Kindle Select Publishing: How To Level Up Your Game

Have you recently dipped your toe in the water of self-publishing on Amazon? Great! Maybe you’ve just wrapped up your first eBook and you’ve gone live on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). But now you’re trying to figure out, “What’s next?”

Publishing an eBook on KDP is a good place to start your online publishing journey. But there’s so much more to tap into.

Amazon has built the world’s largest self-publishing platform and there’s a lot to learn. We’re going to unpack just one of the KDP extras you can use to make even more money online.

It’s called Kindle Select.

Break Free From the Cubicle!

We’re not gonna lie. We love Amazon’s KDP. And we think a lot more people need to know how to use KDP to create new income streams to live their dream life.

Human beings were not meant to sit in a little cubicle for eight hours a day working some corporate job they not-so-secretly hate just to make ends meet. You know you don’t want to spend the rest of your career fighting traffic just to go into some office where the coffee is old and the muffins are stale.

You have hopes and dreams! And some of these dreams might have been sitting on the shelf for a bit while you’ve been focused on adulting. Paying the bills. Saving for a house downpayment. Or paying off student loans. But there comes a time when you want to break out of your comfort zone and try new things.

Self-publishing can be that new thing. It can launch you into a life of financial freedom, travel, having the flexibility of time to pursue your hobbies or just spending more time with your family.

KDP is an amazing way for everyday people who want to make extra money online.

Even if you don’t consider yourself an author, you can still easily publish a short eBook. Then as soon as you hit the “publish” button, you’re a publisher!

Since you have to be part of KDP before you can enroll in Kindle Select, let’s take a quick peek at KDP.

Harnessing the Power of KDP

If you think self-publishing on Amazon is only for fancy authors with big followers—or people who are super tech-savvy and really know their way around the Internet—you’re wrong!

Using KDP is so easy we even taught our pet Poodle how to do it! Okay, that’s not true—but it is really easy to self-publish on Amazon. (We created a practical course that walks people through everything they need to know—from writing to formatting to publishing and marketing your book. Check out our free webinar to learn more.)

Once your eBook is written (which we also show you how to do), it only takes five minutes to publish on KDP. And it’s completely free! You can publish as many eBooks as you want, and eBook sales are the main way people are making money on KDP.

Some of our students have published multiple full-length eBooks and are making up to $10,000 a month in passive income from their publishing efforts. Just imagine what you could do with an extra $5,000 or $10,000 a month! For starters, you could quit your day job… Then maybe finally take that cruise to the Bahamas you’ve always dreamed about.

Self-publishing on KDP also gives you access to a global audience. Kindle readers across America, Canada, UK, Germany, India, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, Australia will all be able to buy your eBook.

Self-publishing also gives you more control over your work than Ernest Hemingway ever had. You own the rights. This means you can change whatever you want, whenever you want.

And here’s the best part. Amazon gives publishers a whopping 70% royalties of each sale. That’s a big piece of the pie! Our eBook royalty calculator lets you figure out just how much you can earn from collecting book commissions.

Now let’s check out how to use Kindle Select to make even more money.

What Is Kindle Select?

Kindle Select is like the icing on the cake. Cake is great, but without icing, it’s just not as tasty.

Publishers who enroll in Kindle Select are generating another income stream from their work. So if you’re focused on understanding Kindle Select, you’re in the right place.

Kindle Select is a KDP program that allows self-publishers to earn revenue streams based on page reads. It’s also called Unlimited Page Reads.

Here’s how Amazon describes it: “Kindle Unlimited is a subscription program for readers that allows them to read as many books as they want. When you enroll in KDP Select, your books are automatically included in Kindle Unlimited…”

It’s a lot like how Spotify or Apple Music pays artists a small percentage based on how many music streams they get. With Kindle Select, instead of music streams, it’s based on Kindle eReader page reads. Amazon pays publishers out of a KDP Select Global Fund that it set up.

To enroll in Kindle Select, you also have to be willing to give Amazon exclusive rights to sell your book for at least 90 days. Once you join, your eBook is automatically added to Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited inventory and you’ll also get access to Amazon’s promotional tools (more on that in a bit).

How the Page Read Rate Works

Everything about Kindle Select is based on the number of page reads your eBook gets. You’ll be paid a certain rate per page read. Here’s how it works.

The rate Amazon pays you is based on how many subscribers are in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program every month. So keep in mind that the rate does change, but only by a little.

If Amazon’s page count rate is $0.0045 per page—and your book gets 500,000 page reads—you’ll make $2,250.

Here are some examples from Amazon that explain how much you can make:

“Author with a 100-page Kindle eBook that was borrowed and read completely 100 times would earn $1,000 ($10 million x 10,000 pages for this author / 100,000,000 total pages).

“Author of a 200-page Kindle eBook that was borrowed and read completely 100 times would earn $2,000 ($10 million x 20,000 pages for this author / 100,000,000 total pages).

“Author of a 200-page Kindle eBook that was borrowed 100 times but only read halfway through on average would earn $1,000 ($10 million x 10,000 pages for this author / 100,000,000 total pages).”

Some of this math gets hard to follow. But the bottom line is that you can make real money every month by enrolling in Kindle Select. And remember. These page-read royalties would be in addition to what you make through eBook sales.

But wait, there’s more…

Kindle Select Promotional Tools

There’s one final thing we have to tell you about Kindle Select. By enrolling, you also get access to special promotions that will help new readers find and engage with your book.

Here’s what Amazon says about these marketing tools:

“Maximize your book’s sales potential

“Choose between two great promotional tools: Kindle Countdown Deals, time-bound promotional discounting for your book while earning royalties; or Free Book Promotion where readers worldwide can get your book free for a limited time.”

We’ll take a closer look at four of the main promotional tools Amazon offers before concluding.

Kindle Countdown Days—For seven days, Amazon will boost your royalty rates up to 70% for eBooks that are $.99 or $1.99.

Free Book Promotions—Offer new readers your Kindle eBook for free for up to five days.

Amazon Literary Contest—Be part of Amazon writing competitions in different marketplaces and languages.

Kindle Select All Stars bonus—Amazon pays out monthly “all star” bonuses to certain eBooks that have “delighted readers.”

Time to Break Free!

Remember what we said earlier about quitting your day job? Well, we were serious. People around the world are finding they can easily create extra revenue streams from KDP and start to break free from their corporate chains.

What if you had an extra $1,000, $3,000, $5,000 or even $10,000 hitting your checking account each month from eBook royalties?

This is possible!

If you’re already involved in Amazon’s KDP, check out Kindle Select. It’s a super easy and effective way to get even more readers and create another passive income stream.

And don’t forget to sign up for our free webinar to learn how to self-publish your first eBook. Tap into the power of KDP and start building your online publishing empire today!