Topic: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
I received an email from a contact at Amazon today asking if TheNextBigWriter wanted to work with them on Kindle Scout. Has anyone tried this program? I'd be interested in any feedback.
- penang
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Re: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
I've never heard of it, but it sounds really interesting. I would definitely consider tyring it if I had a book that fel into one of the genres they accept.
- Lesley C. Weston
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Re: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
I'm curious and so think I might try it out at least as a reader to get a feel for the "nomination/selection" process.
As a writer attempting to get a contract this way, I'm such an isolater that the process of nomination through soliciting my contacts to vote would be laughable.
- j p lundstrom
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Re: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
I just read the contract. You would be giving amazon exclusive rights for five years, to be automatically renewed every five years. In exchange, you get 50% of e-book net (not gross), 25% of digital audio recordings net, and 20% of foreign-language editions net. You have to wait five years before you can apply to get the rights back, and then only under the conditions amazon sets forth. In other words, you do all the work, and amazon gets the profit.
BTW, "net" means after amazon decides what costs to deduct from the proceeds. DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A GOOD DEAL? JP
- Lesley C. Weston
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Re: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
Sol,
On the financial side is this a competitive contract?
- Janet Taylor-Perry
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Re: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
My one worry is the 5 year thing. Not sure I'd like to give up my rights that long. Also, is this 5-year thing only for e-books? How does that affect print books?
- vern
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Re: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
Janet Taylor-Perry wrote:
My one worry is the 5 year thing. Not sure I'd like to give up my rights that long. Also, is this 5-year thing only for e-books? How does that affect print books?
You still retain print rights; they acquire ebook and audio. One big caveat though is that most print publishers would probably also want the ebook and audio rights if they were interested in publishing a book. You can get more info by clicking on the link Sol provided and then going through the various options presented. Take care. Vern
- j p lundstrom
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Re: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
You can get more info about publishing on amazon at https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A3KL1PS548IZK2
Pages and pages of rules and exceptions. They say you can choose your royalty rate--35% or 70%--but your book has to qualify to be eligible for the 70% . So you really get 35%. (The 70% rate is based on your book's print list price, so if your book's never been printed, it doesn't qualify. There are other conditions.)
I couldn't find the page that says what amazon gets-their right, term of contract, or even a contract--it would take more time than I wanted to spend.
Amazon also offers books for sale that deal with contract negotiation for authors.
Re: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
I don't know anything about Kindle Scout, but I was picked up by Thomas & Mercer which is an Amazon imprint(Mystery/Thriller). Judging from my experience and that of other T&M authors the reason you would sign up is this:- "Featured Amazon marketing . . . eligible for targeted email campaigns and promotions." If they do it the way the Amazon imprints do it, you will sell books. If you are a fast writer and can churn out quality sequels/series, you will sell a a ton of books. But I of course have no way of knowing if it will even be similar.
On the financial side, that's a way better deal than you are likely to get from a major publisher. As a new author you might get a bigger advance to the tune of the current debut author standard of $5,000 but the e-book royalties are normally 8% to 25%. Also, many times publishers don't do audio books for new authors, but demand the rights in case the book is a big hit. The same with foreign rights.
Can I swear Amazon won't screw you? Of course not. All I can say is that they've treated me great and none of the other T&M authors I interact with have any complaints, but Kindle Scout many be a different beast entirely.
10 2015-06-14 04:44:30 (edited by j p lundstrom 2015-06-14 04:44:49)
- j p lundstrom
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Re: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
Sol-just wanted to find out if the formatting option for Kindle you introduced a week or two ago was for Kindle Scout, or regular Kindle publication? JP
- SolN
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Re: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
Sol-just wanted to find out if the formatting option for Kindle you introduced a week or two ago was for Kindle Scout, or regular Kindle publication? JP
It's an html format that can be used for Kindle, B&N, and probably Kindle Scout. I'm not sure what format Scout requires the work to be submitted in.
- j p lundstrom
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Re: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
SolN wrote:
Sol-just wanted to find out if the formatting option for Kindle you introduced a week or two ago was for Kindle Scout, or regular Kindle publication? JP
It's an html format that can be used for Kindle, B&N, and probably Kindle Scout. I'm not sure what format Scout requires the work to be submitted in.
I'd like to use the formatting feature. I tried a couple of times, but the chapter headings are messing me up. Because I posted each chapter with its title, I'm getting a chapter heading twice. I can fix that, by going into each chapter on site and removing the title from each posting, but I can't fix this: every chapter title generated by the computer reads "Chapter --, v.1, title." I can't figure out a way to keep it from giving a version number. I didn't post it in the title, it seems to be coming from the basic information. What can I do about this? JP
- Ceridwen
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Re: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
I am experiencing the same problem. Sol, is there a way to keep the version information from popping up?
- SolN
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Re: Has anyone tried Kindle Scout
Yes, I will see about removing that. Thanks for the feedback.
