Is KU worth it without advertising?

[RiverRun]

My self-publishing experiments thus far have not found me many sales in or out of KU, so I haven't got much to go on. Good reviews, but the books now live on the bottom of the rankings with outdated covers and no love.

Next month I will publish a book that I actually wrote for a specific genre, with a genre-specific cover, blurb, etc. And I'm hoping it will do a little better. I realize that one book alone is not likely to sell much anyway, still, I hope to give it what start I can.

But my budget is small and my experience with advertising even smaller, so I'm reluctant to try AMS ads. I'm afraid I'll just wind up throwing away money. David Gaughran suggested that new authors are better off sticking with promotions like Freebooksy and such, which seems reasonable to me. But if that is my strategy, then going wide might be better, right?

On the other hand, so many people recommend launching with KU first, since it's simpler. But in the present state of things, is there any real advantage for a new book in KU without ads to back it up?

[Bill Hiatt]

It's hard to say. My pages read in KU right now are the lowest they've ever been--and that's with advertising. On the other hand, I did some experiments early on that quadrupled by pages read using advertising.

I would think it would be hard to go wide without putting a fair amount into ads, but it's been a while since I tried it. (I have one series wide, and when I tried the newsletter-type ads, 87% of the sales were on Amazon. In my current round of promotions for that series, 100% of the sales are on Amazon.) Those who are completely wide could probably offer more wisdom in this case.

[VanessaC]

I'm still new - just started last year (July) and have done almost no advertising / promotion, and always in KU. I would say that, somehow, readers do find new books on Amazon and in KU. And because, of course, you're a "no risk" option for KU readers, they might give you a try?

I do find an upturn in page reads after a free promotion like Freebooksy, but I've only ever run promotions with at least three books out, so I don't know how it would work with only one book - to be honest, I think you'd really struggle to make any return with just one book, as the real bonus comes in the increasing visibility / rank off the back of the free promo, and the read through to other books.

I started doing some very low-level AMS ads a few months ago and they are helping to keep my books from falling into the million rankings, so for me, they are working - but, again, I'm happy to spend a little on advertising because I get reasonable read-through. (Also, AMS reporting for books in KU does not report borrows, it only reports sales, so my ACOS looks horrendous! But I know I'm making more in page reads, etc, than I'm spending on ads.)

Not sure if that will help, just some random thoughts.

[LilyBLily]

Freebooksy is a good company, but if your budget is small, advertising there with a free book that doesn't have a series for sell-through doesn't make sense and will be too expensive.

Why not try one of the cheaper ad sites? Check out Nick Erik's updated list of best advertisers https://nicholaserik.com/promo-sites/ and do a Kindle Countdown for 99 cents. That might get you a bit of visibility and you'd have the experience of setting up ads without the higher cost. Countdowns are easy to do.

[RiverRun]

Freebooksy is a good company, but if your budget is small, advertising there with a free book that doesn't have a series for sell-through doesn't make sense and will be too expensive.

Why not try one of the cheaper ad sites? Check out Nick Erik's updated list of best advertisers https://nicholaserik.com/promo-sites/ and do a Kindle Countdown for 99 cents. That might get you a bit of visibility and you'd have the experience of setting up ads without the higher cost. Countdowns are easy to do.

Thank you LilyBLily. I've seen that list - it's helpful! I actually thought of starting with Fussy Librarian. I just didn't know what to call these things, (I guess promo site must be what I meant) so I added a familiar example.

I don't plan on much advertising anyway. Probably I will do next to none. But it wasn't clear to me if KU was any advantage if one wasn't going to use AMS ads. Sounds like the answer is maybe:)

[Maggie Ann]

Freebooksy is a good company, but if your budget is small, advertising there with a free book that doesn't have a series for sell-through doesn't make sense and will be too expensive.

Why not try one of the cheaper ad sites? Check out Nick Erik's updated list of best advertisers https://nicholaserik.com/promo-sites/ and do a Kindle Countdown for 99 cents. That might get you a bit of visibility and you'd have the experience of setting up ads without the higher cost. Countdowns are easy to do.

Thank you LilyBLily. I've seen that list - it's helpful! I actually thought of starting with Fussy Librarian. I just didn't know what to call these things, (I guess promo site must be what I meant) so I added a familiar example.

I don't plan on much advertising anyway. Probably I will do next to none. But it wasn't clear to me if KU was any advantage if one wasn't going to use AMS ads. Sounds like the answer is maybe:)

I just put a couple of books back in KU last month and I'm not seeing any page reads. There has to be some kind of advertising.

Fussy Librarian is my go-to promo site for my three freebies. I do okay there, but mainly because of the audio sales. Sell-thru is sometimes hit or miss. I plan on trying AMS for a few weeks and then back to Fussy with the 99c KU book. Emphasis on KU.

[RiverRun]

It's hard to say. My pages read in KU right now are the lowest they've ever been--and that's with advertising. On the other hand, I did some experiments early on that quadrupled by pages read using advertising.

Based on what I'm reading, I feel like the ship has sailed as far as cheap, successful advertising through AMS. I'm sure it will continue to be a useful tool, but I get the impression that one needs a strategy and a budget and a plan and number crunching and stuff, which seems beyond me right now. But I'm theorizing based on a handful of anecdotal info gleaned from the internet, so...my opinion isn't worth much.

The first book I ever self-published had an irrelevant cover and I didn't tell a soul about it. I sold four copies in the first month. (I sold more later, but it was not exactly a bestseller). I don't expect much now, but I'd like to do just a little bit better, if I can.
 
I read somewhere that new books do better in KU than old books. Anyone else find this to be true?

  (My son likes the 'cheetah')

[Bill Hiatt]

It's hard to say. My pages read in KU right now are the lowest they've ever been--and that's with advertising. On the other hand, I did some experiments early on that quadrupled by pages read using advertising.

Based on what I'm reading, I feel like the ship has sailed as far as cheap, successful advertising through AMS. I'm sure it will continue to be a useful tool, but I get the impression that one needs a strategy and a budget and a plan and number crunching and stuff, which seems beyond me right now. But I'm theorizing based on a handful of anecdotal info gleaned from the internet, so...my opinion isn't worth much.

The first book I ever self-published had an irrelevant cover and I didn't tell a soul about it. I sold four copies in the first month. (I sold more later, but it was not exactly a bestseller). I don't expect much now, but I'd like to do just a little bit better, if I can.
 
I read somewhere that new books do better in KU than old books. Anyone else find this to be true?

  (My son likes the 'cheetah')

New books do better in general because they are somewhat more visible. In my limited experience, though, the newest book is not automatically a hit in KU. In fact, I've seen just the opposite: sales roll in, but it takes the KU pages longer to start flowing. It's also my oldest series that traditionally gets the most response in KU.

[cecilia_writer]

I don't do much promotion generally but I managed to kick-start (in a small way) reads in KU for a set of 2 books which aren't in my usual genre recently using a FB boosted post (for the UK) and then Fussy Librarian plus Awesome Gang. I think your idea of using Fussy Librarian is a good one.

[dgcasey]

I just put a couple of books back in KU last month and I'm not seeing any page reads. There has to be some kind of advertising.

I noticed the same thing a month or so ago. I pulled all of my titles out of wide because it proved to be a pointless route for me and I put all of them back into KU. And my sales immediately tanked. I was getting decent sales and sell-through before this, but when I went back into KU, sales dried up and my page reads went up. The only problem is, my page reads haven't increased to a level that makes up for the reduced sales. Not even close. And I'm running the exact same ads I was running before going back into KU.

So, by my way of thinking, I should have seen an increase in page reads and a minimal drop in sales, if any, but that hasn't proven to be the case. When the current stint in KU comes to an end in October, I'll let them all fall out of KU for a little while and see if my sales go back up.

One other thing I noticed, though I can't figure out why it would happen, is my daily impressions on my ads has dropped. The month before going back into KU, my three ads served over 250K impressions, but last month I just barely hit 140K and this month, if things keep going the way they are, I'll be lucky to hit 100K. I haven't had a 10K+ impression day since about the end of July.

[TimothyEllis]

I pulled all of my titles out of wide because it proved to be a pointless route for me and I put all of them back into KU. And my sales immediately tanked. I was getting decent sales and sell-through before this, but when I went back into KU, sales dried up and my page reads went up. The only problem is, my page reads haven't increased to a level that makes up for the reduced sales. Not even close. And I'm running the exact same ads I was running before going back into KU.

This is the practical reality of KU.

KU cannibalizes sales.

And since it pays about half (depending on your price and page count), you have to get double to make the same.

And AMS is not cutting it anymore.

[Bill Hiatt]

I pulled all of my titles out of wide because it proved to be a pointless route for me and I put all of them back into KU. And my sales immediately tanked. I was getting decent sales and sell-through before this, but when I went back into KU, sales dried up and my page reads went up. The only problem is, my page reads haven't increased to a level that makes up for the reduced sales. Not even close. And I'm running the exact same ads I was running before going back into KU.

This is the practical reality of KU.

KU cannibalizes sales.

And since it pays about half (depending on your price and page count), you have to get double to make the same.

And AMS is not cutting it anymore.

I think something is wrong in DGCasey's situation, though. It's one thing to have sales drop after entering KU, but another to have them drop and no page reads appear. That sounds like something wrong with the system.

Also, KU doesn't invariably cannibalize sales. I know it does for some authors, but when I went into KU, my sales actually increased. Since then, sales and KU pages read have generally fluctuated at about the same rate.

This month, which has been weird for me so far, 70% of my estimated royalties are from sales. KU pages read have fallen to almost nothing on most days. This leads me to believe that something may be amiss with the reporting again. That and the fact that other people are noting weird patterns makes me think something's up.

[Simon Haynes]

Sometimes I wonder whether my backlist would earn more from KU page reads than it does wide, but I just prefer to have my stuff available in as many places as possible.

For example, a couple of weeks ago I discovered I had a top-50 bestseller on google play, in the Space Opera category. Most of the others were trad-pubbed, which tells me (as if I didn't already know) that a ton of indie Space Opera is in KU.  (I just checked and I'm still in the top 50. Awesome.)

It also helps with getting bookbubs, and those are pretty much my entire marketing focus.

[WasAnn]

I'm so on the fence about everything right now I don't know which way is up! LOL. Of course, me taking over a year off from publishing wrecked all my momentum, so I've never actually had books at the horrific ranks I have now.

That said, I'm in KU with most stuff right now simply because it's easier to float the ranks back up via borrows when you've fallen down into the weeds on ranks.  You have to have a strategy in KU. You can't just stick it in there and hope for the best. And KU strategies should be (my opinion) strategies that will eventually lead to NON-KU status.

And, since I did take a year off, I'm basically like I just started again.

BBs aren't easy to get because of the trends they tend to focus on (like fairy tales in YA, or space in SF)...as well as simply have so many applications. I haven't had a BB in almost a year! Before, I used to get them fairly frequently.

To combat my dismal showings, I put most of my catalog in KU and have begun advertising on other platforms (Barbarian, ENT, Freebooksy, Robin Reads, etc) that do have a significant KU base. You can do that too.

But, yeah, I'll be honest, KU totally cannibalizes sales if you're in a genre with a strong KU presence and loads of KU shoppers. Then again, if you're writing to the KU market trend, then you're less likely to do well wide. It's just how things work now.

[RiverRun]

Thank you for your replies, everyone. I found them really interesting.

Thank you Bill Hiatt - I had heard that KU was good for a new release but didn't understand why. That was helpful.

I don't do much promotion generally but I managed to kick-start (in a small way) reads in KU for a set of 2 books which aren't in my usual genre recently using a FB boosted post (for the UK) and then Fussy Librarian plus Awesome Gang. I think your idea of using Fussy Librarian is a good one.

Thank you. I'll keep this in mind.

I'm so on the fence about everything right now I don't know which way is up! LOL. Of course, me taking over a year off from publishing wrecked all my momentum, so I've never actually had books at the horrific ranks I have now.

That said, I'm in KU with most stuff right now simply because it's easier to float the ranks back up via borrows when you've fallen down into the weeds on ranks.  You have to have a strategy in KU. You can't just stick it in there and hope for the best. And KU strategies should be (my opinion) strategies that will eventually lead to NON-KU status.

And, since I did take a year off, I'm basically like I just started again.

BBs aren't easy to get because of the trends they tend to focus on (like fairy tales in YA, or space in SF)...as well as simply have so many applications. I haven't had a BB in almost a year! Before, I used to get them fairly frequently.

To combat my dismal showings, I put most of my catalog in KU and have begun advertising on other platforms (Barbarian, ENT, Freebooksy, Robin Reads, etc) that do have a significant KU base. You can do that too.

But, yeah, I'll be honest, KU totally cannibalizes sales if you're in a genre with a strong KU presence and loads of KU shoppers. Then again, if you're writing to the KU market trend, then you're less likely to do well wide. It's just how things work now.

I found this very interesting, thank you. I didn't realize Bookbub favored certain trends. That makes sense but I never thought about it before. Not that I'm likely to apply for a Bookbub with one book out.

I had no idea that the promo sites had a lot of KU readers. For some reason I imagined it would be the other way around. I was trying to think why KU readers would need a list of books set to free, but I guess they are relying on these services to curate for quality even from the pool of KU books? That sort of helps explain why people are going wide and still getting loads of sales from Amazon only. Where does one advertise when going wide?

I really really like the idea of being wide, for all the usual reasons, but at the same time, it looks like there are many indie authors in my genre, (historical mystery) turning up in KU, while there are almost no indie authors to be found in my genre on Kobo. Hmmm....  since I'm a slooow writer, I'd rather be in a lot of little pools than a big one, and being wide appeals to me from that point of view. On the other hand, I may have to start in KU just to make sure I'm not missing anything.

But WasAnn, or anybody, I'm not sure I understand this:  I'll be honest, KU totally cannibalizes sales if you're in a genre with a strong KU presence and loads of KU shoppers... Do you mean that, say, romance readers go there to read one romance after another and therefore never buy? If a genre does not have a strong KU presence is it more likely to sell outside KU as well?

[WasAnn]

Sort of.

There are innumerable arguments about whether or no KU cannibalizes sales, and all of them are right to some extent. That makes it tricky. It all boils down to genre.

KU is chocker block full of people who read a great deal. KU allows them to indulge that to extreme, while charging them only a flat rate. For voracious readers, this is a huge money savings.

So, who are those people?

Romance is overwhelmingly represented. These readers tend to favor formulaic books that adhere to strict rules of engagement. They can, therefore, devour them at speed. So, anyone writing in that genre will not only fight against the flood of other books in KU, but also have an opportunity for greater rank and earnings if they manage to float above that flood.

SF, Space Fantasy, SF Romance, and a few other genre are also well represented in KU because there are loads of KU readers for them.

Cannibalization comes in when you're in KU with a book that is represented well, but not overwhelmingly, in KU. It's a balance, and for most people it's almost a wash.