As an unknown author, I recognized the fact that I needed to develop a fan base to succeed. Posting my work on Facebook would only reach a very limited number of readers since the majority of friends there did not own a Kindle. Tweeting my work also would be futile since most tweeters are not using that media to look for eBooks to purchase.

After realizing the futility of these two venues, I proceeded to use KDP Select free promos to gain recognition. As stated in my prior blog, I did accumulate over a thousand free downloads.

Through my experience, an author can plan on less than half of these downloads to actually be read during the month they were downloaded. Since my issues were less than twenty pages, I assumed the great majority were read within a few days.

The down side of this free promo strategy became quickly apparent. As I continued to schedule free promos for each additional monthly issue, I realized that the great majority of readers were simply waiting for the free days rather than purchase the issue for $0.99. The up side was that new readers were going back to buy previous issues that were no longer free.

The lesson here is that as an unknown author, KDP Select is a great way to expose your work. It is also more effective if you have more than one or two books so that free downloaders who enjoy your book have other offerings to purchase.

The key to all of this is patience. New authors will not be able to develop a fan base overnight. It's my opinion that there are millions of readers out there who eventually will convert to ereaders. The market can only expand with time. The more downloads of your work that are out there, free or purchased, the more likely your fan base will grow. Good luck.