[FrankZubek]

Now don't get me wrong I like the few positive things about Select such as the 5 day freebie promo ( I have a few hundred units out there in cyber-land sitting in To Be Read piles on a number of kindles and maybe a few kind folks will read my stuff this year and like my work enough to leave a review on Amazon) as well as the huge market share Amazon offers.

And yet I want to explore and see what else is available to a portion of readers who, for whatever reason, don't bother with Amazon. Maybe some of them will be interested in what I have to offer. Problem is I can't do that if I am locked into Select and I have been thinking that maybe my genre (Adult Lit) isn't quite the good fit i thought it'd be within the confines of Amazon.

And so I plan to reach outward.

So I know of Smashwords and Nook but I worry about the future of Nook. I'd hate to invest time into placing my books there if it will vanish by the end of the year. I am interested in the smartphone field too but have no idea where to begin

And I'm sure a number of lurkers are curious as well so whoever has a few answers for me on what they feel is the best area out there to plant more flags for myself beyond the comfort zone of Amazon- feel free to shout it out    THANKS!

 

[otterific]

I've been in select since March of last year, and hit the tail end of the "good old days" with going free. It's been great for this new author to gain exposure. Lately, my free runs have gained me nothing. My last book will be out of Select in early March, and I plan to upload to B&N (already have one book there), and to itunes and other venues via Draft2Digital. I've got sales at all those venues on that one book that are comparable to the borrows I lost by leaving select, so for me it's a net gain, really. It's really scary leaving select, but I think it's time to spread out a bit. Regardless of whether Nook is done in a year, that's one year to get some sales and exposures there.

 

[Lisa Grace]

I'm branching out. I have one semi perma-free everywhere (except the foreign countries Amazon isn't setting it free in.) I'm keeping my flash fiction in Select to take advantage of the 5 free days, but it's normally only 99 cents anyway.

Everything else will be available everywhere.

I plan on launching new first in series free on the 'zon, but that's it.

 

[Gertie Kindle]

I'm going halfin/halfout. I want to keep my toe in Select but I also want to set my first-in-series permafree.

If you go through SW, and choose to distribute to any other vendor (including B&N), you only have to format once. A lot of authors are converting to epub and uploading to the other sites directly, and it does have its advantages, but I would rather get one paycheck from SW than wait for the others to reach some level of sales where I will finally get paid.

As for smartphones, I just downloaded the free kindle app to my smartphone and I read any time, any place. Apple certainly has their own app, and I'm sure all the others do as well.

Kobo was always far and away the best venue for me.

 

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

All the gimmicks are drying up. Free runs still work a little for me, but their days are numbered. Just too many fish in the pond right now.

The last gimmick left is the perma-free lead-in, and eventually that won't provide much a boost anymore.

 

[Cheyanne]

I didn't really use the free days as part of select. What I liked the most was the borrows, since I'd make way more per borrow than I would on a .99 sale.

My books have been out of select for a month and listed everywhere except Itunes. My results so far are very sad. Where I usually got 100 borrows a month at around $1.80 each, I've now sold a whopping 5 copies from Smashwords and 0 everywhere else besides Amazon.

Not sure where to go from here, but I think I'd prefer being in Select.

 

[Gertie Kindle]

I didn't really use the free days as part of select. What I liked the most was the borrows, since I'd make way more per borrow than I would on a .99 sale.

My books have been out of select for a month and listed everywhere except Itunes. My results so far are very sad. Where I usually got 100 borrows a month at around $1.80 each, I've now sold a whopping 5 copies from Smashwords and 0 everywhere else besides Amazon.

Not sure where to go from here, but I think I'd prefer being in Select.

Number of borrows is really the deciding factor. Mine dried up for some reason.

 

[jackz4000]

Personally I think Amazon has already decided on some new goodies to give to Select authors.

This move was not as much to hurt authors as to seriously cut back on big affiliates using Free Select books to make money off of Amazon and not adding any perceived value to Amazon and Amazon decided to close it.

New opportunities are on the horizon. A smart site will now become a platform for books on sale at reduced temporary prices with a smattering of Free.

Before Select it was difficult to find a good Free book. I don't think Amazon minded not making money on the Free Promos, but to also have to pay the affiliates did not make sense. I don't know the numbers--but why pay someone for something you are giving away for Free and eating the costs? And then to have to pay big affiliates for it too?

 

[cblewgolf]

I have 2 titles in Select and pulled 2.  Since January when I pulled The Chemist and put it on B&N, I have 1 sale.  I put Deep Rough on B&N on 2/1 and have 0 sales.  Just put both of those titles on Kobo and soon to do Apple.  Will give it some time before putting all of my titles on.  So far...meh...

 

[MegHarris]

I only have one book left in Select, and won't put any more in unless they change things up (as they certainly may do). I wasn't getting any borrows to speak of, nor was I getting many sales from my free days. Right now I'm making almost as much off B&N as I am off Amazon (and yes, that very well may not last, but for now it's nice). I'm doing well on iTunes. Kobo is starting to earn a bit for me. And I'm selling well on ARe. The last, of course, is only useful for romance writers, and for me it's really only showing results for my m/m erotic romances. But I wouldn't have been selling there at all if I'd kept my m/m romances in Select. Overall, for my personal situation, branching out has seemed far more beneficial than remaining in Select. But every author and every genre is different.

 

[JTCochrane]

I was in Select for 9 months and then got out back in December.  I went with perma-free and it has been the best move for me.

 

[James Bruno]

I joined the exodus out of Select in December. I've picked up sales on Kobo and iTunes, but Amazon's are piddly. But these books had excellent runs in 2011-12. They may have just run their natural course. I uploaded my books directly to B&N, Kobo, Xinxii, and others. I used D2D for iTunes. D2D is a godsend. Amazon is going to have to offer new incentives to get me back into Select, which was fantastic in its heyday, but much less beneficial now.

 

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

I joined the exodus out of Select in December. I've picked up sales on Kobo and iTunes, but Amazon's are piddly. But these books had excellent runs in 2011-12. They may have just run their natural course. I uploaded my books directly to B&N, Kobo, Xinxii, and others. I used D2D for iTunes. D2D is a godsend. Amazon is going to have to offer new incentives to get me back into Select, which was fantastic in its heyday, but much less beneficial now.

D2D?

 

[56139]

I'm dropping out and going direct to B&N and iTunes. I have a book 4.5 coming out next month and I'm going to make that one perma-free. None of my NA romances are going into Select.  I've got a smexy series just starting and that one will have the first installment perma-free as soon as I get the second one uploaded.

The market has changed - again - so I will too.

 

[cblewgolf]

D2D?

Draft2Digital

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,137808.0.html