by Molly Greene, @mollygreene
Important note: This process has changed slightly. View the update here.
I once waited a month for Amazon to price match a book to free, sending daily encouragement by submitting the info via their input link, “Would you like to tell us about a lower price?”
When it didn’t happen, I begged friends to help by clicking that link, as well. It still never happened. That’s when I gave up and joined KDP Select. For the past year, I’ve scheduled free promotions via my KDP dashboard, and that’s been that.
Months ago, though, author friends explained the easy way to do it. Argggh! I’ve been posting a lot about freebies lately, and several non-KDP Select authors have left comments on various posts wondering how to get books to go free on Amazon, so I thought I’d share the no-fuss, no-muss method.
The truth is, Amazon will gladly price match your book to free, and without a struggle. All you need to do is contact them through your KDP dashboard and ASK. Yes, one simple email will usually handle it. Price matching can happen as quickly as within 24 hours – but I’d give it a week. Here’s the straightforward, stress-free process my friends (and several other bloggers!) have shared.
- Log in to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
- Click the “Help” tab in the upper right-hand corner.
- Scroll down to the bottom left menu and click “Contact us.”
- In the left menu, click “Pricing & Royalties.”
- Then click “Price Matching.”
- In your message, include the title and ASIN of the book, plus links to retail sites where it’s currently free: iTunes, Kobo, Smashwords, whatever. Tell them you’re running a free promotion and you need Amazon to price match.
I must add – and this is important! – that your book MUST be set to 35% royalty on Amazon or you’ll get a slap on the hand.
That’s it, it’s that easy! If I’d known the process was actually that simple I might not have joined KDP Select, and if I ever decide to take my books out, at least I’ll know that scheduling promos won’t make me tear out my hair. Good luck!
Note from Molly: Check out my novels on Amazon, join my Reader’s Club for freebies and book news, and follow me on Twitter. This original content is copyright protected. Thank you so much. Mwah!
Comments are closed.