A GATHERING OF KDP SELECT EXPERIENCES

   

Dear Fellow  Authors,

     I originally started this list after doing research to try and uncover the "secret" to a successful KDP Select promotion. I have been adding to this list steadily ever since. Times, they are a-changing for KDP Select, and it has been interesting to follow everyone's experiences as Amazon changed  algorithms and the "bloom is off the rose", as they say... Also, the debate about the  value of author's offering their books for free, and giving Amazon exclusivity continues.  I am extremely grateful to all the writers out there that have taken time to write a post and share their experiences- good, bad, and in between. Many of you have asked questions I never thought of, or have approached the promotion in a different way.  At times the information has been a bit overwhelming, I have to admit.  Wherever you are with this, I know it is  extremely time-consuming to forage around the internet for information, so I wanted to share what I have gathered so far, hoping that maybe it would save someone else time. Who knows? Maybe you'll even be able to spend more time writing!
     Below you will find links to posts that I've found. I will continue to add links to blogs as long as people are posting about KDP Select. My latest "finds" are at the top, but posts are not necessarily in exact chronological order as I add them as I find them. I have kept all of an author's posts on the subject together. I've tried to include dates  whenever possible so that you will be able to get an idea of the time frame of the author's KDP Select "experiment", however the dates listed are the dates of the posts and not necessarily the promotions. If you are one of these authors and have provided an update since the post I listed below, please let me know.
   You will notice that some of the latest posts are from authors who after their initial "success" with KDP Select are questioning it's current effectiveness or value. 

If you have a link you think would be helpful to all of us,please share!

*Last update 10/26/12

These are listed in (nearly) chronological order, most recent posts are at the top.:

Lori Ramsey  Jumping in with KDP Select – Why it is beneficial 10/23/12

David Gaughran Popularity, Visibility, & KDP Select 10/22/12
                           Why Giving Away Thousands Of Free Books Is A Good Thing (Tony James Slater's experience) 2/24/12

Keith Robinson KDP Select aftermath 10/21/12
                         Does KDP Select work? 9/5/12
Adam Geen Experiences with KDP Select 10/21/12

The Passive Voice Blog: What are Best Practices for KDP Select? 10/16/12 (good discussion in comments as well)

                                        KDP Select – Worth the Exclusivity? 10/1/12

Brian J. Jarrett “The Desolate” and KDP Select 10/10/12

Rachel Thompsom Make Your #KDPSelect Days A Success: 12 Top Tips! 10/4/12

Karen Woodward Amazon's KDP Select: The Best Long-Term Strategy? 10/2/12 Karen summarizes discussion of KDP Select on Kris Rusch's blog. See below. Well worth a look as is Kris's post.post from 9/26/12 Watching The Numbers

Morris Rosenthal (Self Publishing 2.0) Risks and Rewards of KDP Select Publishing 10/1/12

M. Louisa Locke  Report On My Latest KDP Select Experience: Getting Into That Holiday Spirit 10/1/12
                  My brief experiment going off KDP Select: At least I got this nifty blog piece out of it! 8/8/12
lambertnagle(Alison Ripley Cubitt & Sean Cubitt) Is the KDP Select Free Promo Still Worth the Effort? 9/14/12

Posted on August 8, 2012

James Calbraith KDP Select – a week later. The price of one’s soul. 9/12/1

Karen Woodward Amazon's KDP Select Program: The Power of Free 9/5/12

Jeff Faria The Amazon Bounce 8/31/12 (A follow-up post referencing Richard Stephenson's post of 8/11/12, in which he shares his KDP Select experience which included a "bounce after his latest free promotion)
                The e-Book Bubble Pops 8/23/12 (Very interesting look at the loss of the "bounce" after a free promo and reasons for it, as well as a discussion of the effect of a book's price on Amazon algorithms)

David Vinjamuri How Amazon Quietly Subverts Bestseller Lists With Kindle's KDP Select 8/29/12

Douglas Dorow  KDP Round 4 and I'm out. 8/29/12 (Doug has written a series of posts on his KDP Select experience. He lists all of the previous posts within this post. Worth a look.)

Phyllis Zimbler Miller Book Authors: Evaluate Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing Select Program for Yourself 8/23/12

Michael Scott Things I've Learned Going With KDP Select 8/13/12

Richard Stephenson My First Experience With KDP Select 8/11/12

John Betcher  7/11/12 Amazon KDP Select Lives - Part 2                     

                       7/6/12 Amazon KDP Select Lives 

Lada Ray  6/30/12 A MUST Read if You Are an Author! Does Amazon KDP Select FREE Promo Work?

Heather Hummel 6/17/12  How Did It Happen? Over 27,000 Copies of the Journals from the Heart Series Downloaded in 3 Days!

PJ Sharon The End of Select 6/12/12

Russell Blake I Care 6/9/12 (Russell talks about his reasons for deciding NOT to offer his books for free any longer)

                    Promotions Update – For Authors Only 3/8/12

Renée Pawlish Indie Authors – More on KDP Select 6/4/12

Karen Baney The Pros and Cons of KDP Select 5/31/12

Derek Haines  5 Months With Amazon KDP Select 5/12

                       The KDP Select Experiment-One Month Later  2/15/12

Edward W. Robertson How Much Juice is Left in Select?: Breakers Post-Free 5/21/12

Kathleen Patel Kindle KDP-Is It Worth It? 5/17/12

                        Swan Song To KDP 5/21/12

Amelia James My disappointing experience with KDP Select 5/18/12
Meagan Adele Lopez Free Ebook Promotion, or How I Got Ranked with John Grisham in 4 Days 5/8/2012

Jeff Currie My Results With KDP Select's Free Days Part 1 2/3/12

                  KDP Select Free Days Part 2: Or My Sloppy Attempt To Make Sense of It All 2/25/12

                  KDP Select: 3rd Time's the Charm 05/22/12

James Gill Publishing My Book With Amazon and KDP Select: Month 2 ( 5/2/12)

                 Publishing My Book With Amazon and KDP Select: Month 1 (4/10/12)

                  
Si Rosser Kindle Direct Publishing:Kindle Book Promotion 4/17/12

Alan McDermott  KDP Select: How Was It For You? 4/17/12

Kathy Lyn Hall Fickle-Minded- That's Me  1/12/12

                        Top 100 on Kindle... 4/14/12

John A.A. Logan A Note From Frankenstein's Castle 4/11/12

Kirkus McGowan My Experience With KDP Select 4/9/12

R. S. Guthrie 15 Seconds of FAME (or the "King and I") 1/6/12

                      KDP Select: Worth Its Weight?   1/12/2012

                      KDP Select WORKS!  4/9/12

James W. Lewis J-Willy’s KDP Select Experiment – Week 1 3/1/12
              J-Willy’s KDP Select Experiment – 1st Two-Day Promotion Report (March) 3/20/12

Clive S. Johnson Thoughts on #FREE Book Promotions 4/5/12

Lexi Revellian KDP Select - my experience so far 3/3/12

Miles Etherton Day 1 of KDP-Select trial - Explosive conspiracy thriller, THE CODEX FILE, FREE on AMAZON sites for Kindle - 10 and 11 March

Claude Nougat How a Free Promo Can Turn Your Book into a Best Seller: 7 Tips to Make It a Success 3/9/12

Rob Blackwell  Mania to Reality: The Results of My Amazon Select Experiment 1/26/12

                        How KDP Select Made Me a Bestselling Author 3/8/12

Deanna Lynn Sletten My KDP Select Experience Day  3/2/12

                                  My KDP Select Experiment Day 2  3/2/12

                                              My KDP Select Experiment Day 3 3/4/12

                                             After My Free Days On Amazon 3/6/12
                                             Pleased with the Results of My FREE Days for Outlaw Heroes 3/17/12

Martin Lastrapes My KDP Free Experience | PART 1 2/24/12

                            My KDP Free Experience | PART 2 3/5/12

Julie Morrigan KDP Select Experiement: Results Are In! 3/5/12

Benjamin X. Wretlind  Therapy for My KDP Select Experience 3/5/12 (The author gives an honest assessment of his experience. His books "didn’t take off like some mystical flying carpet headed for the moon", but does that mean it wasn't a success?)

John Betcher KDP FREE BOOK PROMO RESULTS - THE COVERT ELEMENT  1/23/12

                       KDP Select Free Promo Update 3/3/12

K T Hall KDP Select Promotion  Poll -RESULTS! 3/1/12 (KT polled 40 authors on their results, as well as days they ran the promotion. Lots of graphs for people who are dying for visuals!)

Linda Welch My KDP Select Experiment 3/2/12 (Linda is one of the few that have shared disappointing results)

Laura Pepper Wu My KDP Select Free Experiment: 3 days free, & the aftermath 2/20/12
Ruth Nestvold New Collection, New Cover, and New KDP Select Results 2/12/12
Kim Aleksander Do KDP Select Free Promotions Increase Book Sales? 2/12/12
                    KDP Free Promotion Net Effect 1/15/12
                         KDP Select as a Marketing Tool for Indie Authors? 1/8/12

Ellis Vidler My KDP Select Experience--with numbers   1/21/12

David Kazzie How Amazon's KDP Select Saved My Book 1/28/12
                     My Amazon KDP Select Free Experience, Part II 2/28/12

Ashley Barron KDP Select Redux  1/12/12

Katie M. John  My 90 Day Select Experiment. Why I signed up.

                           My 90 Day KDP Select Experiment: Day 30

Cheryl Tardif The KDP Select Experiment
           (This writer has written about her experience in 10 parts. You can find the list here)

Darrell Delamaide Kindle Select 2/10/12

Patrice Fitzgerald The Joys of KDP Select: Patrice Fitzgerald’s Story 1/16/12

Chris Orcutt The Free Ebook Experiment-Part 1
                  The Free Ebook Experiment — Part 2 —Conclusion

G.E. Johnson Days In the Machine: My  Journey Through the KDP Select Program  (An ongoing 
chronicle of this author's experience.First post, Day 1, 12/16/11)

Rose Andrade KDP Select Program: an Overview of Indie Authors Results 12/29/12 (This is a very good summary of writers' results up to the date posted end of December,2011, and the comments are extensive.)

Jeff Bennington How to Have a Successful KDP Select Campaign. 2/6/12 (Jeff recently released The Indie Author's Guide To the Universe which goes into more detail)