Kindle Scout is a “reader powered” publishing program offered by Amazon where authors can submit their new never-been-published books and be considered for a publishing contract by Kindle Press.
Books that make the cut will be published by Kindle Press. They’ll receive a publishing contract with 5-year (renewable) terms, a $1,500 advance, 50% eBook royalty rate, and Amazon’s “easy rights reversion” so you can get your book rights back when you’re done.
What makes this program unattractive is the 20% lower royalty rate than if you’d published through Kindle Direct Publishing yourself. This rate is still 35% higher than if you’d published through a traditional publisher, so it’s kind of a push in my book.
What makes this program something you should look at is the advance (it’s not much, but it’s more than you’d get if you published yourself) and the all important “featured Amazon marketing.” If you’re an author, you know that writing the book isn’t the hard part; it’s getting people to know you’ve written a book. Amazon – the 800 lb. gorilla in the room when it comes to selling books and eBooks – sells more books than everyone else combined. If they’re going to feature your book, then – by all means – you should welcome that!
The Savvy Book Marketer has put up a blog post by Kathleen Gage about book promotion strategies. This is an area where many writers fail, as … well, they’re writers, not marketers.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Stephen King’s new novel won’t be released as an ebook.