So I made my foray into this new program for authors (and READERS) whereby we can give away copies of our eBook(s) for free. Yes FREE! Amazing concept created by the folks at Amazon. The superpowers that be at Amazon decided to offer authors the ability to do a few days of FREE in exchange for exclusivity (can’t sell on other sites in eBook form). The whole “exclusivity” thang has kicked up a little dust storm of controversy amongst us writing folks. Suffice to say, I’m such a “babe in the woods” when it comes to all this publishing stuff, I had no idea whether KDP Select (name of the program) was for me or not.
However – one thing that I am a BIG BIG admirer of is NEW IDEAS. I have respect and admiration for people and companies that throw ideas up against the wall “to see what sticks”. So, even though Amazon is the behemoth of the publishing world, (meaning that I admire them just a little less than if they were NOT the behemoth) I did have to give them a little street cred for offering up this concept.
My results were typical of several other folks that I’m in touch with that gave this “freebie” thing a whirl. (Well, my results were not typical when compared to “Konrath-ian” but that’s another story.) I had 2300 folks grab my book for free during the one day it was available. This boosted me up the rankings and there has been a positive “lingering” effect of generating sales after the free period.
So what’s the bottom line? W-H-K’s ! (who the hell knows) As is the case with any new idea like KDP select, there is NO WAY anyone can make a judgement regarding the value (or lack of) in this program. My only suggestion to anyone that my be thinking about giving away their books is to give it a try. You truly have nothing to lose and your eBook WILL be out there for readers to try.
Mucho Merci – Andy
Andy Holloman - Dad, Writer, Goofball 
That’s pretty cool Andy! If I hadn’t already bought your book I would have jumped on that offer as well. 😀 Congratulations on the upswing in sales since.
I’m new to it as well, gave away about 1000 downloads and climbed up to #5 on free books. Have had a few hundred paying downloads since then and have gotten a dozen 5 star reviews on Amazon. If nothing else it is out in the world and hard copies have seen a spike as well.
Congratulations on the success and high sales. Amazon big idea.
I too was conflicted. Taking even the first book of my YA series meant I might as well take them all off other sights. But after a test with a novelette which had over 2000 downloads in two day and like you said a lingering affect of an increase in sales afterwards I am going to try it. After 90 days I can change back if I wish. A friend of mine had 15000 downloads in three days and 600 sales the day it went off the free promotion. Kicked me into gear. Just got to do it!
hey elizabeth, very cool info, thanks for sharing, sent u an email also..
I have my book, “The Monkey Toy” in the KDP Select program. I decided to list it for free for two days and had over 1100 downloads and of course it went way up in the Amazon rankings. After the two days, I set my price at $2.99 and have had pretty consistant sales for 3 weeks. Sales are starting to slow a bit now. A couple of reviews came out of it and hopefully I’ll get more as folks get around to reading it. My main goal was to just get the book out there since I’m a new author. It worked out pretty well for me. Thanks for this interesting post!