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Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Mar 6th, '18, 13:52
by jacobgrey
I write YA stuff mostly. Across a variety of genres though. I've got one on Kindle Scout now as it happens: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/3C3TQQJWO199I
If people nominate it, there's a chance it gets read by the Kindle Press people and then a chance they might offer me a publishing contract.
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Mar 6th, '18, 14:14
by AliceON
that would be cool! I wish you all the luck! that's a lot of work done and a lot to be done if you get the contract
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Mar 6th, '18, 15:42
by AliceON
hm actually after reading the terms... why are you doing this? you already need a polished, copyedited manuscript with a cover and you need to do a hell lot of marketing to get people to notice your book and vote for it. what is the benefit of doing it all with kindle scout and not just self-publish your book? they give you 50% of sales but you can have 70% self-publishing through amazon. with the same amount of marketing done by you, same quality of editing and cover art paid for by you. what exactly are they offering?
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Mar 6th, '18, 17:32
by jacobgrey
They actually give a lot more :P Kindle Press titles are automatically promoted above other kindle store items, so you get a huge marketing boost. I don't have the right kind of time to market my own self-published titles (would love to of course, but it's a Catch-22 that I can't do it to the level of earning enough money until I'm earning enough money to do it). Also you can only get 70% of sales when self-publishing if you price it really low. AND also it's an official publishing house which is what I've always wanted :P
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Mar 6th, '18, 17:48
by AliceON
fair enough. how low is really low? and what do you get if you price them higher? and how high do you want to price your books?
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Mar 6th, '18, 21:40
by jacobgrey
Just off the top of my head, I think it's something like 99p (or cents or whatever) to get the 70%. Or 1.99 anyway. But if you look at "proper" authors they go for £3.99 or more. Obviously, converted to whatever currency :P
If you price higher I think it's like 30 or 40%? It's been a long while since I looked. Like, the new Jojo Moyes right now is £9.99. That's a LOT. If you get 50% of that as opposed to 70% of 99p you're making so many times more on each sale.
Anyway, there's also the factor that once you've been published, if the book does well, you've got a good chance of them asking you to do another one.
Oh, and I forgot: they do actually edit the titles they select. Copyediting is one thing, but having a book actually polished for sale with plot tweaks etc is another.
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Mar 6th, '18, 22:13
by AliceON
hm I just looked it up and for 70% royalties you'd need to price your book between 1,99 and 9,99 pounds
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200634560
so books priced under 1,99 pounds won't qualify for 70%
let me know if I'm looking in a wrong place because I don't know much about the subject yet
oh so you do get to work with an editor? that's awesome!
I still think that submitting a manuscript unpolished in any aspect lowers its chances of being voted for, but at least it feels good to know that kindle isn't just requesting you to do all the work and then underpays you, you know. that's totally what it looked like to me when I read the terms
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Mar 7th, '18, 02:30
by bombus
I am almost done with book 16 for this year, I think I am going to make my 52 book challenge - I love to read
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Mar 7th, '18, 12:54
by AliceON
yay good luck!
also wow, that's a lot of books for just 2 months!
Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge
Posted: Mar 7th, '18, 15:52
by Sanssouci
Good job! I think I finished 2 books so far.... I read a little yesterday though.