I’m still in the midst of rewriting one of my ebooks for Amazon, but I noticed that sales for it – and a few other titles – dwindled severely – in the last few months. Luckily, for publishers like me who need to monetize their products as much as possible, Amazon has recently launched the KDP Select initiative. KDP Select has been sourced with at least $6 million in funding for 2012, and is being used to cross promote several Amazon products and services, including Amazon Prime and the Kindle line. Here’s an official email from the company explaining how the program works.
Hello from KDP!
We’re excited to introduce KDP Select – a new option dedicated to KDP authors and publishers worldwide, featuring a fund of $500,000 in December 2011 and at least $6 million in total for 2012! KDP Select gives you a new way to earn royalties, reach a broader audience, and use a new set of promotional tools.
Here’s how KDP Select works:
When you make any of your titles exclusive to the Kindle Store for at least 90 days, those with US rights will automatically be included in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and can earn a share of a monthly fund. The monthly fund for December 2011 is $500,000 and will total at least $6 million in 2012. If you haven’t checked it out already, the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is a collection of books that eligible US Amazon Prime members can borrow for free once a month with no due dates.
You’ll also now have access to a new set of promotional tools, starting with the option to promote your KDP Select-enrolled titles for FREE for up to 5 days every 90 days.
How your share of the monthly fund is calculated:
Your share of the monthly fund is based on your enrolled titles’ share of the total number of borrows across all participating KDP titles in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. For example, if total borrows of all participating KDP titles are 100,000 in December and your book was borrowed 1,500 times, you will earn $7,500 in additional royalties from KDP Select in December. Enrolled titles will remain available for sale to any customer in the Kindle Store and you will continue to earn your regular royalties on those sales.
What this means to you:
KDP Select gives you access to a whole new source of royalties and readers- you not only benefit from a new way of making money, but you also get the chance to reach even more readers by getting your book in front of a growing number of US Amazon Prime customers: readers and future fans of your books that you may have not had a chance to reach before! Additionally, the ability to offer your book for free will help expand your worldwide reader base
How to enroll:
KDP Select is available for titles participating in both the 70% and 35% royalty options. You can immediately start by enrolling a single title, your whole catalog, or anything in between.
If you’re interested in enrolling a title that’s already uploaded, simply click “Enroll” next to the book in your Bookshelf. To enroll multiple titles that are already uploaded, select the boxes next to any number of titles, then click “Actions” and choose “Enroll these books in KDP Select.” The titles you choose will be enrolled immediately.
If you’re interested in enrolling a new title, simply check the “Enroll this book in KDP Select” box while submitting details about your book and proceed to publish the book as you normally would. For new titles, enrollment takes effect once the book is available for sale on our website.
To learn more about KDP Select, visit: http://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/KDPSelect
To learn more about the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, visit:
http://www.amazon.com/kindleownerslendinglibraryThanks again for choosing KDP to publish your work.
Regards,
Kindle Direct Publishing
http://kdp.amazon.com
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Does KDP Select Work?
To be honest, it’s been about a month since I’ve signed up with KDP Select, and I’ve gotten an influx of “borrows” from customers who might have otherwise purchased – and then returned – my books. I’m not sure how much of the royalties I’ll receive at the end of this first quarter, but to be quite honest, something is better than nothing. Think about it: my book’s already published, so I am already going to earn money on sales. Some people, no matter how great I write, are going to return my books. Many know how to rip the books, read them quick, or return the products because it frees up the money for other purchases – that’s in addition to people who just don’t find my material in line with their tastes. (*Ye shrug to that.*)