Amazon KDP Select vs Going Wide – which decision is best for you?
This is something a lot of people ask me ALL the time. And you know what? It’s something I ask myself from time to time as well.
So in this post I’ll go over the pros and cons of each decision and why you may want to consider going wide.
What is “Going Wide”?
If you are new to publishing on Amazon Kindle Direct publishing (KDP), you are probably wondering what “going wide” means.
Well, Amazon has a program for independent publishers called KDP Select.
Under this program, you can make your eBook EXCLUSIVE to Amazon.
This means it CANNOT be published on any other platform as an eBook. You can still have physical (i.e. paperback or hardcover) copies on other platforms though.
In exchange, Amazon gives you the chance to earn royalties under book borrows under the KDP Select Program. These extra royalties can be significant for some authors.
P.S. check out this blog post for more information on the KDP Select Program.
Anyways, if you choose NOT to publish under KDP Select, you can publish your eBook on other online platforms like Nook or Smashwords.
This is what is referred to as “going wide” because you are publishing your work on multiple platforms.
So the question is…can you make MORE money publishing exclusively on Amazon through KDP Select? Or can you make MORE by going wide?
The math you need to consider…
Typically, I like to put my books under Kindle Select.
And this is because Amazon is the largest retailer of ebooks in the world.
However, you still have to do the math and see if you could make more money going wide.
If you could make more money on Amazon, then keep them on KU. If you could make more money elsewhere, take them off KU.
Unfortunately you can never know until you finally do it.
The best advise I can give is to estimate if you can out-earn the Kindle Select portion of your earnings.
For example, a while ago, I took a closer look at one of my old pen names.
It’s so old that I had not published under it in about 4 years.
When I took a look at the numbers, the pen name made me $450 (year to date), consisting of $350 in outright book sales and $100 in Kindle Select earnings.
I’ve never published this book anywhere else and it had about a dozen books.
Anyways, I decided to take the books off Kindle Select and go wide with them.
My reasoning? I made about $100 books with the Kindle Select program with this pen name over a 3.5 month period.
So it made about $29 bucks on average per month. On most other sites, I would make about $2 to $2.50 dollars per sale in profit for every book sold.
So I would need to sell about 14 to 15 units per month with the catalog on other platforms to match my Kindle Select earnings.
I decided to take them off and go wide with the pen name. Anyways, about 3 – 4 months later, I noticed the income was about the same.
I was averaging around $25 bucks a month with the pen name on other platforms.
But I decided to keep the pen name instead of going back to Kindle because I wanted to diversify my income.
So anyways, this little math exercise is what you need to go through to determine if it’s more beneficial to stick with Kindle Select or going wide.
Pros & Cons of Kindle Select vs Going Wide
The main point I am making here is you need to evaluate every once in a while whether or not it makes sense to stay with Kindle Select or go wide.
And I have found that it sometimes makes sense with older pen names that might not be selling well anymore.
Anyways, here are some pros and cons of Kindle Select and going wide that you need to consider BEFORE making the “leap of faith”:
Pros of staying with Kindle Select:
- You can get higher royalties from book borrows
- Access to Kindle Select promotion programs
- Easier to get your books ranked because of borrows
Cons of staying with Kindle Select:
- Earning 100% of income from Amazon can be risky as they can reduce royalties, adult dungeon your book, or even ban your account.
Pros of going wide:
- You may actually earn MORE money
- Diversify your income away from Amazon
- Other platforms have looser rules on what can be displayed on book covers and on the actual book content too.
Cons of going wide:
- Other platforms don’t get as much traffic as Amazon
- Royalty rates may not be as high
Anyways, I hope this post helps you when you make that big decision on jumping from Kindle Select to other platforms.
Have any of you converted from Kindle Select to going wide? How did it impact your sales? Let me know in the comments!