FAQ: Permafree on Amazon?
Posted: April 11, 2014 Filed under: Amsterdam, popular, Publishing, Reading, review, Uncategorized, Writing, writing skills | Tags: 99 cents, amazon, Amsterdam Assassin Series, downloading, feedback, free, free books, iBookstore, iTunes, KDP, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindleboards, kobo, kobobooks.com, leader, Locked Room, loss, loss-leader, lower price, Microchip Murder, permafree, permanent, Rakuten, show your support, USD 3 CommentsOne of the great mysteries for beginning writers is how to get books up on Amazon permanently free, or ‘permafree’, because when you publish your book through KDP, you will get a notice that you have to put a price of 0.99 USD or higher on your book.
So, how do you get your books permafree on Amazon?
I have two permafree short stories on Amazon, iTunes, and Kobo, as ‘loss-leaders’ for my Amsterdam Assassin Series.
Here’s how I did it:
To get something to go permafree on Amazon, publish it at USD 0.00 on Kobo and iTunes, publish your book for 99 cents on Amazon and go to your book page. Under the Product Details, you find:
Would you like to give feedback on images or tell us about a lower price?
Click that link and provide the URL to the free book on iTunes/Kobo and the list price (0.00 USD). It helps if people other than the author report the lower price. If you’re a member of KindleBoards, they have a thread where you can post your book and report other people’s books, while they report your books.
That’s how I got Locked Room and Microchip Murder permafree on Amazon.
(If this message was helpful to you, I’d appreciate it if you show your support by downloading my free books)
Amsterdam Assassin Series 
Thanks so much for this. I’m trying to get my novella ‘Blackwater’ free on Amazon. It’s free on Sony, Apple, B&N etc and I have clicked the link on Amazon and let them have the URL as have several of my friends. However, it’s still on at 77p/99 cents. I guess i need more people to contact them for me, so the thread on Kindle Boards will be a great help. Thanks!
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Glad to hear it’s helpful. It might take some time for a book to go permafree, and even longer to go permafree on ALL Amazon sites. Locked Room and Microchip Murder were free on .com pretty quick, but it took a few months before they became free on .co.uk and .ca. Now they’re also free on the other sites, as I can see in my sales reports of free downloads in Brazil, Mexico, India, Australia…
The Kindleboards thread is most helpful if you work your way back and start helping the posters above you to get their books permafree. There is a strong sense of reciprocity and ‘pay it forward’. Make sure you help thirty or forty posters, and mention that in your post, so people know that you’re earnest about helping others and would appreciate if they’d do the same for you.
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Great, thanks. Will add it t my to-do list 🙂
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