Nothing gets customers buying faster than a limited-time discount. In this article, you’ll learn how to run limited-time discounts for your Amazon eBooks.
Have you ever been to a Black Friday sale?
It gets crazy out there!
People start fighting each other over things they don’t really need…
They sit in traffic longer than they normally have patience for…
They flex their loot on social media, proudly declaring how much money they saved by buying things at a discount…
Incredible, right?
Did you know you can create the same urgency for those who might be eyeing your self-published books on Amazon…
…yet can’t make the final move to check it out?
While we’re not out to dupe people into buying your self-published books when they neither need nor want it…
A discount could help them finally take action and buy your books!
That’s where Kindle Countdown Deals come in.
Kindle Countdown Deals: What’s In It for You?
Before we discuss how you can run countdown deal promotions for your self-published books…
Let’s first take a look at the benefits of putting your eBooks up at a discount:
Benefit #1 – Increased Excitement
As you know, Kindle Countdown Deals are time-based promotions.
But what exactly makes it so effective?
It’s because when you put one of your self-published books on a countdown deal…
The website will show your customers the time remaining for the promotion.
This increases the sense of urgency for your interested buyers, which is the main reason why discounts work in the first place.
You see, sometimes, people just need a little push to finally buy the book they’ve been wanting to read for weeks.
And Kindle’s time-based promotion can give them that push.
Benefit #2 – Retained Royalty Rate
The reason why many publishers are hesitant to offer their ebooks at a discount is that they believe they’ll earn a lower royalty or lower-priced books.
But that’s just not the case with Kindle Countdown Deals. You’ll continue earning royalties based on your regular rates—and the promotional price you set for your eBooks.
This means you don’t have to worry about lower royalties.
So, if you’re using the 70% royalty option, you’d still get 70% of the earnings even if the book is priced down below $2.99.
Benefit #3 – Real-Time Monitoring
Despite the many benefits of offering your eBooks at discounted prices, I know you’d eventually want to bring them back to their regular prices.
After all, you didn’t start your own publishing business to lose out on revenue, right?
Still, it helps to know how much sales you can generate whenever you offer price-off deals. And Amazon can help you crunch those numbers easily.
See, when you’ve got an active Kindle Countdown Deal, your KDP report will display sales and royalties at each price discount. And it will compare that with the performance of your eBooks before you offered the discount.
This way, you can monitor the performance of your books in real-time. And you can decide at once whether to offer more similar deals in the future or not.
Benefit #4 – Easy Marketing
When you put your self-published book up for a Kindle Countdown Deal, Amazon will display the original price of your book alongside its discounted price. This helps customers see the great deal they’re getting as soon as they see your book on the site.
As a result, you hardly have to worry about spreading the news about the promotion you’re running—Amazon will do that for you.
How to Add a Kindle Countdown Deal for Your eBook
Now that you know the benefits you can get from Kindle Countdown Deals, let me walk you through the process of adding one for your eBook:
1. Enrol your book in the KDP Select Program
Enrolling in the KDP Select Program gives you several perks and access to exclusive marketing opportunities, including Kindle Countdown Deals.
This is the first step toward adding a Kindle Countdown Deal for your eBook.
2. Add your promotion
Once you’re eligible for the Kindle Countdown Deal, you can activate the discount yourself by going to the Marketing tab.
Under Run a Price Promotion, select Kindle Countdown Deals. Then, select the eBook you want to put up for the discount.
You can then enter the necessary information, including:
- Marketplace
- Date and time
- Number of price increments
- Starting price
After filling this form up with all the necessary information, click Add Promotion. You will then see the promotion on your book details page, under the KDP Select Benefits tab.
3. Cancel or change your promotion
Note that once your Kindle Countdown Deal is scheduled, you cannot modify or cancel it until after the schedule you originally set for it. Neither can you change the regular list price of your discounted eBook for 30 days before and 14 days after your promotion ends.
Amazon has all these safeguards to ensure stable prices and a great experience for your customers. So, be mindful of the information you provide the site when you activate your Kindle Countdown Deal for the first time.
Earn More From Your Amazon Self-Publishing Business
Offering discounts on your self-published eBooks is just one of the many ways you can increase your sales and generate a loyal following.
Once you’ve increased your customers’ interest in your selection of eBooks, they’re going to be looking out for more releases from you.
With that in mind, you also need a strategy for consistently coming out with self-published eBooks to sustain the demand.
Now, it’s true that this task is easier said than done.
But if you’re interested in learning more about this and other tips on how you can build a successful self-publishing business on Amazon…
You can reserve your slot for my upcoming webinar.