Like I said, I've had Trang enrolled in Amazon's exclusivity program since December 1st. So, do I have any updates?

At this point I've gone from zero borrows to one borrow ($2 in revenue!), so I feel comfortable in my opinion that you ain't gonna get a lot from the borrow program absent other enticements.

While I think (? data is not conclusive) that advertising is having some effect selling copies of Trang, it's not a large effect, so I'm also comfortable in my opinion that one should keep one's click bid as low as possible with a long-term pay-per-click campaign for a not-free book.

At this point, I'm skeptical that there's anything KDP Select could give me (since I am shut out of buying ads on the major sites promoting KDP Select free days) that I couldn't get by making Trang free.

Why's that? Well, I am seeing a significant uptick in sales of Trust. Not, you know, enough to pay off a mortgage or anything, but still...significant. Especially given that Trust has always been somewhat of a laggard. But you give away a bunch of copies of Trang, and...some of those people click on that back matter link and get Trust! I love it when a plan comes together.

So, really, the question for me is--do I make Trang free as soon as it comes out of KDP Select, or do I wait until Trials comes out? The original plan was to wait until the third book, but...remember how I was #3 on the science fiction: series free list? That might be exposure worth having. Maintaining such exposure would presumably involve occasional relatively expensive advertising campaigns plugging a free book, but it might be worth it (they weren't that expensive). Trang (or really, any non-Illuminati activity) is not a significant source of revenue for me anyway, and expanding the fan base may well pay off when a new release comes out.

Wow. Sounds like I've almost talked myself into it....