My second commitment with KDP Select, where Amazon Prime members can borrow books for free (Amazon pays the author a nice royalty and gives the author the opportunity to make his or her novel free for up to 5 days during the 3 month commitment period), ended a month ago. I chose not to renew this time for a few reasons: (1) The initial "free effect" (as my fellow indie authors were calling it) where an eBook coming off a free run got a nice boost in the sales rankings was wearing off due to some supposed Amazon algorithm changes, (2) the number of borrows per month was steadily declining for me, and (3) I really don't like the exclusivity part of the Select agreement.
The last point basically means that when a novel is enrolled in KDP Select the author cannot sell that novel through any other retailer. No Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo or even selling or serializing the content on one's own web site or blog. This wasn't as much of an issue early on when the money was rolling in, but as the Select effect fizzled, so too did my desire to remain with it. Once my enrollment period expired, I got out.
Which is to say that my eBooks, The Five Elements and The Hall of the Wood, are now available for purchase outside Amazon. You can still buy my books on Amazon, but you can now also buy them here:
If you do decide to buy one of my novels, please take the time to go back to that retailer and leave a review or rating. Reviews help your fellow readers discover great new reads.