My favorite part of this video was how you stressed that each author really needs to find out what works best for their work. I think too many people focus on what works for others and when they don't have the same results they get seriously bummed out. I agree with fiddling with it until you find your groove, no matter the path they choose. Thank you for another informative and fun video. Have a great day/night and remember to smile!
Heather Harris thank you and yesssss that’s the thing. What works for me, may not work for everyone! No one can follow the same path and get the same results, there’s just too many outliers. Appreciate your comment! ❤️❤️
Great vid! I started in KU with my first novel. It just wasn’t for me because I do not rapid release. I just went in and removed myself from auto-inclusion in KU. When my stent is up (August) I will release wide. I sold MANY more ebooks and paperbacks than I ever got in page reads. Thanks for this! I was really struggling with what to do. I appreciate you! 💕
CJ & Courtney-How long do you have to wait in order to release yourself from auto-inclusion? 90 days? Also I'm a newbie. So do you have a recommendation for how long I should wait or how many followers I should have before I go wide? (I included a link in my book to build a following).
I think you took some unfair shortcuts. As a reader I Love THE 99 cent books and here's why. Readers generally follow authors they like and ignore a lot of new books. 99 cents plus tax isn't a big investment. However many times i have found real diamonds of new authors then gone back and bought the entire series. Yes you are missing money on first book of the series but those 99 cent offerings get your work seen by numerous people that wouldn't have bought that book in the first place
This is one of the best vids I have ever seen on YT. She addresses all the issues, concerns, and questions I have about KU. I sold one book and got a royalty of $2.76, and I sold 600 pages of the same book, earned $2.70. The book is an 80-page fiction book released a few days ago. I was astounded, not having paid much attention to the issue. I'm retired and don't need the money. Still, not interested in giving my IP away for free. Good job, very helpful and happy you pull no punches.
I just never make much in kdp as I do when not exclusive. Most Europeans still don't buy books thru Amazon. Barnes and Noble is still a significant number of sales for me as is Google play and draft2digital, personally. Some years, I've sold more thru B&N too.
Thank you so much for this. All of the cons you mentioned are the reasons why I don’t want to be in KU!!! I’ve got a nice sized backlist but most of those books are through my publisher and I don’t really get a say that they’re in KU. I released the first book in a new series this year that I self published so I had it up for pre-order wide and then threw it into KU on release day. My plan is to do the same thing for each book until the series is done then pull from KU make book one free or .99 to hopefully entice readers to pick it up and then buy the others. My long term goal is to have my trad published books rights reverted back to me, re-cover and edit them and put them wide. Sorry I’m totally babbling, but as always love your videos and when i get the notification that you uploaded one I usually am watching it immediately.
Author Evan Grace Haha you’re not blabbing! That’s a great plan. The only thing I’ve found that sucks is the expiration dates tend to all happen at different times. Just know you can call amazon to pull them all from Select at once. I think finishing the series, putting them wide with a sale is great. I have found doing a freebie for the first book to work better over .99 cents sale, doubled with ads (bookbub, etc.) KU just really makes me shake my head sometimes, but if you’re strategic about it, you can totally use it to your advantage in the short term.
I hadn't thought about having them individually in KDP while you worked to finish the rest of the series. I'm nowhere near ready to release ANYthing, but I'll definitely consider that as an option. :)
I know a lot of authors who’ll only do temp KU. They’ll do a short term KU run for a series to boost the sales of blacklists. Then pull them off. Some will soft launch a spin-off series to KU only and then after a short term open up. I’ve tried both, KU just wasn’t for me.
The Courtney Project oh I forgot to tell you - got my stand and keyboard- I LOVE IT!! I got so many words yesterday!!! Thanks for the recommendation!! 😊
And that's where I struggle right now. I'm in KU currently. I started out in KU. Then went wide for 6 months. After evaluating everything I went back into KU in January. I had a couple of stellar months then nothing, even with a full series out now. Since I have eight books in that series done, I think I want to go wide again. I have a new series coming out in November, and I will be starting that one out wide. It's just hard to make the decision. But a lot of cons are the reasons I'm considering it. And I don't like relying on one place to pay me. Thank you for always making awesome videos and sharing your personal experiences.
Katrina Marie I’d almost put your big series wide right before your next release and do promo on the first book on your old series (bookbub freebie!) get your read through going on that then boom release. 🙌🙌
@@TheCourtneyProject Ooo good point. Most of the books end their KU period in September. So I'll pull them all at the same time and go from there. Zon has just been really frustrating lately.
Yes they have! Page reads have been so messed up since the beginning of the year and Amazon is aware of the issues. I met a rep in May and it was the reason we pulled our books. Essentially they shrugged and was like oh well, every company has issues. UM NO, SORRY. Not good enough for me.
@@Our22qJourney I went wide for a bit. But didn't do well. Since, I'm the only provider in my family I went back to KU. So far I'm doing well in there, but I may test wide again with a new series.
I watched the pros and the cons videos. Young I am not, stress I don't want and to use your very powerful phrase, "you killed it" !! Your eye contact and not reading your pros and cons was killing it for me. It is easy to talk about things you are passionate about and If anyone can't pick that up in this video, their picker is dang sure broke. My genre is short stories that are nonfiction, you know the kind about my life in many endeavours and the been there, done that and got the tee shirt to prove it. Girl, you can believe this, IF I decided to go the Amazon route. Those folks don't want to deal with me on any BS they can't or won't make right for me. As the old saying is here, hell I kicked the ass of folks, the dipshits that answers the phone, like you just getting to the fight. But doubt I want the stress or headache. I sure did enjoy you video though. Keep up the fire young lady!! Kirk-n-TX.
I am still learning and finding my comfort zone to finally take the big move. You have honestly put out there everything I was reading and suspected of amazon.
Know your worth! Love it. I am really finding this fascinating. I never realized how much KU can put an author at a disadvantage. Kind of like selling used books on amazon - you don't really make a lot at all. amazon gets all the $$$.
I love your enthusiasm and your info so much! I’ve been battling this decision for myself as I prepare to launch my first book. I’m excited to check out more of your videos!
Love your cons on Kindle Unlimited. Not good to have all your books in one basket. Where did I hear that from...? Thanks for your video I got much value out of it.
Wish you had made this video before I released my book, because it’s in KU at the moment. Once the period is over I’m going to take it out. I’m sticking with just Amazon right now until I’m more experienced, then I will go wide.
I'm glad that I watched this because KU sucked. I did it in the beginning but it didn't work for me so I've gone wide. I used to do a year at KU and then wide but it got too glitchy so went wide from release. Thanks for this, glad I watched! 💜💜💜
Kindle unlimited still sounds like a great opportunity for someone writing their first dozen or so books. Usually the books won't be as good and most people would make zero dollars at this stage and this is a way for them to get reads with lower expectations and competition. I think once you have more skill and experience it would be a terrible platform to use. I make comics for a living and websites were noobs start out on work in the same way. It's great for someone starting out but terrible to make a living on.
It’s a good place to learn and make mistakes, but I don’t see it as long term. Then again, there are people who break out with book 4, and I think they have the potential to make more wide. It’s different for everyone and every genre though! Lots to think about!
I’ve said from the beginning that I wanted to go wide, but because I am planning to publish some romance series, I have started to wonder if KU would be worth it (since that genre seems to do well in KU). But I still don’t like the idea of putting all my eggs in one basket. Also, I’m a slow writer, so maybe it’s not for me since I don’t plan to do rapid release. That would be a lot of stress! Thanks for this video. You’ve given me a lot to think about!
In certain subgenres being on Amazon is the only game in town, and being in KU is the only way a new author achieves any sort of visibility. I'm thinking specifically of LitRPG, but I assume this is also the case in other subgenres. And yet if you fall afoul of the algorithm you can get in a great deal of trouble very quickly. The most terrifying thiing here being that if you get banned from KU you get banned from Amazon entirely.
I completely agree there are some subgenres that kill it in KU. I've never heard of people being banned from KU and being banned from Amazon unless they wipe your account due to a major TOS issue. I've had my books removed from the Kindle Select program for a year because they found them on a foreign site back in 2015 or 2016? And I didn't respond to the email because I didn't see it. I think KU is a great place for newer authors to start as they're learning what self-publishing is really about.
Please, Please please can you make good on your tease to do a whole video on why not to do 99cent releases?! Right now I am facing a hard dilemma for my new series. To get more promo sites they prefer 99cent releases and if I want to get slots for the promos you have to book the earlier the better. The problem is if I do that I have to put up a pre-order and all the readers that will buy anything I put out will snap it up at the lower price instead of $2.99 and if the promo bombs then I will have lost profit on my regular readers. Don' t know what to do! Love your videos!
I think different genres do better in KU. I was doing much better in KU when I rapid released, but I couldn't keep up with it. I have a new series coming out in Oct and I'm weighing the pros and cons of where to put them (ironic enough lol)
Kelly Martin Books oh I can totally agree with that, even different tropes. But I also think people get in the mindset that certain books won’t do well wide, which isn’t always true. We wrote books strictly for KU and even packaged them for a KU audience. We recovered them and they’ve made more being wide in 2 months then they did the last year in KU. I’ve found mostly, we (us authors) allow our own biases to hold us back when it come to risk. Rapid releasing in KU has given my gray hair! LOL!! If you want to try to eventually put a good majority of your books wide, I’d release wide and setup a long preorder a year out so you can begin to push those links and presale. ❤️
I agree with all these cons, but you didn't mention the biggest con, IMO. Amazon will not share any info on who bought your book. I discovered this the hard way in 2015. I published and enrolled in KDP Select/KU with 4 non fiction books in the self care/life coach niche. I put all of them into the top 5 in the niche and was making good money every month ... then Amazon folded to traditional publishing pressure and put more emphasis on them and less on self published indies. My sales plummeted and royalties barely covered a Venti frap. I decided to reach out to my customers directly and discovered (DUH DUH DUH) I had no contact info. Now, I still publish through KDP (and am starting other platforms) but also create my own book sales page to capture info. This way I could build relationships with my audience through email (I also don't give any percentage of sales to Amazon).
Oh absolutely, but we never had that information, nor do we have that capability on any of the other platforms. It would be nice if they treated us like “sellers” and allowed us the opportunity to reach out to our “customers” because the infrastructure for that on Amazon is already there. But I think they’re following the lead of Barnes, Kobo, and Apple and is only providing the information the other sites give. Another reason why building your newsletter is so important and using pixels to track things. 😊
@@TheCourtneyProject That's why I treat the other platforms as a method of "social proof" and for reviews but send all traffic to my book sale funnels. The list is the most important thing.
Gee I make half my income off of Kindle Unlimited. That's so lame they can't comment though:(( I honestly think Amazon promotes books that are part of KU - ...tough choice but I"m all in on Amazon goodness help me:)! thanks for all your insights they were very valuable!
KU sounds way stressful, haha. >_< So just curious: how do you track what books make these bestseller lists? Do you have to sign up with them individually?
You can search for your name on their website. They keep a record of who’s made those lists since the beginning. Also, usually if you make it, people will tag you to let you know!
I'm a KU reader. I love when authors I follow on the program release new books but I hate not having verified review status after being done. As a writer (wanna be publish author) I don't think KU would be good for me. I take way too much time writing books LOL
Ahh yes, the verified review thing is just silly. It’s a great program for some people, but totally not for me. It doesn’t hurt to try it and see in the beginning, but sometimes that 90 day enrollment period feels like eternity.
If you you write under several pen names can you place some books in Kindle unliminted and other books the traditional way? Or is this against their rules? And what do you suggest launching a new book price at.I also think 99 cents is crazy.
You can place some books in KU and some on all platforms under the same pen name as long as the books in KU aren’t anywhere else. Same with other pen names too. Depends on your genre as far as launch price. I think $2.99-$3.99 is a good start or even $4.99.
It's interesting how people cast shade on Amazon without providing the proof.......exactly the same thing they accuse Amazon of doing. Example from this video. AT 1:46 She says, "..I have had them deny issues when it's very obvious there is an issue." But she doesn't say why it was obvious to her. She doesn't say what tha tissue was. She doesn't provide any proof, or even evidence of this "Issue" she claims was so obvious. Why not? Is that transparant? Another example: At 2:11 she sayd "Amazon will randomly go in and change the KENPC." Does anyone think they "randomly" do anything? Do you think a team at Amazon is in some back room thinking up ways to screw KU authors? Or are they "randomly" chaneing the KENPC not knowing if their "Random" change will screw Amazon. It's laughable, but if you already think the big bad Amazon is out to get you, you'll buy it without any evidence. THe business decision to use KU or not is a simple one. Where can you get the most exposure, and/or make the most money and which is most important to you as an author at this stage in your career. And you don't need to make unverifiable claims against Amazon to justify that decision. Take the emotion out and logically examine the choice.
Hey thanks for the details...in your opinion, how many page reads would justify remaining in KU? I have some books that do 20k page reads per month and some that do 10k, 5k, 1k, etc. The problem is that I don't know what I am missing out on...or if there would be a demand for my books on other platforms...my books are nonfiction books.
These are all reasons why I do not like KU. For me, all of the pros all together don't make even one of the cons worth it in my opinion. Another thing about KU, if one of amazon's bots find your book on another site, even pirate sites, they could close your account.
Yep. I've been removed and unable to enroll to the Kindle Select program for a year before because one my books were on a foreign site that I wasn't aware of. It's good to know what works for you and what doesn't. And yes, though there are some great pros, for our books, there's just too many cons.
Quick question: did you start out in KU with Lyra Parish and Kennedy Fox? You mention that you went wide, so I'm assuming you started KU and branched out from there? That seems like it could be a feasible path for some. :)
Oak Antony hey! No, I started LP wide and also KF started wide. In 2016 I put all of my LP books in KU when I started to focus on KF. After 14 months wide, we decided to put KF in KU and we stayed there for 14 months. It was hard to pull them but seriously no regrets. Our rank has fallen on all of our books on amazon but our income has tripled. :)
I'm more confused than ever about KU. IMO, it's still a good idea if you're just starting out to get people to take a chance on your writing, but if you're getting 100k from KU then you'd still be making tons of money without it. I keep thinking what if it is was netflix paying per minutes watched and at the same time made those films and shows be exclusive and all the while refusing to share their actual data with the film companies of how many minutes were watched. That would never fly. This seems like a racket on Amazon's part taking advantage of writers getting them to basically work for peanuts. The thing is, if there are tons of page reads one month they aren't the ones who are losing profits, I'm sure they take a percentage off the top and then divide the rest, so the writers are the ones who are the losers and I just don't like the idea of a massive corporation profiting so flagrantly off of people with literally no accountability. I haven't published anything. Fingers crossed it will happen this year. I still think I will put it on KU and see what happens, but there's a lot of downsides to it for the writer and none for Amazon.
harveythepooka I think you nailed it right on the head. I think at first, it’s great, allows you to learn the ropes of publishing and really understand what it takes. But after awhile, I don’t think it’s worth it financially or mentally. ❤️
So I wonder why “big” authors are using KU? I would understand adding their book after a big release dies down but Colleen Hoover just released Regretting You and it’s free in KU. I would think that would hurt her launch. Maybe not though, I preordered her paperback but plan to read it on KU. 💁🏻♀️
Colleen is huge and has no issue selling her books either way. It’s hard for smaller authors to compare to that because her reach is so large because she’s been around so long and she’s hybrid. LOL, I usually buy her paperbacks and ebooks too.
I’d set your preorder up for whenever it releases. Also, it depends on your audience as to what you should price your books. Some people’s readers have no problem buying a novella for $2.99 and others do. Kinda just depends on you, your genre, your book, and what your audience expects.
I’m definitely not exclusively publishing through KDP. I’ve been researching. They are not the best for self publishing. You diversify your business. Tap into the global market.
Cathy Lanski oh I agree! I find when people pay $2.99 they’re invested. 🤷♀️ As a reader, I have soooooo many .99 books I’ve never read. But if I pay more than that, I’m more than likely to read it. ❤️
But some is still valid for consumers. When authors books are removed. I've lost books because of that. I also an old account because I can't get into an old yahoo acount. Had to change my card because Tmobile took over Sprint. Lost a whole lot of books. The only reason I bought or re bought a book is because it's only on Amazon
![BRASIL vs. URUGUAY [1-1] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 12](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-hWBAuxF1eY/mqdefault.jpg)
My favorite part of this video was how you stressed that each author really needs to find out what works best for their work. I think too many people focus on what works for others and when they don't have the same results they get seriously bummed out. I agree with fiddling with it until you find your groove, no matter the path they choose. Thank you for another informative and fun video. Have a great day/night and remember to smile!
Heather Harris thank you and yesssss that’s the thing. What works for me, may not work for everyone! No one can follow the same path and get the same results, there’s just too many outliers. Appreciate your comment! ❤️❤️
Great vid! I started in KU with my first novel. It just wasn’t for me because I do not rapid release. I just went in and removed myself from auto-inclusion in KU. When my stent is up (August) I will release wide. I sold MANY more ebooks and paperbacks than I ever got in page reads. Thanks for this! I was really struggling with what to do. I appreciate you! 💕
C.J. Raymer, Author thanks for watching! ❤️ Good luck! In the long run, I truly believe being wide will be worth it.
CJ & Courtney-How long do you have to wait in order to release yourself from auto-inclusion? 90 days? Also I'm a newbie. So do you have a recommendation for how long I should wait or how many followers I should have before I go wide? (I included a link in my book to build a following).
Thanks so much for tuning into Part 2 of KDP SELECT/KINDLE UNLIMITED Pros/Cons. If you have any questions, please let me know!!
I think you took some unfair shortcuts.
As a reader I Love THE 99 cent books and here's why. Readers generally follow authors they like and ignore a lot of new books.
99 cents plus tax isn't a big investment.
However many times i have found real diamonds of new authors then gone back and bought the entire series. Yes you are missing money on first book of the series but those 99 cent offerings get your work seen by numerous people that wouldn't have bought that book in the first place
Okay, you make a lot of sense. I’ll basically have to binge every video you’ve created now so there are my plans for the week.
This is one of the best vids I have ever seen on YT. She addresses all the issues, concerns, and questions I have about KU. I sold one book and got a royalty of $2.76, and I sold 600 pages of the same book, earned $2.70. The book is an 80-page fiction book released a few days ago. I was astounded, not having paid much attention to the issue. I'm retired and don't need the money. Still, not interested in giving my IP away for free. Good job, very helpful and happy you pull no punches.
Thank you. I appreciate the positive feedback. Glad you found it helpful. 🙂
Love these Kindle Unlimited videos! I’ve always been so confused by how it works and whether its worth it. These videos are gold!
Mandi Lynn thanks so much!! I could probably talk about KU and why it sucks for an hour longer. 😂
I just never make much in kdp as I do when not exclusive. Most Europeans still don't buy books thru Amazon. Barnes and Noble is still a significant number of sales for me as is Google play and draft2digital, personally. Some years, I've sold more thru B&N too.
Thank you so much for this. All of the cons you mentioned are the reasons why I don’t want to be in KU!!! I’ve got a nice sized backlist but most of those books are through my publisher and I don’t really get a say that they’re in KU. I released the first book in a new series this year that I self published so I had it up for pre-order wide and then threw it into KU on release day. My plan is to do the same thing for each book until the series is done then pull from KU make book one free or .99 to hopefully entice readers to pick it up and then buy the others. My long term goal is to have my trad published books rights reverted back to me, re-cover and edit them and put them wide. Sorry I’m totally babbling, but as always love your videos and when i get the notification that you uploaded one I usually am watching it immediately.
Author Evan Grace Haha you’re not blabbing! That’s a great plan. The only thing I’ve found that sucks is the expiration dates tend to all happen at different times. Just know you can call amazon to pull them all from Select at once. I think finishing the series, putting them wide with a sale is great. I have found doing a freebie for the first book to work better over .99 cents sale, doubled with ads (bookbub, etc.) KU just really makes me shake my head sometimes, but if you’re strategic about it, you can totally use it to your advantage in the short term.
I hadn't thought about having them individually in KDP while you worked to finish the rest of the series. I'm nowhere near ready to release ANYthing, but I'll definitely consider that as an option. :)
werelemur1138 There’s so many different ways you can use KDP to your advantage. ❤️
I know a lot of authors who’ll only do temp KU. They’ll do a short term KU run for a series to boost the sales of blacklists. Then pull them off. Some will soft launch a spin-off series to KU only and then after a short term open up. I’ve tried both, KU just wasn’t for me.
OMGee learned so much- Thanks so much- yes do a video on.99 price!!! So much good information!
Mickey Miles it’s totally on my growing list! ❤️❤️
The Courtney Project oh I forgot to tell you - got my stand and keyboard- I LOVE IT!! I got so many words yesterday!!! Thanks for the recommendation!! 😊
OH YAY!!!That is amazing!! Get it girl!!
And that's where I struggle right now. I'm in KU currently. I started out in KU. Then went wide for 6 months. After evaluating everything I went back into KU in January. I had a couple of stellar months then nothing, even with a full series out now. Since I have eight books in that series done, I think I want to go wide again. I have a new series coming out in November, and I will be starting that one out wide. It's just hard to make the decision. But a lot of cons are the reasons I'm considering it. And I don't like relying on one place to pay me. Thank you for always making awesome videos and sharing your personal experiences.
Katrina Marie I’d almost put your big series wide right before your next release and do promo on the first book on your old series (bookbub freebie!) get your read through going on that then boom release. 🙌🙌
@@TheCourtneyProject Ooo good point. Most of the books end their KU period in September. So I'll pull them all at the same time and go from there. Zon has just been really frustrating lately.
Yes they have! Page reads have been so messed up since the beginning of the year and Amazon is aware of the issues. I met a rep in May and it was the reason we pulled our books. Essentially they shrugged and was like oh well, every company has issues. UM NO, SORRY. Not good enough for me.
Katrina, did you stay in KU? Did you go wide? Can you update pls?
@@Our22qJourney I went wide for a bit. But didn't do well. Since, I'm the only provider in my family I went back to KU. So far I'm doing well in there, but I may test wide again with a new series.
Wow!!! The thing's I didn't know about KU. Thank you so much for this video Lyra. I appreciate the eye opener.
You’re so welcome! ❤️❤️
I watched the pros and the cons videos. Young I am not, stress I don't want and to use your very powerful phrase, "you killed it" !! Your eye contact and not reading your pros and cons was killing it for me. It is easy to talk about things you are passionate about and If anyone can't pick that up in this video, their picker is dang sure broke. My genre is short stories that are nonfiction, you know the kind about my life in many endeavours and the been there, done that and got the tee shirt to prove it. Girl, you can believe this, IF I decided to go the Amazon route. Those folks don't want to deal with me on any BS they can't or won't make right for me. As the old saying is here, hell I kicked the ass of folks, the dipshits that answers the phone, like you just getting to the fight. But doubt I want the stress or headache.
I sure did enjoy you video though. Keep up the fire young lady!!
Kirk-n-TX.
Thank you!!!!!! Good luck with your future endeavors!!
I am still learning and finding my comfort zone to finally take the big move. You have honestly put out there everything I was reading and suspected of amazon.
Good luck! I know how scary it can be to make change when it comes to publishing.
Some of the many reasons I plan to be a wide author. Thanks for another great video!
Dawn-Cora Mead starting off wide and being consistent with your releases sets you up for long term success IMO! :)
Know your worth! Love it. I am really finding this fascinating. I never realized how much KU can put an author at a disadvantage. Kind of like selling used books on amazon - you don't really make a lot at all. amazon gets all the $$$.
Amelia Sims absolutely! The potential is there but it passes by super quick.
I love your enthusiasm and your info so much! I’ve been battling this decision for myself as I prepare to launch my first book. I’m excited to check out more of your videos!
Oh yay! So glad it’s been helpful and good luck with your first book release. Such an exciting time!
Great video. Balanced, well-informed, to the point. Truly helpful!!
So happy to hear that! ❤️
Love your cons on Kindle Unlimited. Not good to have all your books in one basket. Where did I hear that from...? Thanks for your video I got much value out of it.
Notification squad....an hour later because it was lunchtime and I needed food. LOL!
Love this! Thanks for an awesome video!
Jessica Baldwin what matters is you’re here! ❤️❤️
Wish you had made this video before I released my book, because it’s in KU at the moment. Once the period is over I’m going to take it out. I’m sticking with just Amazon right now until I’m more experienced, then I will go wide.
Natalie Roberts Writer it’s a great plan to start there, learn how self-publishing works, then go wide. ❤️
Thanks for the info. That is an awesome bookcase you've got there.
M. Reese thanks so much! Thanks for being here!
I'm glad that I watched this because KU sucked. I did it in the beginning but it didn't work for me so I've gone wide. I used to do a year at KU and then wide but it got too glitchy so went wide from release. Thanks for this, glad I watched! 💜💜💜
Oh yessss! It’s for some people, but totally not for others. Gives me hives thinking about it! Omg.
I completely agree with everything in this video. I'm not a fan of KU either...I'm only putting my short stories in there for the exposures.
That's a great plan!
Kindle unlimited still sounds like a great opportunity for someone writing their first dozen or so books. Usually the books won't be as good and most people would make zero dollars at this stage and this is a way for them to get reads with lower expectations and competition. I think once you have more skill and experience it would be a terrible platform to use. I make comics for a living and websites were noobs start out on work in the same way. It's great for someone starting out but terrible to make a living on.
It’s a good place to learn and make mistakes, but I don’t see it as long term. Then again, there are people who break out with book 4, and I think they have the potential to make more wide. It’s different for everyone and every genre though! Lots to think about!
I’ve said from the beginning that I wanted to go wide, but because I am planning to publish some romance series, I have started to wonder if KU would be worth it (since that genre seems to do well in KU). But I still don’t like the idea of putting all my eggs in one basket. Also, I’m a slow writer, so maybe it’s not for me since I don’t plan to do rapid release. That would be a lot of stress!
Thanks for this video. You’ve given me a lot to think about!
I think KU is a lot of trend chasing and consistent releases until you build your audience. Lots of decisions!
In certain subgenres being on Amazon is the only game in town, and being in KU is the only way a new author achieves any sort of visibility. I'm thinking specifically of LitRPG, but I assume this is also the case in other subgenres. And yet if you fall afoul of the algorithm you can get in a great deal of trouble very quickly. The most terrifying thiing here being that if you get banned from KU you get banned from Amazon entirely.
I completely agree there are some subgenres that kill it in KU. I've never heard of people being banned from KU and being banned from Amazon unless they wipe your account due to a major TOS issue. I've had my books removed from the Kindle Select program for a year because they found them on a foreign site back in 2015 or 2016? And I didn't respond to the email because I didn't see it. I think KU is a great place for newer authors to start as they're learning what self-publishing is really about.
poop on a stick... THAT'S MY FAVORITE BOOK
Haha number 1 bestseller!
Interesting. I heard people tend to price their KU books higher to make it seem like a better deal for the people who are downloading it.
Some do! They’ll price them higher to encourage people borrowing it in KU which makes sense!
Please, Please please can you make good on your tease to do a whole video on why not to do 99cent releases?! Right now I am facing a hard dilemma for my new series. To get more promo sites they prefer 99cent releases and if I want to get slots for the promos you have to book the earlier the better. The problem is if I do that I have to put up a pre-order and all the readers that will buy anything I put out will snap it up at the lower price instead of $2.99 and if the promo bombs then I will have lost profit on my regular readers. Don' t know what to do! Love your videos!
I think different genres do better in KU. I was doing much better in KU when I rapid released, but I couldn't keep up with it. I have a new series coming out in Oct and I'm weighing the pros and cons of where to put them (ironic enough lol)
Kelly Martin Books oh I can totally agree with that, even different tropes. But I also think people get in the mindset that certain books won’t do well wide, which isn’t always true. We wrote books strictly for KU and even packaged them for a KU audience. We recovered them and they’ve made more being wide in 2 months then they did the last year in KU. I’ve found mostly, we (us authors) allow our own biases to hold us back when it come to risk. Rapid releasing in KU has given my gray hair! LOL!! If you want to try to eventually put a good majority of your books wide, I’d release wide and setup a long preorder a year out so you can begin to push those links and presale. ❤️
Do you have a post on the subject of How To set up Preorder on Amazon
Not yet! But I plan on doing videos on how to setup preorder on all of the platforms including amazon. 😊
I agree with all these cons, but you didn't mention the biggest con, IMO. Amazon will not share any info on who bought your book. I discovered this the hard way in 2015. I published and enrolled in KDP Select/KU with 4 non fiction books in the self care/life coach niche. I put all of them into the top 5 in the niche and was making good money every month ... then Amazon folded to traditional publishing pressure and put more emphasis on them and less on self published indies. My sales plummeted and royalties barely covered a Venti frap. I decided to reach out to my customers directly and discovered (DUH DUH DUH) I had no contact info. Now, I still publish through KDP (and am starting other platforms) but also create my own book sales page to capture info. This way I could build relationships with my audience through email (I also don't give any percentage of sales to Amazon).
Oh absolutely, but we never had that information, nor do we have that capability on any of the other platforms. It would be nice if they treated us like “sellers” and allowed us the opportunity to reach out to our “customers” because the infrastructure for that on Amazon is already there. But I think they’re following the lead of Barnes, Kobo, and Apple and is only providing the information the other sites give. Another reason why building your newsletter is so important and using pixels to track things. 😊
@@TheCourtneyProject That's why I treat the other platforms as a method of "social proof" and for reviews but send all traffic to my book sale funnels. The list is the most important thing.
As scary as it sounds, it is heaven compared with being an author in a traditional publishing house!
Damn. That’s all I gotta say.
I'm a historical romance author. Do you think I should use a kindle unlimited?
Gee I make half my income off of Kindle Unlimited. That's so lame they can't comment though:(( I honestly think Amazon promotes books that are part of KU - ...tough choice but I"m all in on Amazon goodness help me:)! thanks for all your insights they were very valuable!
Amazon totally promotes KU books. They love helping promo authors who give them exclusivity! Thank you for watching!!
KU sounds way stressful, haha. >_< So just curious: how do you track what books make these bestseller lists? Do you have to sign up with them individually?
You can search for your name on their website. They keep a record of who’s made those lists since the beginning. Also, usually if you make it, people will tag you to let you know!
@@TheCourtneyProject Cool! Thanks for the tip. 👍🏾
I'm a KU reader. I love when authors I follow on the program release new books but I hate not having verified review status after being done.
As a writer (wanna be publish author) I don't think KU would be good for me. I take way too much time writing books LOL
Ahh yes, the verified review thing is just silly. It’s a great program for some people, but totally not for me. It doesn’t hurt to try it and see in the beginning, but sometimes that 90 day enrollment period feels like eternity.
Did you ever make good money on KU before deciding to go wide?
If you you write under several pen names can you place some books in Kindle unliminted and other books the traditional way? Or is this against their rules? And what do you suggest launching a new book price at.I also think 99 cents is crazy.
You can place some books in KU and some on all platforms under the same pen name as long as the books in KU aren’t anywhere else. Same with other pen names too. Depends on your genre as far as launch price. I think $2.99-$3.99 is a good start or even $4.99.
It's interesting how people cast shade on Amazon without providing the proof.......exactly the same thing they accuse Amazon of doing. Example from this video.
AT 1:46 She says, "..I have had them deny issues when it's very obvious there is an issue." But she doesn't say why it was obvious to her. She doesn't say what tha tissue was. She doesn't provide any proof, or even evidence of this "Issue" she claims was so obvious. Why not? Is that transparant?
Another example: At 2:11 she sayd "Amazon will randomly go in and change the KENPC."
Does anyone think they "randomly" do anything? Do you think a team at Amazon is in some back room thinking up ways to screw KU authors? Or are they "randomly" chaneing the KENPC not knowing if their "Random" change will screw Amazon. It's laughable, but if you already think the big bad Amazon is out to get you, you'll buy it without any evidence.
THe business decision to use KU or not is a simple one. Where can you get the most exposure, and/or make the most money and which is most important to you as an author at this stage in your career. And you don't need to make unverifiable claims against Amazon to justify that decision. Take the emotion out and logically examine the choice.
Hey thanks for the details...in your opinion, how many page reads would justify remaining in KU? I have some books that do 20k page reads per month and some that do 10k, 5k, 1k, etc. The problem is that I don't know what I am missing out on...or if there would be a demand for my books on other platforms...my books are nonfiction books.
These are all reasons why I do not like KU. For me, all of the pros all together don't make even one of the cons worth it in my opinion.
Another thing about KU, if one of amazon's bots find your book on another site, even pirate sites, they could close your account.
Yep. I've been removed and unable to enroll to the Kindle Select program for a year before because one my books were on a foreign site that I wasn't aware of. It's good to know what works for you and what doesn't. And yes, though there are some great pros, for our books, there's just too many cons.
Quick question: did you start out in KU with Lyra Parish and Kennedy Fox? You mention that you went wide, so I'm assuming you started KU and branched out from there? That seems like it could be a feasible path for some. :)
Oak Antony hey! No, I started LP wide and also KF started wide. In 2016 I put all of my LP books in KU when I started to focus on KF. After 14 months wide, we decided to put KF in KU and we stayed there for 14 months. It was hard to pull them but seriously no regrets. Our rank has fallen on all of our books on amazon but our income has tripled. :)
@@TheCourtneyProject Thank you so much for the info!
Anytime! ❤️❤️
I'm more confused than ever about KU. IMO, it's still a good idea if you're just starting out to get people to take a chance on your writing, but if you're getting 100k from KU then you'd still be making tons of money without it.
I keep thinking what if it is was netflix paying per minutes watched and at the same time made those films and shows be exclusive and all the while refusing to share their actual data with the film companies of how many minutes were watched. That would never fly. This seems like a racket on Amazon's part taking advantage of writers getting them to basically work for peanuts. The thing is, if there are tons of page reads one month they aren't the ones who are losing profits, I'm sure they take a percentage off the top and then divide the rest, so the writers are the ones who are the losers and I just don't like the idea of a massive corporation profiting so flagrantly off of people with literally no accountability.
I haven't published anything. Fingers crossed it will happen this year. I still think I will put it on KU and see what happens, but there's a lot of downsides to it for the writer and none for Amazon.
harveythepooka I think you nailed it right on the head. I think at first, it’s great, allows you to learn the ropes of publishing and really understand what it takes. But after awhile, I don’t think it’s worth it financially or mentally. ❤️
So I wonder why “big” authors are using KU? I would understand adding their book after a big release dies down but Colleen Hoover just released Regretting You and it’s free in KU. I would think that would hurt her launch. Maybe not though, I preordered her paperback but plan to read it on KU. 💁🏻♀️
Colleen is huge and has no issue selling her books either way. It’s hard for smaller authors to compare to that because her reach is so large because she’s been around so long and she’s hybrid. LOL, I usually buy her paperbacks and ebooks too.
Quite informative l agree with you, For pre order is 6months ok to set it up for my new book and the price 2.99 to 4.99 for 20.000 words ok?.
I’d set your preorder up for whenever it releases. Also, it depends on your audience as to what you should price your books. Some people’s readers have no problem buying a novella for $2.99 and others do. Kinda just depends on you, your genre, your book, and what your audience expects.
Sounds like FAR MORE 'Negatives,' than 'Positives.' I guess that's what it gets measured by.
I like how you don't see new authors as competence, but fellows
Luz Rosas we’re all in this together and we all start somewhere! ❤️
I’m definitely not exclusively publishing through KDP. I’ve been researching. They are not the best for self publishing. You diversify your business. Tap into the global market.
It works for some people, but it’s totally not for everyone! Global market is where it’s at!
From a reader perspective. just mentally, $1.99. $2.99 sounds like a bargain to me, $.99 seems like it's going to be garbage.
Cathy Lanski oh I agree! I find when people pay $2.99 they’re invested. 🤷♀️ As a reader, I have soooooo many .99 books I’ve never read. But if I pay more than that, I’m more than likely to read it. ❤️
@@TheCourtneyProject Free books too. There are some I do. With all that choice with free or extremely cheap books you end up reading nothing.
👏👏👏👏👏
Maybe not angry. Maybe it's grooming itself.
So this video is for writers and not consumers .
My whole channel is for writers. Sorry!
But some is still valid for consumers. When authors books are removed. I've lost books because of that. I also an old account because I can't get into an old yahoo acount. Had to change my card because Tmobile took over Sprint. Lost a whole lot of books. The only reason I bought or re bought a book is because it's only on Amazon