Recently, at the suggestion of a friend and fellow author, I decided to submit my newest romance novel, Remember Me Always, into the Kindle Scout program.
Welcome to reader-powered publishing.
Kindle Scout is reader-powered publishing for new, never-before-published books. It’s a place where readers help decide if a book gets published. Selected books will be published by Kindle Press and receive 5-year renewable terms, a $1,500 advance, 50% eBook royalty rate, easy rights reversions and featured Amazon marketing.
The submission process is relatively easy. You fill out a form with basic information about your new, never-before-published book. What I really liked is that Kindle Scout will feature a “backlist” of your books currently published on Amazon. I have a few books already self-published on the Amazon website. So the fact that they are driving extra traffic to my other previously published books is a huge plus in my eyes.
Once you submit your book, they send you a verification email, which said it could take the Kindle Press team one to two business days (or more based on number of submissions) to get back to me.
It only took one business day for them to approve my campaign. They scheduled it for April 1st, and it will run for 30 days through May 1st. They emailed me the approval along with some links — a preview page (for my eyes only) and the actual link (which wouldn’t be activated until my campaign started) for the public.
Kindle Scout breaks down your campaign into two categories, which are you able to keep track of — Hours in Hot & Trending and Total Page Views. What they don’t show you — How many nominations you receive.
I had done a fair amount of research before actually entering my book. There appears to be some sort of secret algorithm that Kindle Scout uses in the selection process. Now, in my research, I have heard several different authors say that Total Page Views do not seem to count all that much. Someone with 5,000 views did not get picked, while someone with only a little over 1,000 did. The only thing that seems to be prominent throughout my searching seems to be that this “secret algorithm” is exactly what it sounds like — it’s secret, and the authors have no way of knowing what the Kindle Scout team is actually looking for in making their decision.
However, one thing that seems to be the best indicator of being picked is that the books chosen appear to have spent a lot of time on the Hot & Trending list. Only 20 books are chosen for that list, and it updates hourly. What does that mean exactly? That means you are going to have to do a LOT of sharing/tweeting/emailing during your 30-day campaign. You are competing with all of the books in your category, but probably more importantly — you are competing to get into the Hot & Trending category and stay there for as long as you can. It doesn’t guarantee a contract, but, hey, it most likely helps.
My campaign just started today, so I am anxious to see how it goes. If you would like to nominate my book, please go to my campaign page. Thank you very much for your support, and I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Below is some information about my novel, Remember Me Always.
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REMEMBER ME ALWAYS
Synopsis:
PENNY
Five years ago, I left for college in New York, leaving behind my hometown and my high school sweetheart. I had a plan after I graduated; but somewhere along the way, my train, which was on a one-way trip to happily ever after, somehow got derailed. And so I’m back in Willowbrook, Alabama for one reason and one reason only — to confront Colton Crawford, the guy who broke my heart and a lot of promises. But instead of getting the answers I’m looking for, I only end up with even more questions.
Colton doesn’t remember me, and I suddenly lost the most important person in my life in the blink of an eye. I don’t know if I can win back his heart, but I’m going to try with every fiber of my being to bring Colton back to me.
COLTON
Everything changed five years ago, and my memory was basically wiped clean. A clean slate was exactly what I needed since I wasn’t able to save my brother in the accident that almost claimed my own life. Bringin’ up the past just makes me realize how much I’ve lost, and so forgettin’ is what gets me through the day. Not wantin’ to remember wasn’t really a problem until a pretty blonde by the name of Penny Preston shows up in my bar demandin’ answers…answers that I can’t give her.
I try to ignore the longin’ in my heart, but it’s almost impossible. Somethin’ keeps drawin’ me back to her…no matter how hard I try to push her away. Even though my brain can’t remember her, my heart just can’t seem to forget.
©Angela Snyder, 2016
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Nominate Remember Me Always on Kindle Scout here:
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1EUH2ZN9WIHTP
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Author Angela Snyder 