[heavycat]

So, we've got ten books now. I'm not entirely happy with them yet, but a series is always a work in progress I suppose. The plan is to rotate all ten books (five fiction, five color comics) through KDP Select in January and early February.

Since each gets five free days I think we could do a two-day-each schedule for 20 days, then another two-day-each schedule for 20 more days, then a different-book-each-day schedule for ten days. (Or we could do a different book every five days)

All of the books now (or will soon) appear in the proper browse categories, which is nice, and I think is leading to a fair number of book page visits that we didn't have before. Sales so far in December are way up from a year ago (more books FTW). I'm particularly interested in seeing how our comics do, as I'm not entirely sure the majority of Kindle owners know there are comics available for their device. (They do look nice on a Fire)

The goal is 5000 combined downloads and more sales than we have now. I'd be happy to see a few organic reviews and "likes" as well if possible, but I'm primarily interested in showing up in places where our readers are looking for new books to read.

Has anyone else tried a series of Select promotions like this before? Any tips? Comments welcome.

 

[Jan Strnad]

If I were interested, I'd figure I could grab all of your books for free in a very short time. How this would translate into more sales, I couldn't say.

 

[Saul Tanpepper]

I tried that with my shorts (had about a dozen in Select out of the 16) and tried a rotation promotion, but all I got was free downloads and little sell-through. People get used to expecting your books to go free at some time and will wait. I've given up on Select. Granted, you're trying a series and mine were distinct works available separately and in a pair of collections, but I think the end-user mentality will be the same.

 

[Gertie Kindle]

I tried that with my shorts (had about a dozen in Select out of the 16) and tried a rotation promotion, but all I got was free downloads and little sell-through. People get used to expecting your books to go free at some time and will wait. I've given up on Select. Granted, you're trying a series and mine were distinct works available separately and in a pair of collections, but I think the end-user mentality will be the same.

Yup.

 

[heavycat]

Does being in Select still get you on the "also bought" and top (free) book lists from your downloads?  If so, then will it be a good way to help the series be more visible?

 

[Gertie Kindle]

It goes by individual book, not by series. You have to make the top 100 in one of your categories while it's free. Visibility happens in the popularity lists afterwards but you have to have many thousands of downloads to get visible there.

Check out comics and graphic novels to see how much competition you have in that category.

You're best off just putting the first book in your series free for two days. Notify as many of the sites that accept such notices as you can. If your first book does well, you stand a better chance of selling other books in your series.

Follow the MEGA THREAD for how others have done.

 

[heavycat]

You have to make the top 100 in one of your categories while it's free. Visibility happens in the popularity lists afterwards but you have to have many thousands of downloads to get visible there.

I see. If there are only 50 books in our category on the free list, and our book gets downloaded while free, does that make us #51 and in the top free 100 for that category? Is it worth it to join Select to try and make that happen?

 

[Gertie Kindle]

I see. If there are only 50 books in our category on the free list, and our book gets downloaded while free, does that make us #51 and in the top free 100 for that category? Is it worth it to join Select to try and make that happen?

It's easier to get on the free bestseller lists in a narrow category like comics & graphic novels but it's certainly not a given.

I can't advise you on whether or not Select is right for you. Some books hit a home run first time up, others languish on the bench. Here's the link to the mega thread. Start with the last few pages and see what others have experienced. Then make your decision.

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,98775.msg1519298.html#msg1519298