Amazon to Award Bonuses to Top Performing Authors

Posted on 2014-Sep-17

More Money for the KDP Select Program

In response to many traditionally-published authors launching a crusade against Amazon, Amazon has attempted to curry favor with more indie authors by expanding the money involved with the KDP Select program. KDP Select sort of became passé in 2013, but the program has received some revived interest this year. Two months ago, Amazon launched the subscription service Kindle Unlimited that requires indie authors to be enrolled in KDP Select. While this has some downsides for authors, many authors have noted that it has helped their genre ranking.

Now, Amazon has announced that they will be rewarding significantly more cash for top-performing authors and titles in KDP Select. The details from Amazon are here and the money involved is as follows:

The top 100 most-read KDPS authors will each be awarded the following amounts:

Authors 1 through 10 will receive $25,000
Authors 11 through 20 will receive $10,000
Authors 21 through 30 will receive $5,000
Authors 31 through 50 will receive $2,500
Authors 51 through 100 will receive $1,000

Authors of the top 100 KDPS titles will each earn the following amounts:

Titles 1 through 10 will receive $2,500
Titles 11 through 50 will receive $1,000
Titles 51 through 100 will receive $500

This pays out monthly too!

For those not familiar with KDP Select, you can enroll your eBooks in KDP Select when you publish through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). The downside is that you cannot publish your eBook anywhere else, including your own website. Many people viewed this program as a cynical power-grab by Amazon when it was launched in 2011 to shut down other eBook vendors. We are inclined to agree.

Using Box Sets to get to the Top Spots

Since KDP Select isn’t much used by the big publishers, this could be a great opportunity for top-performing indies to get some extra cash. From the numbers quoted above, this is real money and not just a gift certificate to the Red Lobster. No worries if you’re not a big name author, you may be able to get in on a box set that sells at $0.99. The box sets of 8, 10, and even 12 authors’ books have performed very well in 2014, often reaching the top 100 overall paid at Amazon. Coordinating with other authors in your genre to release a thrifty box set that goes into KDP Select may be a pathway to some well-deserved cash from Amazon.

Label: Self-Publishing