Last week, I discovered Australian author Jenny Schwartz is doing a Kindle Scout campaign. I was curious and contacted her with my nosy questions, which she has graciously answered.
Welcome, Jenny!
Please tell us a little about the Kindle Scout program.
In its own words, Kindle Scout is a program that lets readers discover never-before-published books, nominate them and, if they’re selected for publication, receive a free digital copy. Yep, free! That’s awesome.
The nomination period for a book is 30 days. After that, it can take anywhere up to 45 days to hear if a nominated book will be published, or not.
The Kindle Scout is run by Amazon, so if you’re a kindle-reader (like me) it makes things very convenient.
What made you decide to try the Kindle Scout route for your book, Sky Garden?
I decided to test the Kindle Scout waters with Sky Garden for a few reasons. For a start, I thought that the romantic suspense premise of the novel suited Kindle Scout. More on that later! Secondly, discoverability is a big issue these days, with so many books being released. Since Kindle Scout is part of Amazon, I hope it’ll help readers discover Sky Garden AND my other books. Thirdly, I wanted to try something outside my comfort zone, something that pushed me to strategic promotional activity (I discuss my marketing campaign here and my Facebook advertising here).
What do you think are the advantages of a program like this?
For readers, it’s a chance to discover new books and score some free! I take that as a win J
For authors, it opens a few doors. Whether Kindle Scout picks your book for publication or not, the 30 day campaign opens a lot of doors. Some of these are about building your support network (I’ve found this Kindle Scout support/info thread on Kindleboards very encouraging). Others are about engaging in some reality checking – Kindle Scout gives you the statistics of page views and sources of traffic (I discuss the value of these statistics here).
What is the hardest part of this program for you?
The 30 days of the campaign! Who knew 30 days was so long???
I’m not a very patient person, and actually, that’s a bit of what appealed to me about Kindle Scout. All joking aside about a month being a long time, the turnaround is actually super-fast for publishing, and that appeals to me.
Tell us about Sky Garden, your romantic suspense.
Sky Garden is a contemporary London romance with a haunting edge.
Lanie Briers used to perform as a medium, before a serial killer kidnapped her. Now she hides above a quirky Bloomsbury museum because the killer might be dead, but his evil haunts her.
Nick Tawes is filming a TV series on roof gardens. He intends to build one in Lanie’s rooftop retreat. The illegitimate son of British aristocracy, he fights his own demons.
As summer progresses and the sky garden grows, secrets are revealed. But someone is watching, and he’ll kill to bury forever one final truth.
Where can we nominate Sky Garden for Kindle Scout?
Here! https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/3C4OSPPILOSLJ And thank you :) The nomination period ends November 21, 2015.
Thanks so much, Shelley, for the chance to chat about my Kindle Scout experience. I’ve tried not to ramble, but if anyone has any questions, I’d love to chat some more, so please, ask!
Jenny Schwartz is a hopeful romantic with a degree in Sociology and History—people watching and digging into the past. She lives in Western Australia and is working towards her dream of living by the sea. Jenny writes contemporary romance, paranormal romance and steampunk. Find all her books listed on her website, http://authorjennyschwartz.com
Shelley, you didn’t ask nosy questions – you asked fabulous ones, and I was incredibly happy to be able to answer them. Being able to talk about my current obsession is lovely :)
It’s great knowing someone who is going through the process since I was intrigued by the program. Wishing you lots of luck, although I know there is lots of hard work involved as well.
Shelley, I think there’s a saying about all the hard work needed to get lucky – us authors definitely live that.