KDP Select, Zero Sales, and What I Learned as a Beginner Writer

Recently, my KDP Select term ended. It was a 90-day enrollment, and I chose not to renew it. For context, a few months ago, after deleting my story from Royal Road, I enrolled my entire Celestic Warriors series into KDP Select. From the beginning, I was very clear about one thing: this was an experiment. I didn't expect sales. I didn't expect success. I didn't even expect readers. So no - I don't feel that enrolling in KDP Select was a mistake. I already knew what I was testing, and now that the term is over, this article is me putting down what I actually learned.

The Results: Zero Reads, Zero Royalties - and One Unexpected Win

Let's be direct. Paid sales: 0 Kindle Unlimited page reads: 0 Royalties: 0 I had no audience. I did no marketing. And honestly, I didn't even know how to market properly even if I wanted to. So this outcome wasn't shocking. KDP Select only works if: you already have an audience, or you are willing to do marketing, or you get extremely lucky I had none of those. But the experience wasn't entirely disappointing either.

Free Promotions: The Part That Actually Mattered to Me

During KDP Select, authors can choose promotional tools. As a beginner, the choice was obvious to me: Free Book Promotion. I didn't just put one book on free promo. I put all three books in the Celestic Warriors series on free promotion. Why? Because if someone is going to try my work, I want them to experience it fully - not halfway. And more than anything, I wanted people to at least have copies of my story. The result: 14 free downloads per book To some people, that's meaningless. To me, it wasn't.

Permanence Matters More to Me Than Sales

Free promos don't give royalties. They don't help the algorithm much either. But knowing that someone, somewhere, has my books - that matters to me. Royalties are unpredictable unless something goes viral. Permanence is long-term. That's why I don't feel completely disappointed with KDP Select. It did exactly what I expected it to do.

KDP Select Is Not Beginner-Friendly - and That's Fine

From this experiment, I learned something very clearly: KDP Select is only suitable for beginners if: you want to stay on one platform only, and you are willing to do marketing yourself If you don't like marketing and you prefer sharing stories freely on platforms like Royal Road or Wattpad, then KDP Select is probably not for you. Amazon doesn't market your book for you. And I don't blame Amazon for that - it's a marketplace, not a mentorship program. Self-publishing gives freedom. It also gives zero support.

Why I Left Royal Road in the First Place

Before enrolling in KDP Select, I had deleted my story from Royal Road. I had already written an article about that incident, so I won't repeat it in full, but the short version is this: There was a major debate on Royal Road forums about AI usage in writing. My mistake was participating in that debate with a Pro-AI stance. Royal Road's forums are a space where anti-AI voices are extremely loud. Not everyone there is like that, but the ones who are tend to dominate discussions. Many of them are not interested in nuance, explanation, or understanding different workflows. I naïvely thought that if I explained my point of view clearly, people would understand. That was my mistake.

The 1.5-Star Rating and Why I Deleted the Story

Shortly after that debate, my story received a 1.5-star rating - with no written review. That hurt more than it should have, because I knew it wasn't about the story. It was about my stance on AI. The story was already complete - 111 chapters - and I deleted it entirely. Looking back, that was not the best decision. The rating was unfair, and removing the story punished myself more than anyone else. But at the time, the situation felt uncertain and hostile. I was also supposed to release a sequel. There was fear that the rating would carry over, that everything I posted next would be judged through the same lens, and that people would assume the work was "robotic garbage" just because of the AI tag even I post consistently. I overthought it. But in that mental state, the decision felt the most logical.

Why KDP Select Felt Like the Safer Choice at the Time

After deleting the story, enrolling in KDP Select felt like a better option. It removed forum exposure, ratings anxiety, and debates entirely. And to be fair, I was also genuinely curious about KDP Select itself - that curiosity played a small but real role in the decision. Was it the best long-term choice? No. Was it an understandable choice given the situation? Yes. At the time, I also decided that if I ever posted on Royal Road again, it would be something written entirely by me. That decision came directly from the expectations I saw in the forums - especially the strong anti-AI stance. It felt like the only way to avoid unnecessary hostility.

The Realization That Changed Everything

After some time, I realized something important. This realization didn't come randomly. It was triggered by a hostile comment in the forums - one that didn't just take an anti-AI stance, but crossed a line by attacking my identity as a writer. At that moment, I started thinking that if I ever posted on Royal Road again, I should only post something written entirely by me. I thought that would avoid conflict. But the more I thought about it, the clearer it became: doing that wouldn't be a neutral decision - it would be surrender. I would be giving in to that hostility. Because the truth is, posting something written entirely by hand wouldn't change how average readers react. It wouldn't magically improve reception. It would only increase the time it takes me to draft - nothing else. Most readers don't care about production methods. The group that claims they only read "purely human-written work" is actually very small - just very loud. Many readers misunderstand AI-assisted writing and assume it means no imagination, which isn't true. And some genuinely prefer purely manual work, which is fine. But the general reader only cares whether they enjoy the story. If I forced myself to write everything manually just to comply, I wouldn't be improving the work - I'd be sacrificing what I love about the process. For many writers, writing every word manually is fulfilling. For me, at this point in my life, it can be draining. My imagination works fastest when I'm not trapped in constant drafting and policing every sentence. When I focus too much on mechanics, imagination suffers. I've seen that happen to me. Yes, imperfections can be edited later - but why force a workflow that doesn't fit me? Changing my process just to avoid hostility would mean changing myself. And that contradicted something deeper for me. I've always believed in heterogeneity - in not forcing sameness, in not letting others overwrite us. It would also go against my pro-passion and freedom stance. Acting out of fear would mean violating my own philosophy. That mattered more than appeasing hostility. Constructive feedback is something I'm open to. Tone matters. If that criticism had been delivered constructively, I might have considered it differently. But hostility doesn't deserve obedience. So I chose not to change myself.

Readers Care About Stories, Not Debates

Another realization hit me: The people arguing in forums are mostly writers, not readers. Readers don't: lurk in forum debates attack worldviews police production methods They just want good stories. If I don't participate in forums, readers will judge my work for what it is, not for my stance on AI. And that's exactly what I want.

Why I'm Going Back to Royal Road

Now that my KDP Select term is over, I've decided to start posting again on Royal Road. Actually, I had already started posting one of my stories "Bound by Light and Darkness" there, just a month back, after the realization. Not because I "lost" any debate. But because: deleting a finished story was a waste readers deserve access to it forums do not define readership I'll have to avoid forum debates entirely and let the work speak for itself. I also have to reduce unnecessary mentions of AI. The AI tag is fine - but repeatedly bringing it up only invites judgment instead of honest reading. Many people use AI quietly. My mistake was oversharing in the wrong place.

What I Learned From All of This

KDP Select is fine for experimentation Don't rely on it as primary income Free promos can matter if you value permanence Marketing is optional, not mandatory

Most importantly:

I don't need permission to create the way I do. And neither does anyone else. Constructive feedback is valuable. Hostility toward your identity as a creator is not. Ignoring the latter is hard - but necessary.