Kindle Countdown Deal v Free Book Giveaway

Ok, so you have a book listed on Amazon but when it comes to using their promotions you would would rather rub your naked buttocks against a wasps nest. We've all been there. You like the idea of Amazon promotion but 'exclusivity' for 90 days - three frekin months - really!. Well, we're going to ignore all that and ask - 'is it all bad' - and you know what, we don't think so - sort of.

i would rather rub my bottom against a wasps nest

Now, those cunning brain boxes at Amazon have cooked up two entirely different kinds of promotion - a Kindle Countdown Deal and a Free Book Giveaway. Genius.

The promotions are so beautifully ingenious that no ordinary human could have ever conceived them. With the Countdown Deal you effectively discount your ebook for a given period and with the Free Book Giveaway… well, you  sort of just give it away. Seriously... it's that simple. 

It’s worth highlighting at this point that these promotions are for ebooks only and not for paperbacks. If you want to give away paperbacks - join Goodreads.

To set up either option go to ‘promote and advertise’ on your KDP dashboard.

You need to be enrolled on KDP Select. That means Amazon has 90 days exclusivity on your ebook. So effectively this means you can’t sell your ebook anywhere else: including your own website. How strict Amazon are at enforcing this edict is unclear. If you do list your book on your own website, remember to direct all traffic straight to the Amazon listing and remember that any sales outside of Amazon don’t benefit your Amazon ranking - pretty obvious, I know. Consider the implications carefully of exclusivity. If you use platforms other than Amazon to sell your books - like most other authors in the world - KDP Select might not be the way to go. Paperbacks, by the way, are not included in the exclusivity deal so you can continue to sell those through your channels.

Your ebook needs to have been priced between 1.99 and 24.99 (dollars or sterling etc.) for at least a month prior to the Countdown Deal starting and that original Amazon listing price can’t change until another two weeks after the Kindle Countdown Deal finishes. This is so readers feel like it’s a genuine offer - which again makes sense.

The minimum Countdown Deal discount is £1 or $1 etc. etc. and will be set by Amazon when you schedule a promotion. How much control you have to vary it will be dependant on your royalty settings.

When the Kindle Countdown Deal is running it effectively gives a potential purchaser a ‘sale price’ on your ebook. Setting aside the whole issue of exclusivity - OK, I'll shut up about it - the price reduction works pretty effectively to drum up sales. Everyone loves a deal!

Which promotion is best for you?

Well, ‘Kindle Countdown Deal’ and the Kindle ‘Free Book Giveaway’ are very different beasts. Purely subjectively - the Kindle Countdown Deal is better because the return is more tangible - i.e. you get money from sales. In my view it also looks more professional to discount a book rather than just to give it away: especially if you only have one book listed. With that said - you need to decide the objective of your actual promotion.

If you want a quick spike in your book rankings then Free Book Giveaways are a pretty ‘sure fire’ way to achieve that. Those impacts will be short lived, however, so you definitely want to coincide it with other marketing.

For those authors who have a series of books then the free giveaway can be great to hook readers in. Having a 'promotion' does seem to work better than just pricing book one at $0.00.

The key thing is not to rely on Amazon marketing alone and use either the Countdown Deal or the Free Book Giveaway option as part of a wider marketing strategy. So, in plain english - don’t just enrol with either promotion without a clear objective. Especially as you’re fixing yourself into a 90 day exclusive deal with Amazon - oops, did I mention that bonkers exclusivity again.

Here’s an example of a typical Self-Publishing dilemma.

‘Despite paying for an Amazon advertising campaign you have no or slow sales on your 2.99 ebook. So… you’ve reduced its price to 99c out of desperation to create interest. It hasn’t worked...’. Instead…

Try using the Countdown Deal to set up a price reduction to 99c for a 7 day period and - at the same time - schedule an Amazon advertising campaign. Sure you will pay for the advertising but don’t forget you get royalty payments on $2.99 price and not on 99c. There is a $100 minimum commitment to start an advertising campaign but you can always terminate at the end of the promotion without penalty. You should still make a little on your sales whilst also improving your Amazon ranking. People who pay for books are more likely to read them - and that in turn can also lead to reviews. Start your advertising campaign a week before the Countdown Deal in order that you can compare the sales.

In Conclusion

The idea of handing over 90 days exclusivity to Amazon might sound crazier than running into a bear enclosure screaming with your head covered in honey but if you're only selling through Amazon anyway then the argument is pointless. If Amazon is your only outlet - oh, dear God why - then it's actually a pretty good proposal that won't be detrimental. Benefits will be short lived, however, so use the promotion periods wisely and think about how any benefits fit with your marketing generally. Oh, and set diary reminders for when your KDP Select renews - it's easy to miss valuable promotion cycles.

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