So…I’ve been contemplating this for a while and I’m going to start to put some of my books into Kindle Unlimited this weekend.
I don’t know whether this will be a ‘Yay!’ or a ‘Boo!’ thing for you. I don’t know quite how I feel about it myself, but I do know how things have been going.
How things have been going.
Generally, I put new releases up on Payhip first. This means people can buy directly from me in several formats. And they definitely do over the first few days. Then they stop.
I also add the books to Smashwords and through them, to Barnes and Noble, Kobo, etc. But people don’t seem to be buying from any of those outlets much at all. Home Is Where You Are did okay but if you add all the sales from all the rest of my books together they don’t even add up to half that amount. And we’re talking two figures here, not even three.
But Amazon…well, that’s where people seem to buy from. So, I may as well do what works, right?
What’s going into KU and when?
As far as I can tell, series do better in KU as do seasonal books. Aaaand that’s about where my knowledge ends.
What I have planned is to start by putting both Love…but darker books in this weekend. I figure they’ve been out for a while, plus I’ve alerted my newsletter peeps and the readers’ groups (this is why you should sign up to these things, folks), so the people who want to know, have time to grab them if they don’t already have them.
When my Christmas story is released, I will probably give it a week on Payhip before putting it, and ‘Tis the Season, into KU. That way everyone who wants to buy an epub and PDF can do so.
The last of the Alphas’ Homestead books should be out in November. I will keep them wide until probably February, then they will all be going into KU and I’ll offer them as a box set .
I will be keeping Gazes Into You available everywhere, along with its sequels, until the whole series is finished.
Once I see how this experiment is working, I’ll make a decision about future books.
Why bother?
This isn’t wholly a money thing. It’s more a case of having to conserve my resources and consolidate my time. Basically, I overcomplicate everything and it eats up my work hours. I have to make my life more simple and I think this might help… and free up some time to do more writing, so there’s that.
But what if I don’t want to buy the books on Amazon?
You won’t have to. At least, not for the first week that the books come out (did I mention that you should maybe sign up to my newsletter to find out this stuff?). Whatever I decide in the future, I can imagine I will always have at least a week or so where the books will be available direct from me. Although, I’m still finding my feet with this stuff and trying new things so who knows what’ll happen.
Anyway, that’s it. Just thought I’d update you and give you a heads up. If anything changes, I’ll let you know. Wish me luck!
