Please welcome my
Wednesday guest, James M. Jackson, author of the Seamus McCree novels. Ant Farm (Spring 2015), a prequel to Bad Policy (2013) and Cabin Fever (2014), recently won a
Kindle Scout nomination. Ebook published by Kindle
Press; print from Wolf’s Echo Press. Bad Policy won the Evan Marshall Fiction Makeover Contest for freshness and commercial potential of the story and quality of the writing. Jim has published an acclaimed book on contract bridge, One Trick at a Time: How to Start Winning at Bridge (Master Point Press 2012), as well as numerous short stories and essays. Find more information about Jim and his
writing at http://jamesmjackson.com.
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There
are so many possible paths to publication nowadays, and Kindle Scout is just
one possibility. [If you haven’t heard of Kindle Scout, it is an Amazon
platform to allow readers to “nominate” books for Kindle Press to publish as
ebooks. Think “American Idol” meets corporate behemoth Amazon.]
To help
you decide if Kindle Scout might make sense for you, I’ve designed a little
decision tree. If you answer “no” to any question,
Kindle Scout is not what you want. If you get through all the questions and are still yessing, then
I have some links to help you make a final determination.
Is your manuscript fiction? [No? The Kindle Scout program
is only open to fiction. It started with Romance, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller and
Science Fiction/Fantasy, and later added Literature & Fiction, which includes
Action and Adventure. Nonfiction won’t go, nor will children’s literature,
foreign languages, etc.]
Do you have a U.S. bank account
and tax number?
[No? So far the program is only open to people who Kindle Press can pay in the
U.S., even though your books are sold throughout the world wherever Amazon does
business.]
Will you only be satisfied with
a traditional publishing contract?
[No? You need a traditional publishing contract, which Kindle Scout is not.]
Are you willing to have
different publishers for the print and electronic versions of your book? [No? The Kindle Press contract
only covers ebooks and digital audio books. If you want a print edition of your
book, you must either obtain a print-only publisher or self-publish.]
Are you willing to have your
ebook and audio book only available on Amazon? [No? The Kindle Press contract
locks your electronic books to the Amazon platform.]
Are you willing to have your
electronic books part of the Kindle Unlimited subscription service? [No? Kindle Press is not for
you.]
Is it okay if no digital audio
book is made in the first two years?
[No? Kindle Press is not required to produce an Audible book; your rights
revert back to you if they don’t produce one within two years. In their first
six months of operation they have not yet produced any.]
Is your manuscript finalized so
it can be published without any further copyedits? [No? The Kindle Press contract
does not require them to make any changes to the text you submit. Of course, if
that answer is no, you aren’t really ready to self-publish either. Note: Kindle
Press has copyedited all books it has
published to date.]
Do you have a
professional-looking book cover? [No?
Kindle Press requires you to have a book cover. During the thirty-day
nomination process that is the first thing prospective readers (called
“Scouts”) will see. Again, you should have this for a self-published manuscript
as well.]
Are you willing to give up
pricing and promotional decisions to a ginormous corporation? [No? Then you really need to be
an Indie publisher.]
Are you willing to wait two and
a half or three months for publication? [No? Because you must have a complete manuscript
and book cover to enter the Kindle Scout nomination process, you could be Indie
publishing as soon as you format the manuscript and upload it. The Kindle Scout
nomination process takes around forty days from submission to approval. Because
Kindle Press has been copyediting, add another six weeks or so plus a week for
formatting and, best case, you are ten weeks out. With glitches (and I had
several) it will be a longer delay.]
Congratulations, you’ve said “yes,” or at least not “no,” to all of
the questions. Kindle Scout may make sense for you.
What advantages might Kindle
Scout have compared to Indie publishing?
$1,500 advance on royalties paid within thirty days of
being selected
Amazon promotion – there are no guarantees, and
Kindle Press is only one of a number of Amazon imprints. However, early Kindle
Press publications have received various pushes from Amazon.
International sales: Your electronic book will be
available in North America, the U.K., Australia and Germany through Amazon
subsidiaries.
One final copyedit—again, not promised, but
currently they are contracting with Kirkus editors for copyedits. Every author
I have talked to has been very pleased with their edits.
Free publicity during the
thirty-day Kindle Scout nomination period. If you are selected by Kindle Press, those who
nominate your book will receive a free Kindle version (and are asked to leave
reviews). If you are not selected, those who nominate your book have recently
been given the option to receive an email when your book does become available
(from your Indie publishing or from another publisher.)
Decent royalties (given there is an advance):
50% on ebooks; 20% on digital audio
Rights reversions are clear: After two years if book does
not hit minimum royalty levels ($500 in any trailing twelve-month period) you
may reclaim your rights. After five years if you haven’t received at least
$25,000 in royalties you may revert your rights. If Kindle Press does not
publish within six months (ebook) or two years (digital audio) you may reclaim
rights.
What are the disadvantages of
Kindle Scout relative to Indie publishing?
As an
Indie publisher you can choose whether to distribute through all channels or receive
higher royalty rates going exclusively with Kindle. Thus, if you are going to
stay within the Amazon umbrella anyway, you are giving up royalties per book.
As an
Indie you retain control over pricing, whether or not to have an audio book,
promotions, etc. With Kindle Press you are relying on
Amazon’s marketing power and self-interest to benefit you.
That, I think is the crux of your decision if you compare Indie to
the Kindle Scout route.
Will the Amazon marketing power make a difference in sales? So far, most of the
Kindle Press published authors have been happy with their results. As the
program continues to roll out, I think it will be worthwhile to pay attention
to the opinion of Kindle Press’s authors. Recognize that it is in their
interest to promote the Kindle Scout program, so if you hear issues or
complaints or concerns, dig deeper.
As
promised, here are some links with additional details.
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11 comments:
This comment may be a repeat because I accidentally signed out on the first one.
Thanks, Jim, for all that valuable information on the Kindle program. I've been wondering about it, and this really helped.
And thanks, Judy, for the timely blog.
Thanks for having me, Judy. I'll stop back a time or two during the day in case anyone has questions they would like to ask.
~ Jim
Marilyn and cj -- Thanks for stopping by. I'm glad you found the information useful. ~ Jim
Very clear and informative! Thanks for detailing all this.
I answered yes to all of them, which is why I'm in the last week of a Kindle Scout entry. Staying Hot and Trending is tough. Don't know that I'll be as successful as you were, Jim, but it is worth the try.
Jim,
Your article reminded me of one of those yes/no flowcharts from a previous career, except you provided great explanations of the consequences of the yes and no answers.
You did an excellent job of presenting the program and I hope debugged it for folks sitting on the fence. I'm pleased to be a Kindle Scout winner, and I'm wishing you great things for Ant Farm!
Maggie Toussaint
writing for Kindle Scout as Rigel Carson
I became aware of this program only because of your Ant Farm. Thanks for this clear, informative article.
Sorry I'm late to the party...
Kaye -- Where was this when you were first starting with Imogene Duckworthy, right? That would have been a sure winner.
Polly -- I have my fingers crossed for your last few days in the program.
Maggie -- you, of course, are the leader who I followed!
Vinnie -- you are certainly welcome. Are you considering it for the future?
Jim, thanks for a great, clear article on Kindle Scout. I can think of a number of ways your excellent yes/no flowchart could be used: small vs. medium sized publisher; agented vs. unagented, etc.
Thanks, Judy for posting this on-target blog.
Great post about the pros and cons of Kindle Scout - very clear and concise. Thanks for sharing and organizing all the information!
Cathy Strasser
This may be a double post because I think I didn't hit publish before I left the page.
Cathy & Nancy -- I'm glad you found the blog helpful.
Nancy -- I think you are right that other decision trees could be very helpful for writers. Do I see a blog in YOUR future on one of them?
~ Jim
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