After trying (and largely failing) to gain a foothold on venues other than Amazon (VOTA), I went back into KDP Select a few months ago. Immediately, my book income almost doubled and my ranks improved, (which leads to more visibility and borrows/sales). It was a relief, but also sort of disappointing. Why? Because it simply confirmed that going all-in with Amazon was my own viable option and that meant I was going to have to toe their line and put all my eggs in their basket. The upside to that is that people could borrow my books in Kindle Unlimited.
Unfortunately, Amazon has been having some problems lately and there are casualties.
One of those casualties is related to the “exclusivity” clause. Basically, anything that is available in any other book or publication is not exclusive and therefore, cannot be in KU (meaning KDP Select). In my case, that means anything I’ve had published in The Future Chronicles series of anthologies would not be exclusive.
While Robot Evolution has only one story from the Chronicles, it has that one story. None of the other PePr novellas are outside my control, but one is enough. So, Robot Evolution and  possibly Hope/Less will have to come out of Select. This is bad because I get far more “reads” in KU than actual sales. It blows actually.
The other casualties are The Ways We End and And Then Begin Again. While each volume has half new material, the other half started as tales in the Chronicles and Beyond The Stars series. I’ve rewritten them (because hey, no word count limits!), but it’s still no-banana.
If you’re a Kindle Unlimited member and you’ve had those on your list, get them soon. Once their time for this Select period is up, they’ll be available for purchase only. On the upside, they will also be available on all other retailers too!
NOTE: Due to some other strangeness going on at Amazon (it’s complicated), I may wind up taking all of my books out of Select and going wide with them again. Yes, this will crash my income and visibility, but the stuff going on right now is super scary and it might be my only alternative if I want to feel safe.
Linda Fox
January 16, 2018 - 3:51 pm ·Curse you! I was just hoping to read a particular post, when I ran across your description of Robot Partners!
Not only did I click on it, and read the enticing description on Amazon, I had to buy it, which:
(1) cost me money (I’m quite frugal normally), but, worse,
(2) will keep me from my own writing/revisions, while I devour the book
I’m falling behind on my schedule, here.
YOUR fault.
Ann Christy
June 5, 2018 - 5:33 pm ·I could be sorry…but I’m super thrilled you’re going to read it. 🙂 Ann
Tom (Prosthetic_Lips)
January 29, 2017 - 2:07 pm ·Are you allowed to “coach” your readers, other than what you’ve already done? I’m thinking:
1) for Kindle Unlimited, make sure you close the book at the last page when done reading, instead of jumping back to admire the cover
1.5) again for KU, don’t just jump to the end of the book and close it, they have some algorithm that tries to understand if you’ve “read” the book
2) day 1 reviews are super important
3) but, any review is good
I’m not a KU subscriber, but I am prime, and I’ve bought several books on sale with the intent of reading them (I bought both TWWE and ATBA, but am in the middle of TWWE). Does reading versus not reading matter, once you’ve bought?
Are the other behaviors that we, as readers, can do to help that we might not already think of?
Ann Christy
January 29, 2017 - 3:50 pm ·Hi Tom – All good thoughts and questions!
Coaching or explaining to readers is sort of a double-edged sword. Many would be horrified to find out that flipping back to the cover or to the list of other books by that author results in the author not being paid for the book. Then again, some might be offended if that’s pointed out. I’ve blogged about it and that’s pretty much as far as I feel comfy going.
As for the reviews, I’ve pretty much done all I can with that. I think that so many ARCs are available that people don’t attach importance to them anymore. I sent out 82 Advanced Review Copes for The Ways We End and I got something like 6 reviews on launch day. I still only have 17 and some of those are from buyers or KU readers. In short, the launch was a complete failure because Amazon’s algorithms couldn’t detect any social proof for the book and it died a horrible death at birth. ::shrugs:: I can only relay so much of that info without making people walk the other way. All I can do is remove all those who ask for free review copies and don’t review off the list for future books. (Some have let me know they got behind and that’s fine, but most never said anything.)
As for reading or not after a purchase, there’s some question on that. There is some indication that the speed at which a person goes through a book…as in devouring it versus nibbling at it over time…indicates social proofing to Amazon, which helps the book. That said, now that most people have soooo many books on their Kindles, it’s possible that’s just not done anymore. What does matter is this: A reader who reads and then immediately reviews counts more. It’s considered good social proofing because it inspired action by the reader.