KU - Beat the dead...

[R. C.]

Background - I reworked a sci-fi/fantasy series, which will publish under new covers/names, with a “robust” marketing effort.

Looking for a consensus question: Should I accept the limits of 90 days of KU or immediately “go wide?”

A KU experiment seems like a “no-brainer,” but others may have different thoughts/data to share.

Cheers, and thank you in advance.

R.C.

UPDATE 28-OCT

Conclusion: KU and focused advertising (including AMS) is a 90 day experiment worth the effort.  Thanks!

[TimothyEllis]

Depends on your day one launch.

If you get enough sales on day 1 to get a half decent or better rank, then put it into KU.

If it's just being tossed in the abyss, then go wide.

KU is not a rank booster on it's own. Day 1 is all about sales and your mailing list, especially from pre-orders, and the rank you get from them boosts KU.

So after some rank hits, (or in my case I get downloads from my mail out), the book is visible in KU, and you get downloads which help the rank, and you start seeing reads late in the day and on day 2.

If you don't have KU readers on your mailing list, you won't see any KU activity until the sales rank kicks in.

Sci-Fi does very well in KU, but nothing does well without a launch.

[idontknowyet]

KU or wide both require work. If your genre isn't ku centered where do you want to put your focus.

building wide is a long slow game but it can be a very stable income once established
ku requires you constantly feed amazon sales. though page reads tend to be easier than sales so its really how you want to work. neither is a quick or easy road to sucess.

[David VanDyke]

Realize that it's much easier to go KU first, and then wide later, than the reverse--just because 1) of all the work you have to do to go wide and 2) all the work you have to do to make sure your wide stuff is taken down in order to go KU. Because you really do HAVE to make sure there's nothing out there to trigger a KU violation.

[LilyBLily]

Three months in KU can't hurt unless you have a dedicated fan base that will buy your book wide at full price. If the initial wide plan is heavy discounting, you might as well start with KU, which in effect is a massive discount, since KU still can earn you more with page reads than a 99-cent book will. 

Also, Amazon favors KU titles and has the biggest audience.