KDP Select Pros & Cons: Should Established Authors Switch to KDP Select?

Self publishing is huge right now, and there are many writers that are reaping the benefits. If you have a manuscript that’s ready to see the light, then self publishing can have a lot of pros above traditional publishing – including regaining control over the rights to your work and having a personal hand in aspects like cover art and formatting.

Here are some of the pros & cons of switching over to KDP Select if you’re a previously published and already established author.

KDP Select Allows for Seeing Stats

Traditional publishing means that you only see sales stats once every few months when they send you their royalty statement, usually quarterly. When you use a platform like KDP Select to self publish, you can see your statistics on the site instead of having to wait for the publisher’s royalty check to roll around – and instead of having to wait for the traditional publisher’s check to see any of the sales, KDP Select allows instant access to cash out funds earned from book sales.

KDP Select Retains YOU Promotional Control

When you publish through a publishing house, signing your contract means more than just getting money in exchange for your work: It also often means signing your rights away to the publisher for a certain (and sometimes near-indefinite) amount of time.

While Amazon KDP Select means that you’re signing into exclusivity with Amazon – this still gives you far more control over the process and promotion for your book than traditional publishing is ever able to.

For example, many books will decline in sales after a few months and traditional publishers will refuse to put more money into the pot for promotion. This can screw you if you’re a new or established writer who wants to promote and control your own work.

With KDP Select, you have control over when your work gets promoted – and other than granting them exclusive rights, you can do what you want to make sure your work gets seen.

KDP Select Allows You Control Over Covers

Traditional publishing usually has departments controlling things like art, layout and design – and it’s rare for most authors to get to pick their own covers or cover artists. If you want to regain total control over the covers that appear on your books, self publishing through KDP Select can allow you this freedom – and can result in a product that the author is a lot happier with when it gets published.

KDP Select Is Format-Friendly

Traditional publishing doesn’t always see books released in all formats: It’s either print or e-book, and many traditional publishing companies aren’t Kindle-friendly. If you want your content to be released directly to Kindle readers (even many ones that don’t know your work yet), KDP Select is one of the few format-friendly platforms out there that can release your work directly to the popular Kindle platform.

KDP Select Still Offers Support

Stuck? Traditional publishers aren’t always as much help as you need them to be. There are many authors who report feedback issues when they want to know about a book that was released a few books ago – and traditional publishers are notorious for losing interest in “older” books.

With KDP Select, support from the technical team is just a few clicks away – and you’re free to do with your older publications exactly what you like. If you want to release your first book again, there’s no need to call your publisher first. Log into KDP Select and get publishing.

KDP Select is a Faster Process

The traditional publishing process takes months, sometimes even years, to get a book from the manuscript stage to the published book. The KDP Select process has this condensed to just a few minutes once you have your cover art and formatting the way you like it. For writers with a lot to say, this is a faster, easier and often more profitable process.