This week Amazon announced that it was expanding its reader-powered publishing platform internationally, including Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and India. Kindle Scout was launched last year in the United States and the platform allows authors to submit unpublished, novel-length English-language manuscripts. Previews of the manuscripts are made available for Amazon readers to browse and vote on over a 30 day period. Nominated books are published through Amazon’s digital publishing imprint Kindle Press.
Publishing contracts include 5-year term, which can be renewed, a $1,500 advance, a 50% e-book royalty rate, easy rights reversions and are supported by Amazon marketing.
While sometimes referred to as a crowdsourcing platform, it’s ultimately the Kindle Scout team who select books, helped by the 30 day campaign of nominations. I assume Kindle Scout make the final decision on what gets published to avoid situations where authors unfairly use their network to game the nomination process. That said, Kindle Scout does actively encourage authors to use their networks constructively to build a reader following and promote a published title.
Marketing is not extensive and comes with no absolute guarantee, essentially utilising Amazon’s Lending Library and Kindle Unlimited channels and ‘eligibility for email campaigns and online promotions. You can read more about the Kindle Scout terms here.
Full Press Release below:
| Amazon’s Kindle Scout Publishing Platform Expands Internationally |
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Authors and readers from locations around the world can now submit and nominate never-before-published English-language manuscripts for an opportunity to earn a Kindle Press publishing contract SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sep. 9, 2015– (NASDAQ:AMZN)—Amazon announced today that it is expanding Kindle Scout, its reader-powered publishing platform, to more authors and readers around the world. Now, in addition to the U.S., authors in locations such as Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, India and more may submit never-before-published, novel-length English-language manuscripts and be considered for publication in 45 days or less under Amazon’s digital publishing banner Kindle Press. Readers around the world can now also preview excerpts from never-before-published books, nominate the stories they want to see published and receive a free early copy of every book they nominate that is released by Kindle Press. “Expanding our platform to authors and readers outside the U.S. has been one of the most frequent requests we’ve received since we launched. With today’s announcement, we’re eagerly awaiting the great new stories that will come from opening to even more talented writers and Scouts from around the world,” said Dina Hilal, General Manager of Kindle Scout. To date, Kindle Scouts have discovered great new books:
See all selected Kindle Press books at kindlescout.amazon.com/selected and visit the Kindle Scout Eligibility & Content Guidelines for more details. About Kindle Scout 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 by Kindle Press. Publishing contracts include 5-year renewable terms, a $1,500 advance, a 50% eBook royalty rate, easy rights reversions and featured Amazon marketing. For more information about Kindle Scout, please visit kindlescout.amazon.com/about. To see a video on how Kindle Scout works, visit kindlescout.amazon.com/video. About Amazon Amazon.com opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. The company is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. |
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