Kindle Scout discussion
welcome and introductions
I don't know for sure, but I think page views are just that, page views. I highly doubt it is the same as nominations.Think of "Hot and Trending" as a good thing from two perspectives. (1) When your book has is listed at H&T it is receiving positive attention relative to the other books available, however Amazon determines that, and (2) We know people like winners and so will pay more attention to those that are H&T making it a bit easier to stay there.
If you have a gazillion page views and no one nominates your book do you think that would be a positive in Amazon's eyes? Of course not. Perhaps they even use a metric such as nominations/per page view to determine a successful "purchase" rate so trying to game the system to get lots of view actually sabotages your chances.
You have already provided the cover you think works for your book and written the best book you could. Spend your efforts during the 30-day nomination period making sure everyone who knows you is aware of your entry in the Kindle Scout program. Worrying about what metrics Amazon may or may not use since they are not about to publish them is not very productive, even if it is good fun.
And the best of luck to you all. I hope to see you in the winners' circle.
~ Jim
make sense what you're saying. Ditto good luck to you
It sounds like it's nominations that are important, so I liked to propose a book to be nominated. "Tales of My Ancestors" by Bruce Golden is a unique combination of historical fiction, science fiction & fantasy, and the use of his own ancestors. You can nominate it at https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2SSJ...
It sounds like it's nominations that are important, so I liked to propose a book to be nominated. "Tales of My Ancestors" by Bruce Golden is a unique combination of historical fiction, science fiction & fantasy, and the use of his own ancestors. You can nominate it at https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2SSJ...
Linda wrote: "It sounds like it's nominations that are important, so I liked to propose a book to be nominated. "Tales of My Ancestors" by Bruce Golden is a unique combination of historical fiction, science fict..."I like his previous books, so I'll go nominate it.
Hi EveryoneI'm thinking of putting a book into the Kindle Scout program early next year, so I've joined to see what other authors' experiences have been. This would be a book in a new series, not my currently self-published inspirational mystery series.
I'll now lurk and soak up what you all have to say.
Hi there,I have my novel 'Walking On Eggshells' in the Kindle Scout Campaign, and I would so appreciate it if you would read the excerpt and if you feel it worthy, to nominate it:)
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/20VI...
Thank you!
Caroline
Well, my campaign's down to the last few days. I think it's been going well, but there are so many conflicting reports from people that have been chosen that it's really hard to tell. I'm hopeful, though. It's really helpful to hear about other people's experiences. http://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1ZYQL...
(sorry, had the wrong reply there)Hi Caroline, I think your link isn't working...
yes, it works. Congrats and have you bookmarked for when nominations become available. Good luck
thanks:) what do you by bookmark? where?Caroline
I meant to write, what do you mean by bookmarked:)
I have used up my 3 nominations for now (one is for this, of course: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1M4T...) but I have placed your book on my 'save for later' list so I can nominate you when one of the other campaigns ends
I wanted to thank everyone in the group who nominated by book Tales of My Ancestors. I appreciate you taking the time.If you haven't yet, and want to see if it's worthy of your vote, you can go to: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2SSJ...
Thanks again,
Bruce Golden
done - that is, 'saved for later' when I have free votes again. Good luck
Here's my new playlist for my Kindle Scout campaign 'Falling in Death and Love'. Like the book it's stricly up to 1977 - some cool cuts https://open.spotify.com/user/sweetsk...And please keep voting my my book as long as there is still time - much obliged
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1M4T...
Fingers crossed, Nancy. I have a very positive gut feeling about Land Sharks (I know you don't like me to say this but it's true). If they don't publish your book I'll eat my hat - there, I've said it.
Best of luck to all those who've submitted their titles to Kindle Scout, congratulations to those whose books are picked up, and a thought for those who find the process painful.As writers, we don't know what goes on behind the Kindle Scout curtain, so we do our best to guess with what we can observe.
I've been following Kindle Scout fairly closely, trying to rely on "jury consulting" experience, which is tricky because evaluating your "jury" in this case is like some of those old mob trials where the identity of jurors was concealed.
I'll test my own theories by confidently predicting Nancy's Land Sharks novel is a lock to be picked up by Kindle Scout. Go ahead and pop the champagne, Nancy. If I'm right, I'll come back and comment some more. And if I'm wrong, I'll scour more data to further back test my theory.
Nancy wrote: "Preston wrote: "Best of luck to all those who've submitted their titles to Kindle Scout, congratulations to those whose books are picked up, and a thought for those who find the process painful.A..."
Nancy:
Congratulations (again)!. I just received the Kindle Scout email confirming your book's selection. I look forward to its release.
I strongly recommend that any authors interested in having their novels selected by Kindle Scout read Nancy's book as soon as it comes out, not only for the pleasure of reading a very well written book (judging from the excerpt made available during its Scout campaign), but because this book hits, on the head, what I believe (from examining trending characteristics of Kindle Scout selections) the most important keys for Kindle Scout readers and (more importantly {at least in my belief}) Kindle Press editors.
Magnus wrote: "make sense what you're saying. Ditto good luck to you"I'm a little late to this "metrics" conversation, which seems to have died out in this thread, but I think it's very important for writers who submit their work to Kindle Scout to consider the possibility that while Kindle Press appears to publish a wide range of novels, if you plot certain (okay, let's call them) metrics, the published titles, for the most part, share a number of characteristics beyond the quality of the writing.
Rejected writers, therefore, shouldn't be discouraged. Their turned-down book may be wonderfully written and have a potential audience, it just may not have those additional "metrics" I've found to be shared by many Kindle Press titles.
I think you're totally right, Preston. I congratulate all the winners (especially Nam Smith who's just been announced) and I don't want to take away anything from the campaign. I'm on the last few days myself and it's been... educational among other things. However, and I know I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, looking back at some of the titles they have published in the past, not all of them appear to be 'high-brow'.
Having said this I still really appreciated your checking out my thriller on Kindle Scout, 'Falling in Death and Love' ending on Friday.
And no, it's not a high-brow thriller, either ;)
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1M4T...
Magnus wrote: "I think you're totally right, Preston. I congratulate all the winners (especially Nam Smith who's just been announced) and I don't want to take away anything from the campaign. I'm on the last few ..."Magnus:
I hope your book does well. In terms of judging books by their cover, while I think cover art plays a part in a book's opportunity to be selected by Kindle Scout, my hunch is that even the most beautiful, professional cover for a very well-written book is not going to overcome certain other aspects of an author's campaign that seem almost guaranteed to kill the book's chances. I don't mean to seem mysterious by not listing what I think these factors/metrics/etc. are, because what I've observed may be a coincidental trend. That being said, in an age ruled by analytics, trends tend to become self-fulfilling prophecies.
To see what I consider the perfect book campaign for Kindle Scout, check out Nancy Raven Smith's recently selected Land Sharks. It was brilliant, and I predict this book is going to be a top seller on Amazon within a month of its release.
Preston wrote: "Magnus wrote: "I think you're totally right, Preston. I congratulate all the winners (especially Nam Smith who's just been announced) and I don't want to take away anything from the campaign. I'm o..."Once again I couldn't agree more - Land Sharks looked and felt like a winner from the word 'go', and I wouldn't be at all surprised if you were right with your predictions in terms of its future success. Chapeau to Nan Smith!
Nancy wrote: "WhooHoo! My book, Land Sharks, A Swindle in Sumatra, was selected from the Amazon/Kindle Scout Program. A special thanks to those of you who nominated it and made this happen. Best of luck to those..."Dear Nancy, once again, congrats. As you know I'm chuffed as can be for your well-deserved success. And thanks for the kind big-up, too! And good luck for you, too, Bard.
Hello-Been reading through this section, old and new, learning about the Kindle Scout/Press mystique. I have 10 days left in my campaign; it's had some HOT moments, but let's just say I'm glad it's not a numbers only game. One thing for sure, publishing is a subjective business.
Will say that most of my external traffic comes from Facebook so it's played a key role. Have run some ads with them as well for my author page and postings and have been pleased with the results.
Best of luck to those running a campaign!
Nancy wrote: "WhooHoo! My book, Land Sharks, A Swindle in Sumatra, was selected from the Amazon/Kindle Scout Program. A special thanks to those of you who nominated it and made this happen. Best of luck to those..."Congrats, Nancy! This is a big deal. Hopefully my "Tales of My Ancestors," will follow yours.
Kristin wrote: "Hello-Been reading through this section, old and new, learning about the Kindle Scout/Press mystique. I have 10 days left in my campaign; it's had some HOT moments, but let's just say I'm glad it'..."
Kristin:
Best of luck with your campaign.
As for the Kindle Scout/Press numbers mystique, it may not be strictly a numbers game in terms of reader nominations, but I suspect it is a numbers game ultimately. After all, Amazon is a for-profit business, and can't be blamed for wanting to put their resources behind titles they believe will sell the best. Companies rarely achieve Amazon's level of fantastic success by failing to understand its audience (in this case, eBook buyers).
While I'm not privy to what goes on behind the selection curtain, there appear to be some objective trends common to the books they select. (Which does beg the question: is this really reader-driven publishing?)
Ultimately, any one who submits a novel to the Kindle Scout program that isn't selected needs to treat the turn down like any other rejection slip: don't take it personally, because it may have more to do with marketability than the quality of your writing. That being said, most writers have to make a choice between writing what they want and writing to sell--few are fortunate enough to have both. So if your goal is to write a book that will be selected by Kindle Scout, you should carefully review the authors and titles that have been selected to see if your work falls within the Kindle trends.
Today's the last chance to nominate my book Tales of My Ancestors for the Kindle Scout program...for any procrastinators out there. https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2SSJ...
Last day for my campaign. Its been a stressful month. Not sure I would do it again.If anyone would care to nominate, thank you in advance:)
Caroline
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/20VI...
Just nominated your book, Caroline, and good luck on your last day. 4 days left in mine and I'm ready to take the next step no matter what the outcome.
thank you so much and I shall nominate yours as well:)
hard to get back on the hot list, isn't it?
Indeed and thanks for the return nomination! Taking all this with a grain of salt. I don't think I have the numbers Amazon is looking for so trying to manage the expectations (although I know it's not the only factor).
Kristin wrote: "Indeed and thanks for the return nomination! Taking all this with a grain of salt. I don't think I have the numbers Amazon is looking for so trying to manage the expectations (although I know it's ..."Once off the Hot List, page views seem to fall into "death valley" and likely won't be "resurrected" unless you have a strong social media card you've held to use for the middle of your campaign.
A strategic problem with how Kindle Scout presents book candidates to its nominating readers is that it gives a substantial advantage to books that are new, hot, and ending soon by including them in separate lists. With so many titles running campaigns at the same, how many readers are going to scroll through every list when they can go through the "big three" pretty quickly?
The Ending Soon list is especially problematic. If readers want to maintain a steady supply of free books, all they need to do is check the Ending Soon list every day, and vote for hot titles on their final campaign day.
Continued best wishes,
Pres
Hi everyone! Fun to read the posts here. Two days ago I took the plunge and decided to try KS. I will be very interested to see how things unfold in the next month. I've done a lot of research into this, and it's not just the h&t books that get selected. Good luck to all of you who are biting your fingernails along with me during the countdown, and congratulations to those who are among the chosen. I hope I will have the honor of joining you before Christmas! Pam
Hello, I just started a Kindle Scout Campaign for my novel Divine Hotel. I'm so glad I found your group it answered so many questions I was wondering about, like the importance of the Hot and trending list. It seems a bit touchy. I'm going to be checking back often thank you for forming the group. You can view my entry here, https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2JDG...Best of luck all,
Nicole
Hello Everyone! My book, "Regina'a World" just went live on the scout page. I very much appreciate a look and, if you like what you read, a nomination.https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/DS2S...
A note to Nicole - yours looks very good and I nominated it. Good Luck!
One further observation. My book was the only one that went live on November 27th. It'll then be the only one ending on December 27th. I wonder if that offers any kind of advantage?
Thanks Curtis! I'll check yours out. Mine will end a few days before you so we will see how it goes.
Hey all, since I'm pretty new to this group, it would be great to hear from everyone who still has an open KS campaign. I will check out your books, especially, and work on some nominations. Pam
Hi Pam my novel Divine Hotel is in an open campaign. Let me know if you have any questions.
Nicole wrote: "Hi Pam my novel Divine Hotel is in an open campaign. Let me know if you have any questions."Nicole, I LOVE your cover image! The book sounds interesting, and I gave you a nomination :-) Pam
C.W. wrote: "Hello Everyone! My book, "Regina'a World" just went live on the scout page. I very much appreciate a look and, if you like what you read, a nomination.https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/DS2S......"
C.W. Yours looks good too! Between the two of you and myself, I'm out of nominations for a couple of weeks, but I'll keep cranking them out as we all end our campaigns.
Pamela wrote: "Nicole wrote: "Hi Pam my novel Divine Hotel is in an open campaign. Let me know if you have any questions."Nicole, I LOVE your cover image! The book sounds interesting, and I gave you a nominatio..."
Thanks Pam! I appreciate the support!
Hello Everyone,My romantic suspense novel, Expert Witness, just went live today! Nervous and excited to begin the process and looking forward to getting to know other authors in this group.
I already have a question. To access my page views and hours on the hot list, do I just review the campaign information? Does it update in real time?
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/3K9D...
Thank you,
Nicole
You get the campaign information once a day, I think at 5am EST. The rest of your day is spent hitting the refresh button to see if you are still 'hot' :)Best of luck, there are some great people here to help. And you should also pop over to kboards.com , that's the Kindle forum, go to the "writers' cafe", and search down the list for "Kindle Scout experiences, anyone?". Go to the last page of that. That's where we all congregate to cheer, commiserate, and talk about how Scout will never take us :)
Only two days left for mine, it's miraculously been doing really well (which of course means nothing if they don't pick it):
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/ZN46...
Paul
Nicole wrote: "Hello Everyone,My romantic suspense novel, Expert Witness, just went live today! Nervous and excited to begin the process and looking forward to getting to know other authors in this group.
I a..."
Nicole, yours looks good! I will give you a nomination as soon as Perfect Chloe is done tomorrow (looks good, Paul), but Nicole, the link you put in this post doesn't work for me. I had to go searching for it.
I've got 14 days left. THE IRONWOOD PROPHECY has been jumping in and out of the Hot list just about every day - check it out if you're interested:
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1N97...
Thanks Pamela :) I'll get yours too in two days when a slot opens up.Here's is Nicole's link:
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/3K9D...
Oh, and mine, again: :)
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/ZN46...
Kindle Scout
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Of course, I'm just guessing on all of this, but it seems right based on stats that people have published.