited to exploit my social network till the books were back in the paid list on Day 5 when rank typically begins its natural slide.


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

Some great advice here. I especially like the idea of joining with others in your genre to do a group promo.

Re having reviews beforehand: I went free with Volcano Watch shortly after it was pubbed, and it had no reviews. Was a successful promo (10K+ freeloads, and 160+ sales of my non-free book), and two weeks later I had eleven reviews. Not sure what this says, but it's a data point.

I'd love to hear more ideas of what to do in the post-promo days/week to slow the slide.


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## S.A. Mulraney (May 20, 2011)

I would just note that 1 weeks' notice may not be enough for POI. Perhaps they receive more submissions, but they seem to be the trickier of the two biggies to get a mention on.

Having witnessed several new releases go free, I would also not worry about having a certain number of reviews. While it may help, I honestly don't think it hurts your chances of success. Unfortunately, given the nature of going free, your first reviews may then be made by folks outside of your target audience. 

Reaching the Top 100 Free is key. If you haven't reached that on your first day free, but you're close, keep going for another day. It'll make all the difference. That being said, don't stop too soon! If you're killing it on day one (6000+ freeloads), add a second day! The higher you go free, the more spread you'll have when the algorithms kick in post free.


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## cheriereich (Feb 12, 2011)

Great advice from everyone! I'm bookmarking this to remind me of it. I plan to go free the first time next week.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Sorry. I misread #12. Haven't had coffee yet.


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## David Kazzie (Sep 16, 2010)

JRTomlin said:


> WRONG!
> 
> If you are in Kindle Select, you had BETTER not have your novel on Smashwords.


I think she was referring to the "non Kindle Select books" there.


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## Seanathin23 (Jul 24, 2011)

I'm starting a free promo my my new book on Thursday, going to use this thread as a road map seance I had no idea really where to go.


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## AithneJarretta (Jul 13, 2011)

JRTomlin said:


> WRONG!
> 
> If you are in Kindle Select, you had BETTER not have your novel on Smashwords.


Changing your book price on Amazon is SO easy. It takes a few hours for the change to go through directly on Amazon. Smashwords isn't necessary.

Beside, we all know that JRT is right about this. 

~ Aithne


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

AithneJarretta said:


> Changing your book price on Amazon is SO easy. It takes a few hours for the change to go through directly on Amazon. Smashwords isn't necessary.
> 
> Beside, we all know that JRT is right about this.
> 
> ~ Aithne


The reason for changing the price on Smashwords is that it appears on Amazon that you are discounting your book. Instead of the price merely reading .99, it will read 4.99 with a red slash through it, then the discounted priced of .99. The potential book buyer may think they're getting in on a great deal.


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## Sybil Nelson (Jun 24, 2010)

kayakruthie said:


> The reason for changing the price on Smashwords is that it appears on Amazon that you are discounting your book. Instead of the price merely reading .99, it will read 4.99 with a red slash through it, then the discounted priced of .99. The potential book buyer may think they're getting in on a great deal.


I agree. This is a great strategy.


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## ETS PRESS (Nov 4, 2011)

This squidoo lens has links to sites to notify your free dates: http://www.squidoo.com/going-free-kindle-ebook-promotional-campaigns-for-authors

For maximum benefit, plan your promotion 3-4 weeks ahead of time. Notify POI asap. The last I heard is that you need to give POI a month's notice.

Reasons to have some reviews first: 
1. You have a better chance to get picked up by POI.
2. If you go free, you have a high chance of picking up negative reviews. If you have 5-10 positive (4 or 5 star) reviews prior to going free, but pick up 1 or 2 star, your prior reviews will help to keep your rating balanced. You are taking a bigger risk if you go free prior to garnering some good reviews first.


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

Suzanne Adair said:


> I've read somewhere on KB that POI wants a month notice about your freebie. I gave them 2 weeks notice last time, and they didn't pick me up.


I've submitted 7 books to POI, one of them 3 times. They've picked up 1 book.

They didn't pick up the NYT bestselling romance author's book. They didn't pick up the #2 medical thriller with 25 nice reviews. They picked up the 16,000-word debut romance novella with zero reviews submitted 2 days before it went free.

I wish I knew the magic word.


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

Lisa, I didn't know about Squidoo.  Thanks.  It looks like an interesting site.


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

Here are some Twitter accounts that tweet and retweet about free books.

@DigitalBkToday
@kindleebooks
@Kindlestuff
@KindleEbooksUK
@KindleBookKing
@KindleFreeBook
@free
@free_kindle
@FreeReadFeed
@4FreeKindleBook
@FreeKindleStuff
@KindleUpdates

That should get you started.


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## ETS PRESS (Nov 4, 2011)

kayakruthie said:


> Here are some Twitter accounts that tweet and retweet about free books.
> 
> @DigitalBkToday
> @kindleebooks
> ...


I hope you don't mind Kay, but I added this list to the Squidoo lens. I originally created this lens, so that we'd have a permanent place to find this info when we get ready to run a free promotion. As I gather new info and sites, I try to add them.


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

Be my guest.


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## ericbenson81 (Mar 29, 2012)

Nice tips! 

Now I am more inspired to write and publish books..and of course keep the money rolling..


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## Mike McIntyre (Jan 19, 2011)

As someone who has run six Select promos, I can attest that these are all good tips...for giving away free books.

Unfortunately, larger free runs now result in fewer paid sales.

Why the change? According to an article this week in "Digital Book World" (found by Suzanne Adair, and posted on the MEGA-THREAD), Amazon has altered its algorithm for post-free:

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/does-leveraging-free-give-aways-increase-royalties/

Here's the critical passage:

"The Amazon matrix has changed. You are no longer getting credited one sale for every download (in relation to the internal recommendation queue). This equal exchange rate is what helped push so many sales post-free when KDP Select first came out.

From external measures, it now appears that you need three free downloads to count as a "sale." Which means you need to give away three times as many books to sell the same amount in your immediate post-free window as you did in December. Therefore, your transition from free to paid is a bit more rocky and unpredictable."

This fits my recent experience. In early February, 11,000 freeloads of "The Scavenger's Daughter" led to 615 sales during its first week back to paid. In mid-March, 15,000 freeloads led to only 194 sales--less than one-third as many.

Free has suddenly become (relatively) expensive.


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## Cher Carson (Mar 27, 2012)

So much great information. Wish I'd had to this knowledge before I went free on a wing and a prayer yesterday. Oh well, better luck next time, especially now that I have a game plan!


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## Edward W. Robertson (May 18, 2010)

There's an extremely critical passage in that post, Mike:

"From *external measures*, it *now appears* that you need three free downloads to count as a 'sale.'"

Emphasis mine. The author's given away a ton of books recently, so her sample size is good. But she's not quoting the guy who rewrote Amazon's code. She's making her own extrapolations. Her results are useful--paid sales seem to be a third of what they used to be--but we still don't know how exactly things have changed. Considering the lists haven't changed for a lot of shoppers, we still don't even know if Amazon _meant_ to change!


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## Freddie Omm (Mar 25, 2012)

Ruth, Mike, Edward

Fascinating (and frustrating) how the ground is constantly shifting. I wonder if we will ever be able to do more than extrapolate, though..

On the one hand, Kindle is still pushing free promotions with Kindle Select.

On the other hand, the greater the growing volume of free "sales" the less profit there is in "total global Kindle reading hours."


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## Mike McIntyre (Jan 19, 2011)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> There's an extremely critical passage in that post, Mike:
> 
> "From *external measures*, it *now appears* that you need three free downloads to count as a 'sale.'"
> 
> Emphasis mine. The author's given away a ton of books recently, so her sample size is good. But she's not quoting the guy who rewrote Amazon's code. She's making her own extrapolations. Her results are useful--paid sales seem to be a third of what they used to be--but we still don't know how exactly things have changed. Considering the lists haven't changed for a lot of shoppers, we still don't even know if Amazon _meant_ to change!


Edward, fair point on the lack of official attribution, and one I made when I commented on this article earlier in the MEGA-THREAD. The thing is, Amazon never shared the old "code," and they're not going to share the new one (if one exists). So, as Freddie pointed out above, we are left with extrapolation.


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## Edward W. Robertson (May 18, 2010)

For sure. What I mean to say is that author's post is just one more stab at what's going on, no different from another post in the Mega-Thread. I'm very reluctant to draw any sweeping conclusions right now. For me, the data just isn't there yet.


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## jimkukral (Oct 31, 2011)

Mike McIntyre said:


> As someone who has run six Select promos, I can attest that these are all good tips...for giving away free books.
> 
> Unfortunately, larger free runs now result in fewer paid sales.
> 
> ...


Further proof that "free" isn't a long-term marketing strategy. It's just a small, small opportunity.


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## Angerona Love (Aug 5, 2011)

This is excellent. Thank you for putting it all together.

I just joined Amazon Select. I was a little slow on the uptake because of a brain tumor. I haven't even started thinking about my 5 free days and appreciate having all this info at hand.

My book is a very specific niche. Does anyone know if the "free" days work as well for specific nonfiction or are most of you using it to promote fiction?


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## Nina_Limardo (Mar 26, 2012)

Really helpful stuff!

I have done only one free promo so far in the first week my book was released... so I created a facebook group consisting of 700 people I already knew and e-mailed some old professors and friends etc to tell them about my Free promo.

Out of 700 people 365 downloaded the book and I had two reviews by the next day!

Of course, this is a very targeted audience... but if people know you in some way they may be more likely to give you a review. 
And those reviews will hopefully help sell more books...

Of course I only have 3 reviews so far... but people keep telling me they liked the book and they will write a review... once they have the time... 

but I'll just have unwavering faith. 

Oh.. and slashwords... I have to look more into that...


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

Even if Amazon's matrix has changed, and the post-free sales bump has diminished, it is still an excellent way to gain visibility for your work and for your other books.  If it did not increase book sales, Amazon would not be promoting the program.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

I don't know about that. Amazon leverages Select to sell Prime memberships and to establish an interest in buying Kindles. Nook and iTunes have nowhere near the free books to tout on their devices. I'm not sure how much they are out to help any individual Indie, although I agree that as a whole, they offer more tools to Indies in general.

The only advantage to free for us is to use the free downloads to gain visibility to the people who pay for books. This was a good plan until mid March, when our visibility diminished post-free. If we don't get visibility as a result of giving 5-10K books away, then it may not be a wise course to do it. It's gone from a sound plan to a total crapshoot. And you're stuck on the Kindle for 90 days after. For many people, it's no big deal as Kindle is the majority of their sales, but for authors like me, where sales are fairly equal, I may be gambling the success of a launch.


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## StephenEngland (Nov 2, 2011)

A couple things. First of all, I disagree with the notion of artificially raising your price days before going free. That sounds way too much like gaming your readers. I know a woman that is currently doing something similar to this in her product description with the tagline, "Buy it now before it goes back up to its regular price of $6.99". Problem? Not only is that not the book's regular price, it has NEVER been priced that way. But she does it to convince people that they're getting a great deal when in fact, they're not.
Secondly, be very careful playing with your prices on Smashwords. It can take 2-3 weeks(up to a month) for the price to adjust. So be prepared for what you intended to be a week-long 99-cent sale to cost you a lot of money.


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## dalya (Jul 26, 2011)

Ruth, this is a really great primer!  I posted something similar, but you have several points I didn't consider, such as upping the price.

May I repost your tips as a Special Guest post on a new group blog, yaindie.com? I would include a blurb about you and links to your site.


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

Re: Upping the price before going free.  It seems to me if your regular price is .99, it would be wise to raise your price before going free.  There is much less motive for someone to grab a book that is free if it is normally only .99.  Why rush?  That's just my thinking.  As for scamming the reader?  No.  It is price manipulation, yes, but all sales is about price manipulation.  J.C. Penny has even admitted this.  At my Winn-Dixie, one week the chicken breast is $2.99/lb, the next week it is buy one get one free, but the price is $5.99/lb.  Are they scamming the customer?  Matters how you look at it.


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## Randall Boleyn (Mar 8, 2012)

My second "2 day giveaway" doubled the first because I followed many of the ideas in this thread. Thank you all for sharing your ideas. I've seen many talking about POI and other various free notifiers and whether they were picked up or not. How does one know when you made their listing? Check every site on the day of the giveaway or is there other magic involved?


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

Randall, I'm not sure about POI.  Anyone?


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## Edward W. Robertson (May 18, 2010)

The typical sign that you have been listed on POI is that your Dashboard becomes a mystical place where the first digit of your download count is suddenly followed by three more numbers.

When you start seeing downloads arrive every few seconds, think, "Oh, thank you, POI." If it's a bit slower than that, but still a few per minute, think, "Oh, thank you, ENT." Then go Google yourself for results in the last 24 hours. You'll be there.


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## Wingpeople (Oct 7, 2011)

Thanks for this thread! I knew about many of these ideas from a variety of other threads, but this puts it all together, plus has several additional helpful suggestions. I'm going to give it the Full Monty for my next free promo on April 29!


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

Good luck.


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## RuthNestvold (Jan 4, 2012)

I have a number of strategies listed on my blog post here:

http://ruthnestvold.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/promoting-ebooks-with-kdp-select/

I'm going to check your list out, Ruthie, and I hope you won't mind if I amend my post with what seems to me to work best.


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

That's a great list of contacts, Ruth.  Thank you for your contribution.  You should get some good traffic from it.


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> The typical sign that you have been listed on POI is that your Dashboard becomes a mystical place where the first digit of your download count is suddenly followed by three more numbers.
> 
> When you start seeing downloads arrive every few seconds, think, "Oh, thank you, POI." If it's a bit slower than that, but still a few per minute, think, "Oh, thank you, ENT." Then go Google yourself for results in the last 24 hours. You'll be there.


 

Word.


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## RuthNestvold (Jan 4, 2012)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> The typical sign that you have been listed on POI is that your Dashboard becomes a mystical place where the first digit of your download count is suddenly followed by three more numbers.
> 
> When you start seeing downloads arrive every few seconds, think, "Oh, thank you, POI." If it's a bit slower than that, but still a few per minute, think, "Oh, thank you, ENT." Then go Google yourself for results in the last 24 hours. You'll be there.


I didn't quite believe it until I went to check ENT, and low and behold, there was my novella "Looking Through Lace"!

http://ereadernewstoday.com/free-kindle-books-6-free-books-for-4-10-12/6712674/

So, yeah, the best results I've had on freebies, I've been listed either by POI or ENT. OTOH, I have never contacted anyone three weeks in advance, because I organize my freebies too short notice.


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## ScottC (Mar 23, 2012)

Can someone please explain how you "gift" a novel through Amazon. How many can you do?
Thanks


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

Gifting a novel is the easiest thing in the world.  Select your desired book on Amazon, and on the right under the "Buy now with 1-click" is a button "gift a copy".  It will then ask you for the email address of the person you want to receive a gift.  Then you buy it.  Amazon will send an email to that person that they have been gifted a book, and they will go to Amazon and down load it.  You can gift as many copies as you have email addresses.


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## ScottC (Mar 23, 2012)

Thank you Kay... I also relied on your earlier memo on how to promote free. One stop shopping for ideas.


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## Jude Hardin (Feb 5, 2011)

Good advice here. Thanks!


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## jimkukral (Oct 31, 2011)

Here's a little free tool I made to make it easier to upload your free book submissions to all the top sites. Enjoy.

http://authormarketingclub.com/members/submit-your-book/


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## Rogerelwell (May 19, 2011)

I can't seem to gift a book because:

1)  I am UK and they don't appear to have that capability on Amazon.co.uk
2)  I can't buy books in the US (as a UK person) and therefore the 'gift' capability doesn't appear to be available to me either.

Does anyone know how to get round this?


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

Thanks, Jim.  Very helpful.  I don't know about gifting books in the U.K.  Anyone?


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## Decon (Feb 16, 2011)

Just to clarify.

You have to be a member of Amazon.com to gift books and here's the rub if you live outside America but you are a member of .com, if you gift a book they add a $2 charge. I only know this because I live in Brazil and and gifted a book to my sister in the UK. Seeing as how she would download the book from .co.uk where she lives, I can't see the reason for the extra $2  whispernet charge, but there you go, that's Amazon for you. To add insult to injury, my UK bank charged me for a foreign transaction, so it was a lose-lose situation.

Basically, gifting is only any good if you live in America, have a bank account in America and the recipient lives in America. Otherwise, that gifted 99c book could cost you in the region of $7

Note: at the time I gifted the book was not in select. It maybe different regarding the $2 charge for select books as the don't add the $2 charge to the price of my select books here in Brazil.


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## John Dwyer (Apr 26, 2011)

Thanks for the link Jim, very handy to have all the submission sites on one page.
Delighted I discovered this thread. I'm making my book "Klondike House" free next month for 2 days and will be trying to follow most of the suggestions mentioned here.
John


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## pavb2 (Feb 29, 2012)

Thanks for all the advice on this thread  I've been in KDP since Feb and I find with every promo I'm finding better strategies and gaining more exposure.
As a newcomer I'm glad to get the reviews and the stories out there but it all takes time.


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## NS (Jul 8, 2011)

So far, as I can see, only two methods work all the time.

The genre of the book should be romance (cookbooks are also doing fine).

ENT or POI mentioning. 

The price could be $0.35 and no reviews and it will still work.


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## thesmallprint (May 25, 2012)

I've just come across this. Ruthie, that must have been quite a bit of work putting the original post together - thank you - it's a very generous gesture which seems characteristic of many regular posters in the Cafe.  Those who say writers are always bitchy, jealous and protective ought to be pointed to this thread.

Thanks too to those who've added more tips.

Good luck to everyone with your writing and your sales (and your freebies too!)

Joe


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## Barbara F (Jan 7, 2012)

Thanks everyone for leaving their tips. I'm in KDP for the second time and doing decently well so far. This time I'm using four of my freebies up front and saving one for later. Hoping to have some good sells afterwards. Last time the sales were so so, but still, I was excited at them. After a two months of being out of KDP and no sales, I'm hoping my second adventure fares better. I'm planning on staying tuned for other tips.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

jimkukral said:


> Here's a little free tool I made to make it easier to upload your free book submissions to all the top sites. Enjoy.
> 
> http://authormarketingclub.com/members/submit-your-book/


Wow, Jim, thanks. That's going to save me a lot of time.


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## thesmallprint (May 25, 2012)

kayakruthie said:


> Good luck, Barbara and Joe.


Thanks Ruthie. Same to you, and thank you for the kind comments on the covers - once again there was much advice from KB folks on creating them. The Cafe has been hugely helpful to me. It's open 24/7 too . . . though it seems a bit short on coffee and cheesecake 

Joe


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

I see indie publishing as a free speech movement.  I think others feel the same way, and that's why there is so much mutual support.  Good luck to all.


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## Dave Adams (Apr 25, 2012)

Excellent advice. I've done several promos now...the last one I was able to get a mention on ENT, and had over twice as many downloads as any previous promo. Tried POI but didn't get a mention. I'll give it another shot next time.


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

POI seems to need a lot of lead time.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

kayakruthie said:


> POI seems to need a lot of lead time.


ENT seems to mention a lot more books than POI. Greg does four or more posts a day, each with several books. POI only does three a day and most of those only mention five books.

I've been submitting to POI every two weeks since at least February and have yet to get a mention.


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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

Angerona Love said:


> This is excellent. Thank you for putting it all together.
> 
> I just joined Amazon Select. I was a little slow on the uptake because of a brain tumor. I haven't even started thinking about my 5 free days and appreciate having all this info at hand.
> 
> My book is a very specific niche. Does anyone know if the "free" days work as well for specific nonfiction or are most of you using it to promote fiction?


It should work really well. The more specific the genre, the easier it is to "top the charts" in that genre.


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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

kayakruthie said:


> Re: Upping the price before going free. It seems to me if your regular price is .99, it would be wise to raise your price before going free. There is much less motive for someone to grab a book that is free if it is normally only .99. Why rush? That's just my thinking. As for scamming the reader? No. It is price manipulation, yes, but all sales is about price manipulation. J.C. Penny has even admitted this. At my Winn-Dixie, one week the chicken breast is $2.99/lb, the next week it is buy one get one free, but the price is $5.99/lb. Are they scamming the customer? Matters how you look at it.


I'd say that in that case your book shouldn't be 99c to begin with. I'd rather do that than "trick" my readers that way. The fact that Wnn Dixie does it just means they are taking part in a crappy practice, it doesn't mean it's an acceptable thing to do.


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## trublue (Jul 7, 2012)

I am very new to this. My ebook is free today.
I have read And reread every post abt using Kindle Select.
Great advice. I am doing most of the things you guys posted here.

I am also using Twitter ebook club people who have over 10k followers.
I used this guy and he was great. He tweeted abt the promo more than once.
It got retweeted by his followers. And it was only 5 bucks.
So of it doesn't work, its not a huge loss. 

[email protected]


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## RuthNestvold (Jan 4, 2012)

I have to admit, I'm getting really irritated with freebie promos where the "regular" price is 5.99, 8.99. even 12.99. I don't even click on those books anymore, I find it so silly, the obvious "raising the price before the freebie" gimmick. 

So count me out on that particular strategy.


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

Thanks for the post, Ruthie. I just came off my first ever free promo and am fairly disappointed with the results. The promo itself was successful with almost 16,000 downloads and I reached #12 overall in free kindle books, #1 in thrillers. I had 3 reviews pre-promo. The after-slide was immediate and so far, 2 days post promo, has resulted in only 14 sales. Seems my book got lost again immediately after the promo, despite reaching the top 100 and staying there all of the 2nd free day. I expected the algorithm to place me higher with so many downloads. My other books, which are not indie published, moved pretty well the 2 days of the promo, but alas - the slide is on for them, too. None of the big sites picked up my free promo, so maybe that has something to do with the disappointing number of post promo sales.


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

The post freebie slide seems to be inevitable.  I think the freebie promotion needs to be followed up with some serious self-promotion, even advertising.  I have yet to come up with any specific ideas here.  Anybody else?


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## stepartdesigns (Mar 19, 2011)

kayakruthie said:


> The post freebie slide seems to be inevitable. I think the freebie promotion needs to be followed up with some serious self-promotion, even advertising. I have yet to come up with any specific ideas here. Anybody else?


I've done a free listing that got picked up by ENT for 2 days with over 4000 downloads. I paid for a promo on Kindle Fire Department for the day it went back to paid and did considerably well with sales. That is a strategy that could work depending on the site you choose. Gadget at Kindle Fire Department has some good deals to work with authors--email her at medianlinetech @ gmail.com.

Kindle Fire Department -- http://fireapps.blogspot.com/p/for-app-developers.html


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## Sequart (Jun 10, 2012)

kayakruthie said:


> I want to add a section on the "Kindle Primer" about techniques for making the Kindle Select free promo option produce mega sales. If anyone wants to share their techniques, please add your methods. (For the Kindle Primer, go to: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,42600.msg1581159.html#msg1581159.)
> 
> "There has been much discussion about how many and which days to choose. I am tending to believe 1 or 2 day promotions are best, Wed, Thurs, or Sunday. You might try skipping a day between two free days".
> 
> ...


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

I would follow up a free run with a paid ad, but the effective ones are hard to schedule or want books to be $2.99 or less. My book costs too much for their demographic at $4.99.

My plan this time is, knowing there is a 30-day cliff after your free days where you fall off the pop lists, is to at least start a blog tour for the book, plus the release of the paperback, so I'll be in front of new people daily for a while after the drop off.


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## kayakruthie (Jan 28, 2010)

A blog tour is a great idea, but requires a lot of advance planning, probably two or three months out.  Paid advertising also requires lead time.  So as I see it, the best use of the Kindle Select program is to make it part of a very well-planned promotion/adv campaign.


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