Amazon KDP Promotions: An Exclusive Kindle Book Promotion

About this video

Dale documents an exclusive invitation he received by email from Amazon KDP to include one of his books in a promotion on Amazon.in, Amazon.com and other Kindle stores. According to the email he quotes, Amazon would offer the book at a discount it determines off the list price, up to 75 percent, for a period of up to approximately one month, while the list price itself would not change, so customers would see the list price and the discount. He says he first double-checked the source email address before clicking the link, which led to a survey-style landing page where he pasted a code to see the full terms. He summarizes five points: there are no guarantees — Amazon decides whether to run the promotion and when to start and stop it, though the promotion window would be somewhere between April 1st and June 30th that year; Amazon, not the author, controls the discount; the royalty percentage stays locked at the author’s current rate, but royalties are calculated on the discounted price, not the list price; the author must keep the book in the Kindle store for at least 90 days after the promotion ends and cannot unpublish or terminate KDP participation during that period; and Amazon chose only one of his books — one that, he says, did really well in India the previous year and was not enrolled in KDP Select, which did not prevent the offer. He notes the lack of control makes the deal hard to market himself and promises updates if he learns more.

Key takeaways

• The invite was exclusive and selective: Amazon KDP chose only one of Dale’s books — one that had done well in India the previous year — and it was not enrolled in KDP Select.
• Amazon controls the deal: it decides whether and when the promotion runs (window given as April 1 to June 30) and sets the discount, up to 75 percent off list price, for up to about one month.
• Your list price stays unchanged so customers see the discount against it, but royalties are calculated on the discounted price while your royalty percentage itself stays the same.
• Accepting carries a 90-day commitment: the book must remain in the Kindle store for at least 90 days after the promotion ends, with no unpublishing or leaving KDP in that period.
• Verify before clicking: Dale double-checked the source email address for security before following the link to the survey-style page and entering the code to view the full terms.

Episode details: published March 26, 2018 · 3:36 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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