The KDP Select Experiment Results!

I ran my first KDP Select promotion from September 14-18th. It entailed giving the kindle version of The Pet Washer away for free for five days.

I promoted the freebie on Goodreads, my blog, Facebook, and Twitter. I learned after the fact that I could have submitted it to specialized freebie websites 7 to 10 days in advance for further free advertising. Next time!


The giveaway ran from a Friday to a Tuesday. My total downloads were 1721. I don't think that's a lot, but I'm pleased. I know plenty of people snatch free books and never read them, so I'm hoping for half of the 1721 to read the book! I hope that's a conservative number.

In a prior post, I wrote about W.O.M. (word of mouth) and how important it is. My hope is that a percentage of the readers who enjoy the book will spread the word!! It's the best way to generate future book sales. I will probably try it again in the future.

Since the promotion, I've had increased sales and borrows. So there seems to be a residual benefit as well, but I'm not sure how long it will last.

During my free promotion I hit #1 and #2 in my category and stayed there for most of the promotion. Out of the entire free store, my best number was in the mid 300's. I was on the front page of my category for five days--you can't beat that!

Here are some pics!

But the BEST thing that came of the promotion was a reader review on Goodreads. She made me see my book in a new way. She sent me a friend request and the following message:

"I loved The Pet Washer! I've never seen anything like it before. It has the vibe of contemporary chic lit with the soul of epic fantasy. Kudos to you." 

Wow! Did I love reading that? Yes I did! I asked her kindly if she would post her review on Goodreads and/or Amazon. She posted on Goodreads and fleshed out her review:

"I'm STUNNED at how much I liked The Pet Washer. A heady mix of medieval epic fantasy (King, Queens, castles, balls, small cities) and contemporary chic lit with an unusual twist. It's a quite odd story...perhaps a better word would be 'unique'. I've never seen a fantasy setting, outside of contemporary/chic lit, with such a wholly modern occupation. Such a fun read!"

She nailed my concept! The Pet Washer is about modern girls, but they live in a fantasy medieval setting. I had a great time with this, and I'm glad the reader enjoyed it so much. I tried to think of other books that were similar and came up with a movie instead. My book is like the move "A Knights Tale" starring the late Heath Ledger. While my book is not a comedy, it's in the same style of that movie. It uses intentional anachronisms to make the world highly familiar to modern day children.

And Kabam--a brilliant reader summarized the uniqueness of The Pet Washer more eloquently than I ever could (or ever would!). Kudos to you, Terah!

To Do: Periodically give your book away!