Lessons Learned From KDP Select Free Days

This is the Facebook status photo I created with special software I previously bought. I used this status update the first of the two KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) free days for my fiction ebook LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDER written with my husband.

While I loved the way the image stood out on a Facebook Page, I have no idea whether it was more successful than a regular update (with an Amazon link) in encouraging people to download MOLLIE SANDERS for free.

This is the status image I used the second of the free days. Again, whether this helped with downloads is unknown.

In fact, MOLLIE SANDERS had less downloads than CIA FALL GUY and quite a bit less than MRS. LIEUTENANT on their two KDP Select free days. But there are so many variables in how well a book does that it is very hard to write advice for other authors.

I will say that MRS. LIEUTENANT already had many more reviews than either CIA FALL GUY or MOLLIE SANDERS. Plus MOLLIE SANDERS turns out to be a controversial book — the portrayal of a strong fictional female character in a traditionally male role — and elicits reviews all over the place.

While I cannot promise you that this is true for everyone, I do think the more good reviews you have — and the better those reviews are — coupled with assertive promoting (notice I said assertive and NOT aggressive) by authors and their online colleagues are all very important factors in the success of a KDP Select promotion.

But here are two of the variables that could have influenced the downloads for MOLLIE SANDERS:

The first of the two days was Labor Day. I thought that might be a good choice with people not being at work. In retrospect, this may have been a mistake.

Because of the way that Amazon displays reviews on a book’s page (explained in detail in my ebook TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK), people who click they found a review helpful can strongly influence which reviews are the three main reviews shown on the page.

In other words, people who have NOT read the book can click they found a review helpful. The more people who click that a review is helpful appears to push a review “up” in the display.

Thus if there is a negative review, and many people who have NOT read the book click that the negative review is helpful, the more likely that review will be at the top of all reviews displayed on a book’s page.

And this happened to MOLLIE SANDERS on the second of the free days.

Now I advise people not to respond to negative reviews — and I did not respond to this review — but of course I highly disagree with what the person said. If a fictional male character had the skills that we gave LCDR Sanders, I doubt the person would have complained. But we gave these skills to a woman!

Okay, enough said. Except, as I replied to a question from a member of the LinkedIn Book Marketing group that I manage, an author is always at the mercy of bad reviews. It’s part of the life of an author.

On the other hand, I do want to thank two people who are supportive of authors and who helped get out the word about the free days for MOLLIE SANDERS:

Anthony Wessel of DigitalBookToday.com for including LCDR MOLLIE SANDERS in Digital Book Today’s “Top 100 Best Free Kindle Book List.” Check out the current list now at bit.ly/Top100ListDBT

Taylor Coil of Freebooksy.com for promoting LCRD MOLLIE SANDER’s free Kindle days.

And thank you to everyone who downloaded MOLLIE SANDERS on the KDP Select free days! I appreciate it!

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. A new nonfiction ebook of hers is TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK and her newest fiction ebook is the thriller CIA FALL GUY.

Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com