How To Do A Countdown Deal on KDP Select

If you've published your eBook through Kindle Direct Publishing, you have the option to enroll in KDP Select and take advantage of their Countdown Deals.

To create a Countdown Deal:-

• Go into Kindle Direct Publishing and click on Bookshelf.

FIG 1.

• When you do so, you will see your published book listed.

• To the right, click on Manage Benefits.

• The following window will pop up and you will see the Countdown Deal circled in red below.

• Click on Create A New Countdown Deal For This Book

FIG 2.

A drop down menu will appear.  One for Amazon.com and the other for Amazon.UK.  This means, of course, that you can do your Deal on both the US and UK Amazon sites.  However, you organise these Deals one at a time.

• First, click on Amazon.com

FIG 3.

Below is the next window you will see.  Here you will choose what dates you wish to have your Countdown Deal on Amazon.com, and how many increments you wish.  For example, if you choose to have 3 increments, your Deal will start off at 99cents and over the period of days you have chosen, it will go to $1.99, $2.99 and finally back to your full price of $3.99.

FIG 4.

Below you can see that the increments has a drop down mention for your choice.  Please note, however, that when you come to do your Amazon.UK Deal, there is only 1 increment.

FIG 5.

When you have made your increment choice, the following window will appear which gives you a list of the dates of your increments and how many hours each one will be.  If you're happy with your choices, you then press Add Promotion.

FIG 6.

From here, you can go back and choose Amazon.UK from the drop down menu in Fig 3. and repeat the above process.

Once you Countdown Deal is running, you can track sales by going into Promotions as shown below in Fig 7.

FIG 7.

When planning a Countdown Deal, it's wise to organise some advertising to help it along.  A few websites that I can recommend are:-

Kindle Book Review
eReader News Today
Bargain Booksy

It's also important to note that the calendar on these sites fills up fast so make sure you give yourself a bit of lead time so that you can choose the dates that suit you best.

Any question?

BOOK LAUNCH, October 30th

LANE'S END, the 4th Fitzjohn Mystery.


Pre-Orders available on Amazon at  http://t.co/ZG0AVwaprW

Sydney’s Observatory on a balmy summer evening is the perfect venue for a cocktail party and, it would seem, a murder, for Peter Van Goren’s body is discovered bludgeoned to death in the grounds.  The first question Detective Chief Inspector Fitzjohn must answer is why Van Goren was present given his name does not appear on the guest list.  The second is what was the subject of Van Goren’s vehement argument with Richard Carmichael, one of the function’s hosts.

Meanwhile, Richard’s son, Ben Carmichael, a photojournalist, returns to Sydney from an overseas assignment to find his fiancée, Emma Phillips, has gone missing.  Although unavoidably dragged into the police investigation, Ben goes in search of her.  In so doing, he is drawn to Lane’s End, the abandoned family estate where the very atmosphere awakens disturbing memories.

Through a maze of twisted stories, Fitzjohn follows a winding path to solve his case, but he is not prepared for the spiralling perplexity his quest creates.

 

Tips On Writing A Series Rather Than A Stand-Alone Novel

One of the things you might consider before you embark on writing a book is whether it will be the first in a series or a stand-alone novel.  Of course, this can always be decided upon after you have finished writing your book.  After all, you might have become particularly attached to one of your characters and want to continue your association with him or her.


Benefits of writing a series:-

• You have a certain number of characters that are already formed and appear in each book.

• You are able to develop these characters further as you write the series.

• You become attached to these characters and the best part is, you decide their destiny.

• You are familiar with your story line.

• If a reader likes one book in the series, it is likely he/she will want to read others.

Things that you must make sure of when writing a series:-

• Your repeat characters are consistent throughout the series.  As should your writing style.

• Your plot must be fresh in each consecutive book.

• All the facts about your repeat characters lives and what has happened to them in previous books must be kept in mind.

One thing to keep in mind before you make your decision:-

• A series can take years to write, so it’s essential that you like your repeat characters.

Benefits for your readers:-

• If your reader enjoyed the first book in the series, there are others that follow on.

• The reader gets to know the main characters and looks forward to reading what happens next in their lives.

• The reader knows that the protagonist will succeed.

• Have you ever got to the end of a book and wished there was more.  As you neared the end your reading slowed because you didn’t want the story to end.  Well, with a series, the reader can look forward to more books.

Do you have any tips to add?