Amazon has open up voting in its new crowdsourced publishing program which lets readers have a say in which books get the e-commerce giant’s backing. Here’s how it all works.
Authors are invited to submit their never-before-published books to Kindle Scout for consideration. Amazon is specifically looking for romance, science fiction or mystery & thriller manuscripts of about 50,000 words.
Once submitted (and assuming the book makes it past Amazon’s initial review), an excerpt from the book will be put up for consideration from Kindle Scout participants (readers) and will remain online for 30 days. Readers will have the opportunity to vote on which books they like best with the ability to nominate up to three of their favorites at any given time.
At the conclusion of the book’s campaign, those with enough nominations to get the attention of the Kindle Scout team will be selected for consideration and (hopefully) publication.
If an author’s book is selected for publication by Kindle Press, they’ll receive a five-year exclusive contract, a $1,500 advance, 50 percent e-book royalties and featured marketing by Amazon. Readers that select a winning book, meanwhile, will receive a full-length Kindle version of said book one week before its official release.
While I have no experience in the world of book publishing, the Kindle Scout program seems like a solid deal for both authors and readers. It also helps Amazon narrow down its pool of submissions to focus only on those titles that readers are most interested in.
It’s worth noting that while authors are encouraged to get as many votes for their submissions as possible through social network promotion, word of mouth, etc., the Kindle Scout team ultimately has the final say in which books get published.
https://www.techspot.com/news/58588-amazon-crowdsourced-publishing-program-now-open-voting.html
