How and When To Use The KDP 5 Day Free Promotion | Free Self-Publishing Course | #18

About this video

Video 18 of Sean’s free step-by-step publishing course covers whether to run a free promotion on KDP. A free promo lets you set a 1 to 5 day period where your book is free, which drives many more downloads, helps build an email list, and lets your ARC team download it so their reviews show as verified. It is only available in KDP Select, and you can run either a free promo or a Kindle Countdown Deal only once every 90 days. Sean says he believes free downloads help ranking only very little — in his opinion roughly 200 downloads equal one sale — and warns that interrupting paid sales with a free period kills sales momentum and the consistency Amazon rewards. His own approach is to run 3 to 5 days free immediately after the book goes live, gather reviews, then push 99-cent sales and go straight to full price. After 90 days, for a book that is already selling, he recommends a Kindle Countdown Deal instead of another free promo, noting countdown pays 70% royalties instead of 35%, and repeating the launch to boost BSR. He ends by showing how to set it under Promote and Advertise.

Key takeaways

• Free promos run 1 to 5 days, are KDP Select only, and you can choose only a free promo or a Kindle Countdown Deal every 90 days
• Sean believes a free download is worth very little for ranking — roughly 200 downloads to equal one sale in his opinion
• Do a free promo right after launch, not mid-momentum, because interrupting consistent paid sales hurts the algorithm push
• His sequence: 3 to 5 days free for ARC reviews, then 99-cent sales, then straight to full price
• After 90 days prefer a Kindle Countdown Deal (70% royalties vs 35%) and re-run the launch instead of giving a selling book away free

Episode details: published April 4, 2020 · 4:17 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Sean Dollwet’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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