Thursday 19 July 2012

Sanctuary (Mesmer, #1)'s final free run on Kindle!

Hi folks,

The exclusive term on Kindle Select for Mesmer, Book 1: Sanctuary (A Three Towers Fantasy) is finally coming to an end - scary how quickly 3 months zipped by like that.

Enrolling the book in Kindle Select was an interesting experience. It gave me an opportunity to organise free promotions on Amazon that would have been tricky to do otherwise. The trade off to get 5 free days on Select however was to keep my book exclusive to Kindle for 90 days. Exclusivity has never been my cup of tea ... which was why I'd always intended to launch the book under Select and then branch out to multiple retailers; I see no reason to change my plans:)

My three months on Select ends on July 25, so I'll be putting Sanctuary (Mesmer, #1) out on multiple online retailers (ie Smashwords, Kobo, B&N, Apple etc) by the end of the month/August. If you're someone like me who enjoys access to a variety of online retailers, do keep a look out for the book's second launch:) Better yet, simply sign up for free email updates from this blog or my website, and you'll know as soon as it's out:)

On that note, a heads up that I'm setting the ebook free for a final 3 days on Kindle this weekend, from Friday 20 July to Sunday 22 July. Have fun, and have a great weekend reading some good books!:)


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4 comments:

Mira said...

This is very cool, Isabella!

I've heard mixed reactions about Kindle Select. I'm curious if you recommend it or not.

I'll have to check out your book. :)

Isabella Amaris said...

Thanks for dropping by, Mira:)

My views on Select are pretty mixed too, I'm afraid:) First off, I think it's a useful tool to be able to set your book free in a planned, organised way as opposed to price matching. With price-matching, you can't really control promotions the way you might like to; Amazon might not price match a free book for months, if at all (price-matching is entirely at their discretion). Taking it off 'free' later on might also prove a bit difficult (from what I've heard).

Hmmm, also, it appears that the Amazon algorithms with respect to the 'weight' a freebie has in affecting things like ranking has been significantly altered. In other words, using Select to propel your book into a 'paid' bestseller chart (once it's back to paid) is apparently no longer as effective as it once was...

But, you know, apart from all this, the main problem I've always had with Select is exclusivity. From stats I have access to, my reader base is extremely varied. I can't conscionably see myself depriving non-Kindle users of access to my stories. I might consider it if my reader base was 99% Kindle readers or something, which some authors find is the case; if 99% of one's ebook sales are coming from Kindle users, pulling a book off other retailers probably makes sense. You get to utilise planned free promotions towards a section of readers already proven to actively buy your books. Even so though, I think this would in the long-term be underestimating the reach of varying retailers who are taking larger shares of the ebook market as we speak.

All right, to cut this long story short, enrolling in Select is not a bad idea, but I would recommend doing so with new books only (so that you don't have to drag them off other retailers, which can be quite time-consuming and messy a process), and perhaps for a single enrolment only (ie 3 months only) before making a book available worldwide...

Lol, my two cents, for what it's worth; apologies if I was a bit long-winded:) You might find it useful to check out the Kindleboards forum for more information specific to Select. Many writers there have been incredibly generous on providing detailed information on how Select has impacted their sales on a long-term basis, and whether they regret their decision to enrol/would re-enrol.

Hope that helps, Mira!:) And I can't help wondering, will you be putting a book out soon in the near future?:) That would be very cool!

Mira said...

Thanks for all the perspective, Isabella! It was not long-winding, it was interesting!

No, it will be awhile before I'm ready to publish anything. I'm taking it pretty slowly. But I'm keeping my eye on everything so once I am, I know where I might want to head.

But YOUR book looks fun. I'm going to check it out! :)

Isabella Amaris said...

Thanks, Mira:) I hope you enjoy it:) And I think you're making a wise decision to take things slowly; the publishing industry is always in flux, but now more than ever,I think. I'm both scared and excited to see what's around the corner for us all. Hopefully, good changes in the long term:)