Creating a KDP Free Promotion Strategy
by Mary Kole | Former literary agent, now a freelance editor, writing teacher, and IP/story developer for major publishers and creators.
Self-publishing authors have a great opportunity to market their books without spending a cent using Amazon KDP free promotion strategy. By taking advantage of the free promotion options available, authors can increase visibility and reach more readers when they engage in their book marketing options.
Before Thinking About Your KDP Free Promotion Strategy …
Set yourself up for success by writing the best book you can. Polish it, and invest in cover design. To make sure your book stands out, create compelling marketing copy, give the manuscript itself thorough proofreading and editing, collect any blurbs and testimonials you can, introduce yourself to your readers, and upload videos and book trailers to reach your target audience via other channels. Utilize all the free avenues for marketing that you have.
Promote your book yourself with email, websites, and other outreach. A KDP free promotion strategy is only one tool to increase your self-published book’s visibility and reach. Posting occasional teasers or updates about your writing and publishing process on social media platforms is a great way to market your book without annoying your audience. This can be a good way to create a buzz about your project before your book launch, too. Once you have a lot of other book promotion irons in the fire, it might be time to think about using the KDP free promotion strategy.
Where to Start with a KDP Free Promotion Strategy
Now, consider offering your self-published book for free strategically. When you enroll your book in KDP Select, you can run a Free Book Promotion for up to five days of each 90-day KDP Select enrollment period. While you won’t receive royalties on your book during this period, dropping your price down to zero may be worth it. You’ll increase the odds of ranking on Amazon’s Top 100 Free list, which is incredible exposure for any author. You can also designate a specific book as a lead magnet or loss leader. This means that the first book in a series can be your free book, and if readers get hooked, they will buy the next installments.
The first step to setting up your KDP free promotion strategy is to visit your KDP dashboard and select the “Promote and Advertise” button. Under “Run a Price Promotion,” you can make your book free for up to five days for every 90 days that you’re enrolled in KDP Select. This is a great way to gain visibility for your book and to attract new readers. The KDP free promotion strategy is an easy, cost-effective way to market your book. The only downside is that you do have to be exclusive to Amazon with your book in order to enroll in KDP Select in the first place.
Beyond KDP Free Promotion Strategy
You can also use Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) to create cost-per-click ads to promote your book. You'll set the budget of the maximum that you're willing to pay per click. You are only charged when someone actually clicks on your ad. There are different ad types available through AMS, including Sponsored Products or Product Display ads. Sponsored Product ads appear within the search results and on product detail pages. These ads target a specific keyword or keyword phrase, and can also target authors and comparative titles that you’ve researched and think might be a good fit for your work.
You can also test your keywords to see which ones are more effective. If you do decide to switch up your keywords, give it at least 48 hours to see if your newer keyword has resulted in increased sales. Ads are not “set it and forget it.” Those authors that are successful with Amazon ads are always tweaking their campaigns and optimizing their book descriptions, covers, and blurbs.
By following these steps, self-published authors can use the KDP free promotion strategy and more to get more traffic and conversions to their books and make book sales. The best part of any kind of book promotion strategy is that you can take the lessons you learn and apply them to future books and book release events.
For those eagle-eyed readers who are wondering just what kind of editor or publishing professional would have an article with the clunky phrasing of “KDP free promotion strategy” over and over on their website, I applaud you for noticing that this reads awkwardly. Please note that I picked this keyword phrase on purpose, as part of my SEO (search engine optimization) strategy. If you’re curious about writer marketing techniques, check out Good Story Marketing.
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