No to Amazon Exclusivity

Experienced indies have long found out what’s best for them, but the newbie authors still ask this same question: KDP Select or No KDP Select? 

KDP means Kindle Direct Publishing. If you want to self-publish your book with Amazon, you register at KDP.com and upload your book. Fast and simple. But there’s also KDP Select. KDP Select gives you a few advantages, such as making your book free for 5 days, which is considered a smart marketing move. And if you think giving a book away for free is wrong, then think of the libraries. Yes, that’s right. There’s also the Countdown that comes with Select, when you put your book on a sale and the price slowly goes up during a 5 day period. Again, not a bad marketing trick. And the third advantage is the Borrows. When the book is in Select, readers can borrow it for free, while you still get paid. 

These are the Pros. And now the Cons. KDP Select means you cannot publish your book anywhere else at least for 90 days. After 90 days you decide to stay with Select or no, and if you do, you will have to wait for another 90 days to publish with other retailers.

I don’t use Select. I don’t like the idea of giving Amazon exclusive rights to publish my books. Some of my most devoted readers use Barnes and Noble. Some use iTunes and Kobo. There are other retailers too: Oyster, Smashwords, Inktera, PageFoundry. While they are not as powerful as Amazon, B&N, and iTunes, I want to have my books there as well. Because the more the better. Some authors swear by Select. I’m not one of them. I have made money with other retailers too. I haven’t been able to get that money yet (I’m working on it), but it’s not their fault, but of the payment methods and my country. I will tell about it sometime in the future.

So, here’s my opinion: I want my books to be on every retailer. I don’t like going exclusive with Amazon, no matter how mighty it is. Monopoly has never done good to any market, and I’m surely not supporting Amazon’s monopoly attempts. I love Amazon, I am grateful to Amazon, but I’ll use as many book retailers as I can. I advise you to do the same.