Last reviewed by Robert Prime — May 2026
Introduction
KDP Select — Amazon's exclusivity programme — gives you two promotion tools per 90 days:
- Free Book Promotion — make the ebook free for up to 5 days
- Kindle Countdown Deal — discount the ebook on a countdown timer (7 days max)
Both can work brilliantly. Both produce nothing without marketing. This guide covers when to use each, how to stack with paid promotion sites, and how often to run them without burning the algorithm.
Free Book Promotion vs Kindle Countdown — which to use
Free Book Promotion:
- Book is £0 for up to 5 consecutive days
- You earn no royalty during the promotion
- After the promo, BSR usually drops by 1-2 weeks (algorithm boost from the download spike)
- Best for: book 1 of a series (loss-leader to acquire readers for books 2+); building review velocity; building your KU page-read base post-promo
Kindle Countdown Deal:
- Book is discounted (e.g. from £3.99 to £0.99) on a visible countdown
- You earn 70% royalty even at the lower price (this is the special KCD perk)
- 7 days maximum
- Best for: standalones; books with existing reader base; testing a different price point
- Less BSR boost than Free, but you earn money
For a series book 1: usually Free. For a standalone or established book: usually Kindle Countdown.
Why standalone free promos fail
A free promo with no marketing produces 50-200 downloads. The book's BSR briefly improves, then settles back. Almost no net gain.
Why? Amazon Free chart is huge — hundreds of new free books every day. Without external traffic, your book doesn't surface above the noise.
The fix: stack with paid promotion sites that already have subscribers waiting for free books.
Paid promotion sites that actually move books
Tier 1 — high-quality, expensive, hard to get:
- BookBub Featured Deal (insiderlists.bookbub.com) — £200-£900 depending on category. Acceptance rate ~10%. When accepted, expect 2,000-10,000 downloads on a free day, 500-3,000 sales on a Kindle Countdown. The single most effective promo in indie publishing.
Tier 2 — strong, mid-priced:
- Freebooksy (freebooksy.com) — £80-£300 by genre. Expect 500-2,500 downloads.
- Bargain Booksy (Kindle Countdown version) — £50-£200. Expect 200-800 sales.
- EReader News Today (ENT) — £20-£80. Expect 200-1,000 downloads.
Tier 3 — cheaper, smaller lists:
- Robin Reads — £40-£80. Expect 100-400 downloads.
- Book Barbarian (sci-fi/fantasy specific) — £40-£70.
- Booksends — £30-£70.
- Book Cave — £25-£60 (clean/safe genre filter).
- ManyBooks — £30-£40.
Tier 4 — low-cost stacking:
- Book Doggy, Pixel of Ink, OHFB — £5-£30 each. Smaller per-site impact but cheap stacking.
The stack strategy
For a Free Book Promotion (5-day window), the ideal stack:
- Day 1: BookBub Featured Deal (if accepted) — biggest single-day spike
- Days 2-3: Freebooksy + ENT — sustain the volume
- Day 4: Robin Reads + 2-3 tier-3 sites — keep momentum
- Day 5: Tier-4 stacking — squeeze last downloads
A full stack costs £400-£900 depending on which tier-1 you can get. Without BookBub, £150-£400.
Expected downloads from a well-stacked 5-day free promo: 3,000-15,000 (with BookBub), 1,500-5,000 (without).
What free downloads convert into
A free download is not a sale. What you're buying:
- Future paid sales on books 2-5 (if you have a series with book 1 free) — 5-10% of free downloaders read book 1 and buy book 2.
- Reviews on book 1 — typically 0.5-2% of downloaders leave a review. 5,000 downloads = 25-100 new reviews over 6-8 weeks.
- BSR boost lasting 1-3 weeks post-promo — the algorithm rewards download spikes with "Customers also bought" placement.
- Newsletter signups if you have a back-of-book signup with a free novella reward.
- Kindle Unlimited reads — readers who download free often also page through in KU.
ROI calculation for a free promo with paid stack:
- Cost: £400 stack
- Direct revenue from free promo: £0
- Reviews gained: ~50 (worth ~£200 in social-proof terms)
- Book 2 sales from converted readers: 250-500 buyers × £3 royalty = £750-£1,500
- BSR-driven organic sales over 3 weeks: £100-£500
- Total return: £1,050-£2,200 against £400 cost
That's a 2-5x ROI window when stacked properly. Without stacking, it's a wash.
Kindle Countdown Deal strategy
For a Kindle Countdown Deal:
- Book regularly at £3.99 — drop to £0.99 for days 1-3, then £1.99 days 4-5, then £2.99 days 6-7
- Or simpler: drop to £0.99 for all 7 days
- The countdown timer visually shows readers "price increases in X hours" — drives urgency
Stack with paid promo sites that have a Kindle Countdown / paid-deal track:
- BookBub paid Featured Deal
- Bargain Booksy (paid)
- Freebooksy Kindle Countdown variant
- ENT paid deal
- Many of the tier-3 sites have paid versions
Expected sales: 200-2,000 over the 7 days, depending on stack quality.
The KCD perk: you still earn 70% royalty at £0.99 (normally only 35% applies under £2.99). On 1,000 sales × £0.99 × 70% = ~£693 net.
Frequency — the trap most authors hit
The single biggest mistake: running these promos too often.
Each free promo or KCD provides a BSR boost. The boost shrinks every time you run one on the same book. Run 4 free promos in a year and the algorithm stops responding.
Recommended frequency per book:
- Free promo: 2-3 times per year maximum
- Kindle Countdown: 2-3 times per year maximum
- Combined total: 4-5 promo events per year per book
Space them out by 90-120 days minimum.
Pre-promo checklist
Before running any promo:
- Cover converts at thumbnail size (test with mobile preview)
- Book description is sharp — first 200 characters hook
- Have at least 25 reviews (4.0+ average) — promo sites often require this
- Verify category placement is optimal
- If a series, confirm book 2 is up and discoverable from book 1
- Newsletter signup at back of book is live and the freebie download works
- Cancel any conflicting promotions
- Set Amazon Ads to slightly higher bids during promo week (more eyeballs = more conversion)
Submission timing
Most paid promo sites require 4-12 weeks lead time to submit:
- BookBub Featured Deal: 4-6 weeks
- Freebooksy: 4-8 weeks
- ENT: 2-4 weeks
- Tier-3 sites: 2-4 weeks
- Tier-4 sites: 1-2 weeks
Plan promotion bookings 8-12 weeks ahead of the run date.
UK considerations
- UK promo sites are limited — most are US-based. Freebooksy has decent UK reach. BookBub has solid UK list.
- UK pricing dynamics — £0.99 free promo equivalent. Kindle Countdown at £0.99 stacks well with UK promo lists.
- UK-set fiction performs particularly well on Freebooksy and BookBub when the description mentions the British setting in the first line.
- VAT zero-rated on UK ebook sales — no pricing distortion.
Common mistakes
- Running free promos without paid stack. Tiny downloads, no algorithmic boost. Don't bother.
- Running too frequently. 4+ free promos in 12 months = diminishing returns.
- Free promo on a standalone with no follow-up book. You acquire readers with nowhere to send them next.
- Running with under 25 reviews. Promo sites reject; readers don't convert.
- Discounting from £2.99 to £0.99 with no countdown urgency. Use KCD's visible countdown.
- Not promoting the promo on your own channels. Tell your newsletter, social, Author Central — these are free amplification.
- Ignoring Amazon Ads during promo. Spend slightly more on ads during the week — promo traffic boosts conversion.
The bottom line
KDP Select promos work when stacked with £150-£900 of paid promotion sites. Standalone promos with no marketing don't work. Run no more than 4-5 promo events per year per book. Series book 1 = Free strategy. Standalone or established book = Kindle Countdown.
The maths is genuine: £400 in promo costs returns £1,000-£2,200 across direct sales, follow-on series sales, and review velocity — when done properly.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to be in KDP Select to do free promos or Kindle Countdown?
Yes. Both features are KDP Select exclusives. Wide-distribution books don't have access.
Should I use my 5 free days all at once or split them?
Almost always: all at once. The algorithmic boost comes from the spike. Splitting dilutes it.
What's a "good" download count for a free promo?
With stack: 3,000-10,000 downloads. Without stack: 50-300.
How long until BSR returns to pre-promo level?
2-3 weeks if the promo was strong. Some books permanently lift to a new baseline after a major promo + the resulting follow-on sales.
Can I run a free promo on book 2 of a series?
You can — but it's usually less effective than running it on book 1. Book 1 acquires new readers; book 2 mostly gets free copies to existing readers.
Should I use BookBub if accepted?
Almost always yes. Even a £900 Featured Deal in a top genre is worth it. Acceptance is rare so don't expect every submission to succeed.
