KDP Select Analysis REDUX

Regular followers of this blog know I have 0 problems admitting when I was wrong. This is another one of those posts. Maybe not so much as wrong, but re-evaluating my thinking as the data has come in. And no, it's not the line of thinking you might anticipate.

My gut reaction to KDP Select back when the monkey wrench was thrown into the publishing world was that I was firmly on the fence and therefore erring on the caution. I am changing that position.

First, my next book, STONE, a novella, is coming out in March. Also, my POD of CANCELLED was picked up by Barnes and Noble and is the first result when someone searches Cancelled on BN.com. It doesn't link to my Nook book at all, as the publishers are different.

The plan:
I am going to announce in mid-February that Cancelled is coming off the Nook site temporarily on March 17th, but will be back at the end of June. Meanwhile, the print version of Cancelled will remain available on Barnes and Noble and lower the price of the print version as low as I can (I should be able to get it down to about $7.90-$8.95 depending on if BN keeps giving a $1 off like it is right now). I will be 100% upfront about it, and let my Nook fans know that this is just a promotion I am trying out.

However, STONE will release on all channels on release day, both Kindle and Nook. So I'm giving Nook readers a heads up that if they want to get Cancelled, do so before the middle of March, and I'm making sure my new release goes out to everyone at the same time. This way I'm not playing favorites.

I will make Cancelled free for two days when STONE comes out, again after Mother's Day, and finally at the end of the 90 days exclusivity with PAST DUE comes out in June. This way I maximize the "exclusivity" requirement to its fullest extent.

After this, I will have all books available on all channels for awhile. SERVED comes out in September and I will probably put CANCELLED on sale for $.99 for 30 days in celebration of that release.

If this experiment goes well, and depending on if I lose the reviews I have for Cancelled on Nook by moving it to off sale on BN, but I don't think I will, I will consider putting either STONE or PAST DUE into KDP Select for Christmas time. I think it will be PAST DUE as the sequel to that is scheduled for March, so I could do the same kind of thing, make PAST DUE free around the time of the release of the sequel.

All of my ebook files will be modified to advertise the other books as books come out.

So that's the plan. Feel free to weigh in and I'd love to hear what other authors think. I think there is no denying that using the free days on KDP Select bumps you up, and I want to do that when I have more than one book available for readers to read. The twist here is that the assumption has been we have to put our new releases on Kindle first, and I'm working around that. Worst thing I lose is the 4 reviews I have on Barnes and Noble at the moment.

So here's the goal, and I have to make it here before any of the above can happen. One step at a time.

A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby. CANCELLED is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.  WIP: STONE A single mom with a Joan Jett attitude kicks a creep out of her life, with a shot gun.