KDP Select
KDP Select is an optional program for Kindle ebooks published through Kindle Direct Publishing. When you enroll a book, you agree to make the ebook available exclusively through Amazon for a 90-day term. Terms renew automatically unless you turn renewal off.
In return, you get:
- Kindle Unlimited. Subscribers can read your book as part of their subscription, and you earn a share of the monthly KDP Select Global Fund based on pages read, counted in Kindle Edition Normalized Pages (KENP).
- Promotion tools. Kindle Countdown Deals (time-limited discounts on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk) and Free Book Promotions (up to five free days in each 90-day term).
Why it matters for indie authors
Exclusivity is the real decision. While the ebook is enrolled, you can’t sell or give it away anywhere else: not on Apple Books, Kobo or Google Play, and not on your own website or through newsletter giveaways. The terms allow no more than 10% of the book to appear elsewhere, for example as a sample. Paperbacks, hardcovers and audiobooks aren’t affected, because the exclusivity applies only to the digital edition.
Whether it pays off depends on where your readers are. Some readers mostly borrow through Kindle Unlimited; others buy from a range of stores, which is why some authors sell everywhere instead, an approach known as going wide.
Example
An author enrolls the ebook of her cozy mystery in KDP Select at launch. For the next 90 days it’s in Kindle Unlimited, and she earns from pages read as well as from sales. Later in the term, she schedules a five-day free promotion to bring in new readers before the second book in the series comes out. Her paperback stays on sale through other channels the whole time. Before the term ends, she decides whether to renew or to turn renewal off and go wide.
She also publishes a free sample on her own book page, and keeps it within the 10% limit while the ebook is enrolled.
Common mistakes
- Leaving the ebook on sale elsewhere after enrolling. Amazon checks, and a book found in another store can be removed from the program.
- Forgetting auto-renewal. If you plan to go wide, turn renewal off before the term ends.
- Posting too much free content. Chapters shared on your website, book page or social media count toward the 10% limit.
- Expecting Select to cover print. It applies to the ebook only.