22 replies
In the next few days I will be publishing on Kindle. Should I publish under KDP Select - my plan is to initially publish my ebook for free and include affiliate links.

In addition, I would really welcome any other kindle publishing tips.
#kdp #kindle #select
  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Elss
    Yes. Definitely go that route if you plan on doing the freebie promotion. This help drive your book up in the ranks if your book is good. Also a nice way to get a few reviews and likes but it's even better to have some of those before the free promotion.
    Take a look here as it has a list of sites you should contact about your free promotion.
    Free eBook Promotion

    Also, and maybe others will have a different opinion, but don't jam a bunch of affiliate links at the beginning as that can turn people off.
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  • Profile picture of the author fushigi
    Don't put affiliate links in your Kindle books it's against Amazon TOS and you will most likely get you account banned. It's not worth it.

    A better choice would be to link to a squeeze page and build a list then send them affiliate offers.
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  • Profile picture of the author AanSpire
    I've been hearing a lot about KDP Select. It seems like different people get different results. It depends on the book and how you use your promotion days. If you do decide to take this route, I think the key is to let as many people know about it as you can. The more downloads the better because you will be pushed into a good ranking which will provide more visibility for your book. Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
    Two points:

    1 - As fushigi has pointed out affiliate links are against Amazons' TOS. It probably wouldn't hurt to check out their TOS first.

    2 - KDP Select allows you to offer your book free for 5 days within a 90 day period. The rest of the time it can't be free, at minimum you can offer it for 99 cents. Again the KDP Select terms of service would be a good thing to take a look at before you commit to it. When its on KDP Select you can't offer it anywhere else, keep that in mind as well.

    Bill
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    • Profile picture of the author dackers911
      Thanks everyone

      Regarding reviews - could I hire reviews on Fiverr or is this a bad idea?
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by dackers911 View Post

        Thanks everyone

        Regarding reviews - could I hire reviews on Fiverr or is this a bad idea?
        This is a Very Bad Idea...

        Even John (Sold a Million) Locke is getting crucified for using paid reviews and not disclosing it. Of course, disclosing it would have gotten him bounced from the program and killed his credibility earlier than it actually was...
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      • Profile picture of the author Paul Gram
        Originally Posted by dackers911 View Post

        Thanks everyone

        Regarding reviews - could I hire reviews on Fiverr or is this a bad idea?
        Yes, definitely do KDP Select and NO, definitely do NOT hire reviews on Fiverr...unless you want to get banned by Amazon.
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      • Profile picture of the author fern
        Avoid affiliate links in your book. You don't want to give them a reason to ban you. I wouldn't buy reviews either. Offer it for free through KDP and advertise on the free book sites. You will get a lot of downloads and raise in the rankings. You will also get a couple of reviews. Share the free link on Twitter and Facebook. Ask your followers and friends to leave an honest review.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin_Hutto
    Is your book any good? If not, I would work on making it better. If it is then you dont need to pay people for good reviews. They may not come as quickly as you like but they will come(if your book is good).
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  • Profile picture of the author thedanbrown
    I have published on KDP select before and with my experience I have not been banned by promoting affiliate links in them. I only have one link at the end of each book though...

    Also, you definitely don't want to use any reviews paid for on Fiverr. Providing some sort of bonus incentive to your customers in exchange for a review is a much better idea.
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    • Profile picture of the author SeoDemon
      Originally Posted by thedanbrown View Post

      I have published on KDP select before and with my experience I have not been banned by promoting affiliate links in them. I only have one link at the end of each book though...

      Also, you definitely don't want to use any reviews paid for on Fiverr. Providing some sort of bonus incentive to your customers in exchange for a review is a much better idea.
      yes that\s totally right, people love two things: freebies and incentives
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  • Profile picture of the author Rob Whisonant
    KDP Select works BEST if you have multiple books released in the same niche. Release 1 book in KDP Select and push the other NON KDP Select books in the appendix of the giveaway book.

    Works even better if the book is first in a series.

    Re's
    Rob Whisonant
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    KDP is great. The only major downside is you can't put your book for sale anywhere else, including your own Website. You can put your Amazon link to your book anywhere you want.
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  • Profile picture of the author DBracey
    I agree with everyone's advice that you should not buy reviews and should not include affiliate links. It is a violation of their TOS.

    Yes, many authors do it and have gotten away with it, but the truth is they've been lucky - but they are still at risk. Embedding links is in violation of their TOS and although Amazon's TOS are widely considered ambiguous in the end only Amazon's interpretation of their TOS matters. Yes, you might get it published without a hitch, but anyone can report your book too (such as your competitors). If your book is reported for a breach of TOS you can rest assured they won't consider their TOS to be ambiguous. They'll just ban you, and that's a risk not worth taking in my opinion.
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  • Profile picture of the author colinph970
    As stated KDP Select means Amazon have exclusivity to your work. Now why would you want to do that?
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  • Profile picture of the author rha
    Instead of sending people to an affiliate save yourself the trouble and send them to your site. If you don't have a site you can send them to a blog or a Youtube video account where you will have your affiliate link legally displayed. If this is some info they are looking for; your readers will not mind transiting on your site/blog before taking action to buy. TIP: sending them to a place you own on the net is priceless in term of free traffic. I also agree that you should not buy fiverr reviews although they are available for sale. Instead get a good book done either you get it outsourced or not great content at the end of the day is always the best policy. Finally There are a lot of upsides to exclusively publish to KDP one being you can get out of the agreement anytime you want BTW if you use KDP free days well you can expect to get AMAZon to promote for you(invaluable in $$$marketing/advertising saving.. and any upcoming book does not have to be exclusive to KDP...
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  • Profile picture of the author Jerome Y
    Definitely go for KDP Select.

    NO affiliate links please, if Amazon finds out, you will have your book removed after all the complains you will get.

    Most of the time KDP Select is used for lead generation and promotion.
    One tip is to price your book at $9.99 to entice people to download your book in KDP Select.

    If you were in Amazon Prime and you could download 1 book per month, would you borrow a book at $0.99 or $9.99?
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  • Profile picture of the author Elvis Michael
    As far as affiliate links go, can we include Amazon Associates links in our books? I would assume those are okay?
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  • Ahh, Amazon associates in kindle ebook. That sounds like a plan.
    Has anyone ever consider this as a direction to pursue? Or do any of you know that Amazon will not accept links such as this, for whatever reason?
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan J
      Originally Posted by Creativistenterprise View Post

      Ahh, Amazon associates in kindle ebook. That sounds like a plan.
      Has anyone ever consider this as a direction to pursue? Or do any of you know that Amazon will not accept links such as this, for whatever reason?
      A while back I heard that affiliate links are against their TOS. Bit lame, but rules are rules I guess.

      ...off to the next gold mine
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan J
    I have mixed views with KDP Select tbh. I think the concept of it is great and to be fair it "can" be a great platform for when you do free promos, however during the last 4-5 months, Amazon have been doing some funky mojo meddling with KDP. I have had a massive dip in sales during this period.

    Before that, the free promos were pretty consistent and were bringing in good results. I've done a TON of revamping, re-branding to my ebooks but still am experiencing little results. It's left me pondering whether I should go down the route of withdrawing from KDP Select altogether...but there are downsides like getting traffic to your site and all that.

    But then again, my results only represent my experiences, perhaps others are doing much better than I, it's just my 2 cents.

    Has anyone else noticed a dip in their Kindle Sales?
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  • Profile picture of the author DBracey
    Originally Posted by Diablo2 View Post

    As far as affiliate links go, can we include Amazon Associates links in our books? I would assume those are okay?
    Originally Posted by Creativistenterprise View Post

    Or do any of you know that Amazon will not accept links such as this, for whatever reason?
    Already answered in various posts in this thread above yours. Short answer, not acceptable. Long answer, some people are getting away with it, but it's a risk to your account.
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