KDP Select Has New Feature: Kindle Countdown Deals

Just when KDP Select authors may have despaired over the recent less effectiveness of KDP Select free days, Amazon has come up with a new feature — Kindle Countdown Deals.

According to Amazon:

Kindle Countdown Deals is a new KDP Select benefit that allows authors to run limited-time discount promotions on their books, which can help earn more royalties and reach more readers. Customers can see the regular price and the promotional price on the book’s detail page, as well as a countdown clock telling them how much time is left at the promotional price. You’ll also continue to earn your selected royalty rate on each sale during the promotion.

Now I have just set up one of these promotions for my women’s friendship novel MRS. LIEUTENANT. There are a lot of requirements/information, and the following are the important points that I have found so far. But, as always with Amazon, this could change.

1. While the ebook price is discounted, the books featured on Amazon’s countdown deal page list the book paperback “print list price” (not necessarily the actual paperback price on Amazon) rather than the book regular ebook price in comparison with the deal ebook price. At first I could not figure out why the ebook prices displayed were so high, until I realized the prices were the paperback prices. Note that I think this is somewhat odd and certainly misleading.
2. There are numerous rules about when in a 90-day period you can run a Kindle Countdown Deal, but the most interesting rule may be that you cannot run both a Kindle Countdown Deal and free days in the same 90-day period.
3. As opposed to the free days, which automatically run across multiple Amazon country sites, it appears that only Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk currently have the Kindle Countdown Deal option. And you have to set each of these up separately.
4. The dashboard for this option does the heavy lifting for you, automatically figuring out when the price should change for the countdown (although apparently you can override this).
5. Whereas if your ebook is priced below $2.99 on Amazon.com you only get 30% royalties instead of being able to opt for 70% royalities for ebook prices between $2.99 and $9.99, you will get 70% royalties (if that is your option at $2.99 or above) on the countdown prices.

Confused? It does seem very complicated for what is being advertised as a great benefit for authors. Click here to read more about this new KDP Select feature.

P.S. Here is the email I got from Amazon after setting up the countdown:

Hello from Kindle Direct Publishing,
Your Kindle Countdown Deals promotion for “Mrs. Lieutenant: A Women’s Friendship Novel” is set to begin on November 3, 2013 at 7:00:00 AM UTC.
We’d like to remind you that the promotion may not be edited while it is running, and the last chance you’ll have to make any changes will be 24 hours before it begins. You can make changes up until November 2, 2013 at 7:00:00 AM UTC. The next time you will be able to change the list price for your book will be 14 days after your promotion ends.

To make sure as many people as possible see your deal, we’d encourage you to communicate the promotion to your readers and prospective readers through other channels you usually use to promote your work (including blog posts, email outreach, social media, etc).
Thanks again for choosing KDP to publish your work.
Best Regards,
The Kindle Direct Publishing Team

© 2013 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks, including TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH AND MARKET YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF AMAZON and the romantic suspense spy thriller CIA FALL GUY.