Established Writer Embraces Amazon's Kindle Scout Program in Sequel
In the rapidly evolving world of publishing, Amazon's Kindle Scout program stands out as a groundbreaking initiative. This crowdsourced book discovery and filtering platform allows readers to nominate and vote on unpublished manuscripts, serving as a pre-publishing market test that helps identify titles with the best potential success.
Authors, such as Larry Kahaner, submit their manuscripts to Kindle Scout. Readers then browse these entries and can nominate books they find promising. Books with higher reader nominations and engagement are then evaluated by Amazon for official publishing contracts. This process leverages reader feedback as a filtering tool to surface books with strong appeal or market potential, reducing the traditional publisher’s risk when choosing which books to invest in.
For traditional publishing, Kindle Scout challenges the conventional role of publishers as sole gatekeepers by democratising the selection process. It supplements or bypasses traditional editorial review by using readers directly as tastemakers. This can accelerate the discovery of new authors and niche titles that might be overlooked by established publishers.
For self-publishing authors, Kindle Scout offers an alternative route that can provide exposure and validation beyond the vast but crowded self-publishing marketplaces like Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Winning a Kindle Scout campaign can lead to a publishing contract with Amazon, including editorial and marketing support, thus bridging the gap between indie and traditional markets.
Kindle Scout serves as a training ground for authors, providing them with valuable marketing and promotion skills. Authors who submit their books are required to create a 'selling cover', promotional material, and an excerpt to attract readers. Amazon allows readers to read the first few pages of any book online without charge and allows them to return e-books if they are not satisfied. Readers can vote on whether they would like to read more of the excerpt, essentially helping in the promotion of the book.
Readers have access to professionally-written, vetted books through Kindle Scout, which are considered a cut above self-published books. Many authors who are not chosen by Kindle Scout opt for self-publishing due to the cover, voter support, and marketing skills gained during the campaign. Amazon benefits from selling better-written books with compelling covers by authors who understand the business side of writing.
Publishers now expect most authors to do the work that they used to do, such as marketing and promotion, which is being done by authors in the Kindle Scout program. Larry Kahaner, a seasoned author with more than 15 non-fiction books to his credit and a completed thriller, has embraced this change. His blog, The Non-Fiction Novelist, offers insights into the publishing world and his experiences with Kindle Scout.
If you're interested in reading an excerpt from Larry Kahaner's Kindle Scout book "USA, Inc.", you can find it here if it is nominated. Kindle Scout is reshaping the landscape by blending elements of traditional and self-publishing models, providing a unique opportunity for both authors and readers.
Technology plays a significant role in Kindle Scout, as it democratizes the book selection process by leveraging reader feedback as a filtering tool, enabling authors to showcase their work and navigate the rapidly changing publishing landscape.
Readers have access to books through Kindle Scout that are typically of higher quality compared to self-published books, thanks to the technology that vets and promotes the entries, equipping both authors and readers with marketing and promotion skills in the process.
