Promoting your book through KDP Select is a good choice. Find out more about KDP Select Promotions as well as the tricks on how to get many sales in just one click.
Today's question has three answers. The third one is a secret. That is the key to actually making money through KDP Select.
So let's get right on into it. The question that was sent to me today was, does KDP Select promote your book? That's a question that a lot of people would like to know.
Because we'd be thinking that since you put it into the KDP Select program, you can expect to see that your book is going to be pushed by Amazon. So that it will drive sales.
But the answer to this is not completely clear. It's a little bit blurrier and not as simple as you might imagine.
Usually, the reason a person is asking this question in the first place is that you are not seeing sales coming through KDP. Like you would like to see them.
So before I get started, check out below my Self-Publishing Secrets Checklist to find information that will help you with your self-publishing journey.
So let's get right on into it. When I first started publishing, I didn't even know what KDP Select was as well as the KDP Select promotions.
But I realized quickly that if you wish to be able to do free KDP Select promotions or $1 promotions if you want to run ads, all of these things are connected into the KDP Select program.
Check out this related article: Can I Get My Royalties Faster On KDP?
But initially, when I put my books onto the market, I noticed that I was getting some sales but not very many sales. I wondered why are they not helping me sell more books?
And that was when I started coming into the entire KDP Select world. Seeing what is the advantage as opposed to some people who would argue and say maybe you should even go wide with regards to your books if you wish to sell more books.
So let's get into the answers. The first thing is, it depends upon what you mean by 'promote'. They do show your books to other similar books.
In other words, on the products page, you will have other similar products that will show up on that page. In that sense, yes they are. But then again they sort of do that for all of the books on there.
You can run free KDP Select promotions against your book and you like I mentioned previously. You can also set them to countdown timers and things like that. So you have some advantages that you would have within the KDP Select program.
Schemes In Getting Sales
So that gives you some advantages there. Another one is when people are doing searches then your books will show up. But that also doesn't necessarily connect to the KDP Select program.
However, some people would suspect it. In other words, Amazon does not give out all of the information either to what exactly they are or are not doing.
One of the tricks you're going to want to keep in mind is that some people suggest that they give preferential treatment to the KDP Select. People can also then enroll in Kindle Unlimited.
Check out this related article: Best Free Ways To Promote My KDP Book Online?
Which gives them your readers the ability to read pages of your book. For the most part for most authors do not pay, how it costs money. But at least it gives additional readers the ability to read the book if we're not going to get a sale.
Anyways, we might as well get some money through the Kindle Unlimited. Where they're just reading pages and you're getting compensated for that.
In the old days, you actually would be paid for individual sales. For each of those reads, you would get compensation. And that made it a lot more profitable in that sense.
But then, that gives you just a basic idea upon how the KDP Select works. The other one, I just wanted to make a side note on the search side of things. Search is one of the top ways that people will find your book.
Assuming your book is in the area of non-fiction. And so you can use a tool called Kindle Spy. This is, an incredibly powerful tool to find out which keywords are the most profitable keywords to use on Amazon.
Check out the link if you want to find out more information on this amazing tool that I use. And the virtual assistants that I use, also use it. So it's a standard tool that you're going to want to use to figure out the keywords for your books.
You're going to want to make sure that the book titles, descriptions, and also keywords that you're choosing are all ones that are going to show up in the searches. So this one here can be very profitable.
For the third item which is the secret item of the day, it is the fact that if you're on KDP Select then you are allowed to run Amazon ads. And that is where the serious profit comes in. Many ebooks won't sell at all unless you're running ads against it.
Essence Of KDP Select
When I started running ads, that was when I started seeing the sales massively improve. And with careful tracking, you were able to see exactly how they're coming through.
On the ad side, then you use a tool called Publisher Rocket. That's the tool that's used to find what are the keywords you're going to use in the profitable ads. And then, we test them out and were able to see from there.
But in terms of everything associated with KDP Select, I didn't move off of Amazon for a bit. And tested out Smashwords to see if maybe I could push my books wide to increase sales. Since it was clear that Amazon didn't particularly seem to be promoting.
But when I realized, and wait for a second, that means I'm no longer allowed to run ads against my books. And since the ads are the main driver of sales, that is a serious problem.
Check out this related article: What Are The Mistakes To Avoid When Marketing A Self-Published Book?
So if there's any reason you're going to want to use KDP Select, it's going to be specifically for the ads. And that combination of optimizing your books' titles and descriptions using Kindle Spy and doing the ads with Publisher Rocket to find out what pricky words on the ads.
Then just testing things out to find a solution that's going to work for you. This is what many publishers have found. The people who make the most sales in Amazon, they understand exactly these tools and this particular way of doing it.
And that's the reason they will stay on KDP Select. It is that they're able to use these particular solutions to maximize the number of sales that they're getting.
What exactly have you found? Have you found that being part of KDP Select is profitable for you? And maybe in ways in which I have not even addressed.
Go ahead and let me know below. Then check out my other blogs and videos and you'll see more answers to your self-publishing questions.