Kindle Countdown Deal Works for Reader and Writer

St.-Petersburg: Copyright: Bigstockphoto.com evasilieva

I just completed offering my books on Kindle's Countdown deal for the first time and was pleased with the results. Unlike giving away books on the Kindle Free Days, the books are sold at reduced prices that gradually increase until the price is back to the original. My books are only $2.99 to start with so I don't have many price increments. What I like about this deal is that the reader isn't just grabbing a book because it's free. He or she is making a decision to purchase and read the book.

I also like the Countdown Deal because it adds a sense of urgency to the buyer's decision-making process. The price is going to go up. That is made clear to the buyer who is trying to decide what to purchase. Another consideration is that the countdown deal can only be used once in each marketplace during a 90-day period. Currently, the only two marketplaces are Amazon.com and Amazon.uk. The buyer may not know this, so authors should stress this in promotional information.

Amazon helps readers find books offering countdown deals. See: http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-eBooks/b?ie=UTF8&node=7078878011. On the day I looked, there were nearly 1,500 books listed. It would take time to search such a large list. However, Amazon offers ways to reduce the size of the list by allowing you to drill down to the types of books you like.

First, you can select a specific category. Look at the menu on the left of the page and click on Kindle e-books under the heading Kindle Countdown Deals. This will open a long list of categories from Arts & Photography to Travel. If you are interested in Christian fiction, for example, click on Literature & Fiction, and then select Religious & Inspirational Fiction. At the time I did this, there were only 25 books in this category. From here there are more ways to zoom into what you are interested in, but with only 25 books, you could check on each one.

You may want to view the list of books on special after sorting it in various ways. On the right side of the page, look for a pull-down list called Sort by. You have the following options: New and Popular, Price: Low to High, Price: High to Low, Avg. Customer Review, and Publication Date. And, of course, you can use these sort criteria at any point while you are viewing the list of books.

Sometimes I feel like I'm going around circles while watching for the next best way to reach readers. The Kindle Countdown Deal is a winner for both reader and writer.

Check my specials here: http://www.sidneywfrost.com/specials.html.