How do I make an eBook free on Amazon?

You have two options.

1. Take it down from all vendors except Amazon (including direct sales from your own site if you do that). Then enroll it in KDP Select. Once enrolled, you'll be able to market it for 5 days per 90 day enrollment period as Free. You can set the sale dates in your KDP dashboard.

2. You can subvert the terms of your KDP agreement by pricing it as Free at a vendor like Smashwords and waiting for it to appear on B&N and/or iBookStore. Once it appears on those sites, Amazon might price match. You may also report the cheaper price directly to Amazon using the link on the books page for that purpose and some have reported quicker results when they do. There is no guarantee that they will actually price match at all, and most experience it to be a weeks or months long process in the cases where they do price match.

I'd go straight to the source, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. Here's a link: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin

I made my short story part of the Select program this weekend and, when last I looked, it was available for free to "Prime" members. The process was quite straightforward.

Yes, I think the above posters have got it right. My publisher does it for Planet Janitor every so often, and has just done it again today (1-15-2012), which will last until midnight tonight. I can say that the free downloads have had spectacular results, in that the ranking has changed dramatically for the better, more reviews have come in and, astonishingly, we have sold dozens of books.

This has to be a word-of-mouth snowball, in that the free readers talk the book up to friends, then they inturn visit Amazon and either find a free download in time, or buy the Kindle version @ $2.99. Either way, things have changed dramatically, much more so that I'd thought possible.

Another tip: Since I have a stand-alone title, my publisher suggested I write a short story, kind of a prequel episode to the main storyline of the book, and that we offer that as a free sample as well. Then we link to the book, both the hardback and the e-book version.

I'll let you know how a teaser story works to sell the main title. I've already started it. BTW, our freebies amounted to about 400 downloads, not knowing if this is normal or exceptional.

Tri

triceretops said:

I'll let you know how a teaser story works to sell the main title. I've already started it. BTW, our freebies amounted to about 400 downloads, not knowing if this is normal or exceptional.

Click to expand...

It's a bit on the low side by most accounts I've seen. For novels, the average seems to be right around 1000. But your results afterwards sound above average for the case of a single book so you're in good shape.

The advice I've seen is that while things are on the rise or stable at a new higher position don't try another free promo day. Only use that again if things drop off drastically or slowly settle back down close to your old "normal". (The reason, a free day can potentially interrupt your position on the paid charts and reset it to a lower level when the promotion ends.)

The advice I've seen is that while things are on the rise or stable at a new higher position don't try another free promo day. Only use that again if things drop off drastically or slowly settle back down close to your old "normal". (The reason, a free day can potentially interrupt your position on the paid charts and reset it to a lower level when the promotion ends.)

That's good advice. Too much and too many would defeat the purpose. You're also more likely to catch different browsers in the future, and alternate the days for a download, rather than setting them up ever week on a Tuesday, for example. I give it a whiplash by announcting on Twit And FB, or any writing group that has a promo and marketing thread for its members.
Tri

good question. I've been thinking about offering my book for free in order to get more exposure. But for the last couple of weeks, the sales have been climbing gradually, so I might hold it off until I release my second book.

If my book is enrolled with KDP select, do I have to remove it from Smashwords before I can use the free option?

If your book is in KDP Select, it shouldn't be available through any other sales channels, whether you use the free option or not. There's an exclusivity clause with Amazon that you have to agree to saying it will only be available in e-book format at Amazon.