Seen Amazon's latest -- Kindle Press?
Amazon has created quite a fantastic way of finding new talent.
How? The Kindle Scout program, which I'm guessing is their version of a Scout team. How does it work? Simple.
Writers submit their never before published books, giving a world of Amazon customers access to the first chapters. The submitted books stay available for thirty days. To keep things fair, authors submit the same size covers, a minimum word count, one-line blurbs, etc. Even the previews have the same word count.
Amazon's customer browse genres, read the blurbs, read opening pages and then decide which books they like by casting a vote. Each person can carry upwards of three votes. At the end of the thirty days, Amazon selects which books move on to Kindle Press.
Amazon encourages authors to get the word out via Facebook and Twitter and essentially any means possible to drive traffic to your book.
Votes are not the definitive factor, yet Amazon has not made known the rubric for determining which books will be published by Kindle Press -- Amazon editors have the final.
What's in it for the readers? For Kindle Press published books that have their vote, they get a free copy. Who doesn't like free books. And for readers who have a knack for picking winners, this could potentially be a huge win of free hit books.
And for writers who want more from their indie careers, a book published by Kindle Press might be exactly what they need. A publishing deal with Kindle Press comes with a small advance and a 50/50 split on royalties. But beyond the advance and royalties, the visibility is the biggest win. For a writer who has just finished a book, they've got nothing to lose when submitting for a possible Kindle Press deal.
What does that mean for me? Book one of my new series, Killing Katie has been posted and is now available for a read. The next thirty days will be full of stress as I work on book 2, but again, there is nothing to lose.
Interested in my new book or Kindle Scout? Give it a look, read a few pages and cast your vote: An Affair With Murder, Killing Katie