3 Reasons Why KDP Select May Be An Author's New Best Friend

When you publish your eBook using Kindle’s Direct Publishing service, you can opt to include it in Amazon’s KDP Select option, which means your eBook becomes part of the Kindle owner’s lending library.

Like most things involving publishing, there is a lively controversy raging over whether granting Amazon exclusive rights to distribute one’s digital book for 90 days is a good or bad thing. Since I love a good debate, I’m jumping right into the middle of this one to share my (limited) experience as a KDP Select author and my opinion on the subject.

Exclusivity

Let me relate this to the topic of my latest book: real estate. When you list your house with an agent, you grant them an exclusive right to market your property for a specified period. Your reason for giving them that exclusivity is your belief they will sell your property for the best price in the shortest amount of time.  Granting a mega-giant like Amazon exclusive rights to distribute your intellectual property is a good idea for the same reason: maximizing your sales potential in relation to your time and efforts. 

Win-Win

Whether someone buys or borrows your book from the Kindle owner’s lending library, you collect a royalty as long as you have abided by the terms of the program. While I’m grateful that my local libraries are supporting my work by purchasing copies of my book, I’m definitely not getting paid royalties when someone borrows it. However, according to the article "KDP Select Results After 3 Months," each time someone borrows a book from the Kindle lending library, the author earns an average of $1.75. What’s not to like about that scenario?

Marketing and Promotion

Borrowed books help you rank for position just the same as sold books. For instance, our Kindle version of Buying Your First Home? Insider Secrets You Must Know went live on March 9, 2012. At the time of this writing, we are already ranking #16 in Real Estate for the 100 Top Paid Best Sellers and #3 in the top 100 Hot Releases. As first-time authors, my co-author and I could hardly have expected to rank that well just based on our own marketing and promotional efforts! 

We expect to gain new readers because of the massive exposure our eBook has to Amazon Prime members and Kindle owners. Because we are part of the KDP Select program, we have access to other free promotional tools from Amazon. 

While the jury is still out on this program as it is relatively new and comprehensive data is not yet available, I believe that, at least for newer authors like myself who are establishing their brand and readership, the Kindle owner’s lending library could be a crucial element of your success or failure in the world of indie publishing.

References:

McLaren, Gary "KDP Select Results After 3 Months," Publish Your Own Ebooks, http://www.publishyourownebooks.com/kdp-select-results-after-3-months/