Comments on: In self-publishing push, Amazon expands Kindle Owners’ Lending Library to Europe

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 19:15:19 +0000

Is this purely an opinion, or do you have any facts to back it up? If I give up $50 in sales at other sites to boost my Amazon take by $100, then it would be a smart idea. If I give up $100 in sales at other sites to boost my Amazon take by $50, then it would be a bad idea.

By: Rosalind James

Rosalind James — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 20:51:29 +0000

I find the “free” option (being able to put up a book free for 5 days of every 90) has been even more valuable than the KOLL. It certainly gives you some visibility that would take months to achieve . . . if you ever managed it. That being said, my books were borrowed over 200 times in September–the first month they were published. So that’s working for me too, personally–every little bit helps! (Although I do wonder how many people would buy instead of borrowing, if borrowing weren’t available–are these really incremental sales, or just a shift from “buy” to “borrow?”). Either way, I’ve been pretty happy with KDP Select so far.

By: Wayne Smallman

Wayne Smallman — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 09:48:37 +0000

On balance, KDP Select exclusivity isn’t worth it for self-publishers, given that the author is effectively killing their ranking on other stores, rather than just suspending it, which would be bad enough. I don’t think many self-publishers realise this, or the potential for damage.