KDP Select "Auto Renew": Anybody else get stung?

I did. But there was a grace period to still remove it, either 3 or 5 days. I clicked on that within the grace period and it was removed.

KDP Select is Amazon's attempt to steamroller B&N, Apple, and everybody else by getting exclusive content. It has few (if any) benefits for authors. You can give your book away for free? Who does that help (other than Amazon as they sell Kindles with the enticement of Free Content)? Heck, if you want to give your book away for free, put it up on your webpage.

This information was provided quite clearly up front including how to opt-out in the future. I also don't consider a single clear "Info" button right on the main dashboard screen for the story hidden.

I'm sorry to hear you overlooked the details, but I wouldn't place the blame upon Amazon.

Amazon has some policies I don't condone. This particular one isn't in my top 10.

I have one title that I intend to keep in the Select program as long as it's offered. The auto renewal is great for that title. I only keep my titles in Select for the first 90 days, then branch out to other sales channels. I would not call auto renewal deceptive, but I would say every author needs to read and understand what they're signing up for.

My advice - mark it down to lesson learned. Had the same happen to me, yes I believe it is intentional hard to find, that's why I book mark the link. What I do is click the "Hack no don't auto renew" box after I upload that way I never forget it.

J. Tanner said:

This information was provided quite clearly up front including how to opt-out in the future. I also don't consider a single clear "Info" button right on the main dashboard screen for the story hidden.

I'm sorry to hear you overlooked the details, but I wouldn't place the blame upon Amazon.
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I'm afraid I'm with J.T on this on.

I've been auto renewed on Select too but I'm entirely blaming myself for this as I just blithely ticked the boxes and didn't notice the bit about auto renewing. I was thinking about branching out onto Smashwords but I'll just have to delay that for a bit!

Sorry that it's annoyed you though and hope that it hasn't stuffed up any plans you had!

The fine print is incredibly important. I have learned to read, read, and read. Usually what I do is mark on my calendar when the auto-renew comes into effect so I can turn it off and not forget. I've only done Select once and it just wasn't worth it to me. I think three months is just too long of an exclusivity period. One month I would be more open to doing.

I...uh...knew about the auto-renew when I signed up for KDP select. They talk about it in the FAQs under "Renewal and Cancellation". And the check box isn't what I'd call "hidden". It's in the "See KDP Select Details" control box right above "Manage Promotions" control box on the drop down menu. It's the item I have to scroll past when I'm trying to set up a free day for the title.

Usually I just turn it off automatically and reassess how effective enrollment was at the end of the term. So far the results have been mostly positive. I'll see a boost in sales of the other titles during the free term, and I'll see a boost in sales of the title itself when the free term ends. I've had a few titles that didn't move at all, so I've unenrolled those and will be publishing them elsewhere as well. I'm also not enrolling sequels to the books I already have on KDP because then...well, what's the point?

As for how effective Select is...

KDP Select is, IMHO only stratigically effective. It doesn't do squat when you only have one title to offer. When you have a lot of titles or a series with more than one book in it, it can be an effective tool as long as you've got your books set up right.

The most effective thing I've found so far is to advertise existing titles in your back matter, rather than upcoming. I saw this when I put a sample of a better selling existing title in a new book, rather than that title's sequel. When I put the book on free (because it wasn't selling for squat) I saw a corresponding uptick in sales of the advertised title.

As an exparament this time around, I released the next book in a series, offered the first book in the series for free, and advertised an utterly DOA title in the back of the sequel. The sequel has sold, the DOA book has sold, and now that it's off the free period the original title has sold. I've sold more books in the last two days than I have in the last week.

E-book buyers (Myself included) appear to be more impulse buyers than the average reader. If they actually SEE the title right in front of them, they'll buy it...but they may not stick around for a sequel until they're 100% hooked. I'd say it'd be entirely possible to set up a "book chain" so to speak, where one title leads to another title leads to another title, and an impulse e-book buyer would keep clicking on links until they either run out of titles to buy or decide they're done reading you for now.

Setting up the first book as free would jumpstart the system for the other books in the chain. It's just a strategy you have to set up ahead of time with your existing books. I've only done this twice, so I don't know if what I'm seeing is a statistical anomaly or a real thing...but it's worked twice, and it's worked MUCH better the second, intentional time around, when I set it all up before hand.

I enrolled my novel in KDP, and thanks to this thread, I went over and unchecked the box for automatic renewal now, so I don't forget when the 3 months is up - a very easy thing for me to do. This was a good thing for me to read.

Well another reason to not do KDP is currently Prime allows just one checkout at a time (and per month). It makes it highly selective and incredibly limiting. Also, the person actually has to own a tangible Kindle.

Happened to me, too. But it was due to my own lax calendar entry skills. Unselected it on the second go round and chalked it up to experience. Live and learn!

christwriter said:

I...uh...knew about the auto-renew when I signed up for KDP select.

Click to expand...

As did I...I can't recall if I saw it in their FAQs prior to signing up my first title for KDP Select or if it was after signing up and when I was managing promotions, but I thought it was fairly noticeable. Maybe they've changed the interface since I did it earlier last year...

Of course, I also went in fairly regularly until the exclusivity period ended, just to make sure the box didn't somehow get re-selected without my knowledge... ;-)

That said, it was absolutely worthless for me, and I won't sign up another title for the program.

This is a zombie thread, but anyway...

Go your bookshelf, find your book listing, and go to the right of the screen. Next to the gray button that says "Promote and Advertise" there's another button with three little dots. Mouse over the dots, and you'll get a menu with several options, one of which is "KDP Select Info".

It's one of the worst UI designs that I've ever seen, but it's not deceptive or intentionally hidden.