Glossary
KDP Select
KDP Select is an optional Amazon programme that puts an ebook into Kindle Unlimited, now Kindle+, for 90-day terms, as long as the digital edition is sold only through Amazon.
Checked by Dario Griffo, founder of Lanternbee, on .
What it means
KDP Select is a free programme from Kindle Direct Publishing. Amazon describes it as a 90-day programme. While a book is enrolled, its ebook is included in the reading subscription, now called Kindle+, and the author earns from pages read. Enrolled ebooks can also run Kindle Countdown Deals and free book promotions.
The price is exclusivity. Amazon’s KDP Select page says the digital format of the book must be available only through KDP while it is enrolled, and that you cannot distribute it digitally anywhere else, including on your own website or blog. Print editions are not covered: you can sell the paperback anywhere.
A fantasy author might enrol every ebook in Select because their readers borrow heavily. A nonfiction author might enrol one title as a test. A poet might never enrol, because they sell PDFs and ebooks at readings and online.
Why it matters when you sell direct
An enrolled ebook cannot be sold from your own store. That includes ebook bundles and box sets that contain it. If you want to sell an ebook direct, take it out of Select at the end of a term first.
Your paperbacks, hardbacks, special editions and signed copies are free to sell direct either way.
How Lanternbee handles it
You choose which editions to put on your store. Leave enrolled ebooks off, and sell the print editions. When an ebook leaves Select, add its file to the edition and it is ready to sell. Check the current terms in your KDP account before you decide; Amazon changes them.