Reader power can get my novel published

Many writers have manuscripts in drawers. A novel or two that no publisher wanted, for whatever reason.

These days, thanks to the likes of Amazon and Smashwords, these books don’t need to be hidden away. Writers can self-publish, and many do so successfully.

Now Amazon has yet another innovation: Kindle Scout. It’s described as “reader-powered publishing for new, never-before-published books”.

The idea is an author puts an extract of their novel on Kindle Scout and readers get to nominate the book for publication if they like what they read. If enough readers support the novel, the writer is offered a Kindle Scout publishing deal  – and it’s a decent deal offering an advance, plus a 50% eBook royalty rate.

So what about my novel? It’s book 1 of The Prophet Wars, and it’s called Watchers. Primarily aimed at the YA audience, it’s cross-over enough that adults will enjoy it (hopefully; those who’ve read it have). It did the rounds of publishers, and although we were initially very optimistic, and enjoyed some decent feedback, we had no luck placing it. That happens. It’s a tough business, and you’ve just got to roll with the punches. But at least these days it doesn’t mean the book has to sit in a drawer. It can get published – if people want to read it; and books, really, should always be about what readers want.

If you’d like to see Watchers published, it would be great if you visited my Kindle Scout page, here, read an extract, sign up to your Amazon account, and nominate the novel. We have until the end of June, so get reading, get nominating! And thank you so much for all your support. I’ve always said it’s because of the reader that I write, and here’s where reader power really rules.