I am pondering moving more of my titles from KU only to wide. My KU reads have been steadily going downhill since September 2022 and absolutely nothing I’ve done has helped with that. I’ve tried new Amazon and FB ads, new releases, working social media, using my newsletter, and none of it has helped. I don’t know how much of this has to do with Amazon pushing its Vella platform, but I suspect that, plus the KU strike promoted by Booktok and the fact that Amazon is letting some major writers put their books in KU without being exclusive to Amazon, is having some impact on KU reach and reads.

Problem is, going from KU to wide will result in a temporary shortfall in income until the books start picking up steam, and this can take up to two years (the more backlist you have, the shorter that time period is). I did move the Esposito County Shifters series wide back in March; so far those titles have made more from non-‘Zon platforms than they have from being a non-KU title on Amazon, which gives me some data. I’m still reluctantly to move the series that are still bringing in some KU reads, but I could move the rest of my standalones. Behind the Iron Cross, Degree of Resistance, Stealing Dmitri, and Trickster might do better wide, especially now that Smashwords has combined with Draft2Digital.

Something to think about over a weekend, I guess.