The 90 Day Experiment

Posted: July 12, 2017 in Uncategorized

A couple of days ago, I made a decision that will impact my e-books for the next 90 days. I enrolled all my Wasteland Chronicles books into Kindle Unlimited…which according to the terms, means I have to delist them from all other sites. That includes iBooks, B&N, Kobo, Google, among others. For the next 90 days, Wasteland Chronicles e-books will be exclusive to Amazon. In exchange, Wasteland Chronicles will be available through Kindle Unlimited and I’ll get access to a few promotion deals, including Kindle Countdown.

The reason for this decision? As an author, it’s important to try new things. Gaining new readers is the lifeblood of my profession. If I don’t gain new readers, then I’m out of a job. I’m a little late to be trying it — most other authors have given it a go already — but it’s only because, historically, I think competition in any marketplace is a good thing. It makes me a bit uncomfortable to see Amazon gaining an ever larger share of the market, but at the same time, it’s not surprising. Of all the major e-book retailers, their platform is the only that continues to evolve and meet the needs of readers on an unprecedented level. As much as I would like to see Apple or Google try new things to remain competitive…they simply are not.

I get a significant amount of sales from my non-Amazon platforms, and it will be interesting to see the extra Kindle Unlimited downloads will be enough to make up the difference. f, after 90 Days, the results are underwhelming, then I’ll make all my other books available for download again elsewhere.

I have no idea how this will turn out. Some authors experience a lot of success with Kindle  Unlimited while others make more by publishing everywhere they possibly can. In the past, the latter was always my philosophy…and it was a philosophy that usually turned out to be true.

I’ve had thousands of sales on other vendors since I’ve started publishing, so saying no to that money, even for 90 Days, on an experiment seems like a gamble. But Amazon has always sold more than all of them combined, and this is more to satisfy my own curiosity. While Amazon has evolved over the 3.5 years I’ve been writing full-time, the other platforms have remained largely the same. Being Amazon exclusive used to mean you made less than someone who published everywhere possible — these days, that’s no longer true. It’s important to take the risks, and if those risks don’t turn out well, you can always correct your course.

So anyway…that’s the reasoning behind my decision. If you are a reader on a platform other than Amazon…my Wasteland books will still be available through the Kindle app, which you can download onto your laptop or iPad.

90 Days from now, I will be writing an update on this trial period, letting you know where my thoughts lie.

Comments
  1. Dina Bushrod says:

    Wow, I hope this works out for you. I buy Amazon almost exclusively, but not through Unlimited. I am though a Prime member. I understand from some of my other Authors that they’ve had some problems, so long keep my fingers crossed that it will go great for you. Aside from that, you should really start up a team/crew whatever you want to call it, consisting of you fans, where you can promote your work and where we, your fans, can use that to share and help promote you as well. I’m not sure but I don’t think you have that now. I myself try and spread your work when I can. Best of luck

    • Kyle says:

      Absolutely. Marketing isn’t exactly my strong suit, so I depend largely on word of mouth and my fans to spread the word. And it’s just 90 Days. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll be putting my books on all platforms like before. Success with KU seems to stem from getting the visibility…the people on top reap the most rewards. So, it’s a risk, so we will see if it pays off.

  2. Joy says:

    If it works out for you, I’ll probably join unlimited. Been thinking about it and your experience will be my deciding factor!

    • Kyle says:

      Well for now, I’m keeping Xenoworld out of it. It’ll only go in if it has good results which is still be debatable. WC is my test series to see how it goes.

      • Steven Dow says:

        Hopefully you will gain more readers than you lose. After Xenoworld, you may lose me, as Unlimited at almost $10 a month is too much for a book or two a month. Seems that Amazon may price me out of the electronics books market. Oh well. I’m sure there are other Sci Fi authors that won’t limit themselves to one source for their writing.

      • Kyle says:

        Well, you can still purchase the book on Amazon, even if you’re not a subscriber of Kindle Unlimited. KU just gives subscribers the chance to read it for free since they already pay a monthly sub.

  3. sounds good. what is the name of the most resent book? it has been awhile since I read the wasteland series?

    • Kyle says:

      Wasteland Chronicles is finished, you can find all of them on Amazon. I’m doing a follow up series right now where the first 4 books are out…takes place four centuries after the events of Wasteland Chronicles, and the fifth book is almost done.

  4. Elliot says:

    Any chance of an update on kingdom kyle?

  5. Charley Ball says:

    I am hoping you return to iBooks soon so I can but book 3 – I only use apple products and am personally disappointed that mid way through a series it’s no longer available 😦

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