Going from Free platform to Paid?

WinterFairy

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Would you consider it normal to publish the whole novel onto a free platform like SH and RR, check if it's received well and then revise the manuscript and publish it solely on KU or Amazon? :blob_evil_two:

Is there anything I should consider could be a problem with this method? Like losing readers, meeting pirates, making a dumb deal? :blob_popcorn:

I barely understand the concept, but it sounds like a battlefield when one decides to shift platforms :blob_dizzy:
 

AliceShiki

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Kindle Unlimited has an exclusivity deal AFAIK, so you actually do need to make the full transition to it if you wish to publish there.

I don't think it's a bad deal though, you'll be getting paid for your novel and stuff, and earning money from our hard work is always a good deal~
 

WinterFairy

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Ok, thanks :blob_okay: I'm not at all sure if I'll actually do it someday. But I would like some info on it nonetheless :blob_sir:
 

CupcakeNinja

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Would you consider it normal to publish the whole novel onto a free platform like SH and RR, check if it's received well and then revise the manuscript and publish it solely on KU or Amazon? :blob_evil_two:

Is there anything I should consider could be a problem with this method? Like losing readers, meeting pirates, making a dumb deal? :blob_popcorn:

I barely understand the concept, but it sounds like a battlefield when one decides to shift platforms :blob_dizzy:
In the words of our goddess Ai-chan :
"Exclusivity is only for Kindle Unlimited. If you're just using the normal Amazon KDP, there's no exclusivity. You need to remember though, that Amazon wants the lowest price. So if you sell it elsewhere in addition to KDP, you have to make sure that the other place don't sell for lower price than Amazon, even if it's only for a short promotional period. You can change your pricing anytime, but it's kind of a pain in the ass, so when Amazon rep contacted Ai-chan about lowering the Amazon price, Ai-chan just complied.

Exclusivity for Kindle Unlimited applies to the entire stuff you sell through Amazon. If you have a trilogy and you sell book 1 through Amazon, your book 1 must not appear anywhere else. Not even as a draft. So if you choose Kindle Unlimited, you have to withdraw or delete all online copies of your book 1. If you also have book 2 and 3 online, you can keep sharing them. Unless, you put book 2 and 3 into Kindle Unlimited as well. This is not a problem if you use the standard Kindle KDP, Ai-chan's draft is still online for everyone to read for free, if they don't want to buy them. Though it would be great if people do buy them.

Exclusivity for Kindle Unlimited is permanent for as long as you have that title under Kindle Unlimited. You can remove the title from Kindle Unlimited as you wish, so it's not like you're stuck with it forever. Just use Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).

Advertisement? Who cares. Ai-chan spent zero dollar on advertisement. Ai-chan's readers provided the advertisement as they bought the book and leave reviews. At one point, Ai-chan's book was even in the top 20 of young adults fantasy novel. You do need to spend some money of a professional cover, though."
I plan to use KDP too eventually for one of my novels. Its done pretty dang well over at webnovel, i mean i may as well since the first volume is gonna be done soon anyway
 

Sabruness

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any sort of exclusivity deal is a risk. There you have to judge risk vs reward:
reward is getting paid for your novels.
risk is losing current and potential future readers, potential piracy (though i think that's rare) and the chance that you might not make much money off it.

Most of the authors i've seen who've written free and then published did it non-exclusively and left the "draft" up for free while the refined, improved novel is published for money. That seems to work reasonably well for them. Some also get extra side money from patreons or donations.

I've also seen a small few authors choose the absolute exclusivity route. One, especially, is close to mind as the author decided to screw over their long time readers by going exclusive less than a quarter of the way into the story (plus the author was notorious for long hiatuses).

Also, the Ai-chan quote above is a good explanation.
 

yansusustories

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I don't know if I'd go exclusive after having it published on a free platform. But exclusivity does have its perks from my experience. Like, even as an author who isn't very well-known you can make a decent amount on KU if you just publish often enough. Just using KDP is also nice but if you don't already have readers and don't want to/can't invest in marketing you likely won't earn as much. I'd say maybe try it out first with one story to see how it goes for you.

One thing I'd like to say about this though:
potential piracy (though i think that's rare)
I don't think it's rare at all. Before SH I was doing almost all my stuff exclusively via KU and the amount of piracy involved in this is unimaginable. Normally, it didn't even take three days before whatever I published was up on all the well-known piracy sites and the numbers of illegal downloads were far higher than what officially sold.
That's for the country I'm from though. It could be that it's different internationally but I doubt it. To me, KU and piracy seem to go hand in hand and as the author, you can only decide whether you want to suck it up or do something against it either by putting in hours of work yourself or by burning through a stack of money to have somebody else do the work.
 

BradCarsten

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Jan 17, 2020
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I get about 70% of my sales through KU, so it's worth trying. Fortunately, you only have to sign up for three month stretches, so if it doesn't work out, you can simply pull it after your three months are up.
 
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