Getting reviews for your kindle & contradictions

"s it true, the only way you can offer your kindle for free is publishing it on smashwords so Amazon has to equal the price?"
No. Not the only way. It's much easier and quicker to publish on D2D -- Draft2Digital.com -- than on Smashwords and then offer it for free. I did this with one book and Amazon did a price match almost immediately and I've been getting lots of downloads. Did this with a second book (different pen name) several weeks ago. Amazon has not yet price matched this one. Don't know why not.
Joyce Zborower

As ezb1 said - It's easier to publish it on Draft2Digital.com

Thanks guys, great tip, so it's D2D. But does Amazon match the price while you are in kindle select? Because you're not allowed to publish on other platforms while still in Select.. or .maybe I am missing s.th.

Merry Christmas back to you.
It is safe to raise your prices on your books at any given moment that you want to, with or without reviews.
There are no hard and fast rules.
What works for one author may not work for another.
As someone has said above, you can use Draft2Digital (D2D).
Or even better you can use Google Play.
Pretty much Amazon price matches books on Google Play in a mater of hours.
You have to publish the book in KDP only and whatever other publishing platform of your choice is, if you want to get the book perma-free.
If your book is in KDP Select, it has to remain exclusive to the Amazon publishing platform for 90 days.
Out of those 90 days, Amazon allows you 5 free days of your choice.
So if you book is currently in KDP Select, you must wait for the 90 day exclusivity is over before publishing it anywhere else.
I hope this answers all your questions.

Best Regards,
Shana Jahsinta Walters.

Hi,

This is a very interesting post and there are so many areas to look into with KDP and book publishing in general.

Book writing and publishing is a brilliant place to start to make money on-line but it doesn't come quickly! Like anything it takes time and consistent action, daily writing and promotion.

Here is a piece of advice I wish I had been given before I started publishing, in every book place a link to an optin page where you offer a free book and an early bird access to your next book, with or without a discount, it's optional. You don't even need a website to do this if you are using Mailchimp to collect their email address. Do not abuse this by sending them affiliate offers and sales pages that have nothing to do with your books! They will un-subscribe and your credibility will drop.

In your welcome email have your free book ready for download and leave a link for them to link to your website, facebook page etc.

It's a brilliant way of getting people interested in your book before you have finished it. You can have a list of people waiting to buy your book the day it is published.

If you only have a couple of books published then yes use KDP Select, you get paid a commission every time someone reads your book.

After you have a few more books published then move to other vendors such as iBooks, Nook, Barnes and Noble, but those books will not be eligible for KDP Select as they are not exclusive to Amazon any more.

I wish you the best of luck with your journey into publishing.