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Kindle Scout experiences & Nomination Requests (MERGED)

2M views 26K replies 700 participants last post by  ShayneRutherford 
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#1 ·
Hi. I thought I posted this question last night, but I don't see it in any of the threads, so I thought I would try again. I recently learned about Kindle Scout, and I would just like to hear about other authors' experiences. All opinions and stories welcome and appreciated. Thank you.
 
#18,081 ·
I check way too much myself.  I seriously hope KP doesn't keep track of that sort of thing, lol!
Well, it took just over 24 hours, but I am finally on the H&T list.  I know it won't last, but it's nice while it's happening.  I did a major push today on my blog and on facebook pages to get there.  I'm saving my newletter for in a few days.

Top three nominated and fingers crossed for those awaiting news.
 
#18,082 ·
It's Thursday. It looks like a sunny day today. I'm going to go and turn the garden this morning after breakfast. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and I want to get this done before the weekend. On Saturday morning I'll be taking my book table to a local crafts fair and trying to sell a few more books.

Let's get on with today's list, shall we?

Remember - the campaigns that need nominations the most are the ones that are closest to the LAST DAY LEFT, 1 day left, 2 days left etc.

Updated List

LAST DAY LEFT! What I Left Behind by Jacqueline Ward
LAST DAY LEFT! The Water Witch by Ron Foster
1 day left City Under Ice by Te Olivant
1 day left Snowdrift by Debra Erfert
1 day left Cold Ground Ginger by Robert Burton Robinson
1 day left Wizard of the Wasteland by Jon Cronshaw
2 days left The Reminisce by H.L. Cherryholmes
3 days left The Inhabitable Boy by J.M. Moreaux
4 days left Under Jupiter by J.E. Hunter
7 days left Score of Silence by Mark Gardner
7 days left The Freak Show Below by Jada Ryker
10 days left Ghosts in Glass Houses by Kay Charles
10 days left A Return to Fallbrook by T.T. Rankin
10 days left Unimaginary by Patrick Tylee
14 days left No Place in Eden by Hilary Murray
14 days left The Things We Do For Love by Anita Louise
15 days left Plunge by John Greco
16 days left The Book Knights by J.G. Mckenney
16 days left Night of the Webcam by Robertson Tait
16 days left Thread of a Spider by D.L. Gardner
18 days left Fallen from Grace by Nikki Landis
18 days left The Modern Mage by T.J. Flaxman
21 days left Shipley Bridge by David Thompson
23 days left Black Sun Ascension by T.S. Starkenberg
23 days left Finding Home Again by Mary Head
25 days left Self Possessed by Lee Isserow
28 days left Nick of Time by Julianne Q. Johnson

I put this list up every morning and I strive to keep it up-to-date so that this thread needn't dissolve into a flurry of "NOMINATE MY BOOK, NOMINATE MY BOOK" posts. No one is under any obligation to nominate any of these books. I'm just trying to keep the thread clear of unnecessary clutter. This way once a day there is a complete list of current candidates and folks can readily check out the kboards members who have a book in the running and can make up their own mind. I try and stay nonpartisan about it - which is why I don't comment on any particular book by title. I just keep the list.

If I have missed anyone please let me know either with a PM or by posting a link here in the thread.

Happy scouting folks!

*********************************************************************************
Don't forget to pick up a copy of my Kindle Scout winning novel KELPIE DREAMS, only 99 cents on Amazon.com for the month of May.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CYNM152

[/quote]
 
#18,083 ·
Jennifer Bull said:
There are a number of things that set off alarm bells for me with their (very poor) website. I also found this article from an author who had experience with them (this was just from a google search and I do not know the validity of the source etc) -- http://www.theadventurouswriter.com/blogwriting/publishing-contract-cancelled-how-to-save-your-writing-career/. I wouldn't be shocked if they were a vanity publisher (made the author pay for their publishing services) based on the lack of submission guidelines or contract info available on their site. Perhaps they are a genuine small press but I wouldn't go near them.
Hey, whaddayaknow, I've also been contacted by them. I feel validated now :p Not sure why but Facebook pages no longer seem to notify me of messages received. I only stumbled on this one today. Hope everyone's doing well and best of luck to those in their final days. I've got the top ones nominated!
 
#18,087 ·
David Thompson said:
Thanks Mark...up to 4 more days of jumping every time I get mail!
I know the waiting is bad, but I tend to think that may indicate more serious consideration, which is something. (I say that even though my book was rejected almost instantly!) :p
 
#18,088 ·
stillmyheart said:
So far, this campaign has been a good bit different from my last one. More hits, but fewer hours in Hot & Trending so far. I'm still anxious about it, but in a more lowkey sort of way. I feel like there's no way to not be anxious about it, even if you've done it before, but at least you know what to expect going in for round two (or three, or more... XD). I will say that it doesn't seem to be affecting my ability to write, as I'm intending to start working on my next project tonight, a supernatural series; during my last campaign, I couldn't focus on much of anything while it was running, so this is a nice change.
I too have far less anxiety this time around. I think what's missing is the overwhelming stress over my inability to effectively promote and the feeling (okay, fear) that I should be doing more. Stats-wise, this campaign has already surpassed the final numbers of my first with far less attempted promotion. The empirical data suggests that the all encompassing anxiety the first time was for naught. ;)

Even with better stats, I know that in the end selection comes down to "Does this meet our current needs?" just as it does with any publisher. I fully expect to be pulling my hair out and chewing antacids once I enter the waiting period.

p.s. I am following Steve's list and saving and nominating. I just don't post my nominations.
 
#18,090 ·
David Thompson said:
Thanks Mark...up to 4 more days of jumping every time I get mail!
I think the longest I've seen is one that took a day longer than Cindy's. I think Cindy's took 12 or 13 days. You're day 11 today? Given that tomorrow's a Friday, my guess is you'll hear tomorrow. Tues and Fri seem to be the most common days for a response. Best of luck!
 
#18,091 ·
Day 20 of my campaign and I'm holding steady at 370 page views, 0 hours "Hot and Trending". Not sure at this point I'd even have any time spent in "Lukewarm and Noticeable". I guess in hindsight I probably should have made a plan beyond that of just hitting "submit".

On the other hand, as unpredictable as the KS gods are I'm fairly certain I'm in a dead heat with the other current campaigns for being selected! Lol...

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 
#18,092 ·
Patricia KC said:
I too have far less anxiety this time around. I think what's missing is the overwhelming stress over my inability to effectively promote and the feeling (okay, fear) that I should be doing more. Stats-wise, this campaign has already surpassed the final numbers of my first with far less attempted promotion. The empirical data suggests that the all encompassing anxiety the first time was for naught. ;)

Even with better stats, I know that in the end selection comes down to "Does this meet our current needs?" just as it does with any publisher. I fully expect to be pulling my hair out and chewing antacids once I enter the waiting period.

p.s. I am following Steve's list and saving and nominating. I just don't post my nominations.
Patricia, I am taking that same approach regarding nominations, i.e., nominating quietly. Don't want to offend anyone with my choices. But I don't expect anyone else to tell me whether they're nominating my book, so I think that's fair.

Thanks again for your recommendation of Jaxson's email list. I participated last Saturday, which finally put Cold Ground Ginger on the H&T list for the last week of my campaign. It's been on there ever since, but I'm not sure how, since my visits per day have now settled in around 60. Maybe this means that a large percentage of the readers are nominating AND actually reading the excerpt. Who knows? I'm sending highly-targeted readers from Facebook this week, so maybe that's making the difference.
 
#18,093 ·
TT Rankin said:
On the other hand, as unpredictable as the KS gods are I'm fairly certain I'm in a dead heat with the other current campaigns for being selected! Lol...
I am 100% sure you are, especially since the information on the Scout website makes is clear the final decision is up to the Kindle Scout team, not the stats!
 
#18,094 ·
Robert Burton Robinson said:
Patricia, I am taking that same approach regarding nominations, i.e., nominating quietly. Don't want to offend anyone with my choices. But I don't expect anyone else to tell me whether they're nominating my book, so I think that's fair.

Thanks again for your recommendation of Jaxson's email list. I participated last Saturday, which finally put Cold Ground Ginger on the H&T list for the last week of my campaign. It's been on there ever since, but I'm not sure how, since my visits per day have now settled in around 60. Maybe this means that a large percentage of the readers are nominating AND actually reading the excerpt. Who knows? I'm sending highly-targeted readers from Facebook this week, so maybe that's making the difference.
I suspect it means a large percentage of readers are nominating. At the same time, in the last few days, nominations could be coming from people who saved the book. It is possible to hit Nominate from the Saved Books page without revisiting the book's page. At the end of my last campaign, my book spent three days in H&T with low page views. The next to last day, it had 24 hours on the list with only 24 page views. The Saved Books list is the only explanation I can come up with.

I'm so glad Jaxon's newsletter worked out for you! It looks like it brought you nicely to the finish line. I'm pleased with my results. My book fell off the list last night, but with all of the Recently Added and Ending Soon titles, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. I'm on day 20 and don't expect to make the list again until the last couple of days (if then). My first run had five days at the beginning of the campaign and three days at the end, so I'm good with that.
 
#18,096 ·
Day one- 148 page views, 0 hours H&T.  Yeah, zero!  But today it looks like I've been H&T all day so far, so there's that.  I know H&T means nothing as far as selection is concerned, I'm just hoping to not get a repeat of Teatime, which had 1 hour until the last two days.  I know I'm never going to big one of the big hitters, I'm just hoping for a decent showing.

One good thing about promising everyone a free copy whether it's selected or not, I can post on the facebook "Free book" sites.  I'm looking forward to using a few free days when I publish.  I need readers, and I have three other novels published.  If they like Nick, maybe I'll get some sale-through. 

Fingers still crossed for those awaiting news, and top three still nominated.
 
#18,097 ·
Patricia KC said:
I suspect it means a large percentage of readers are nominating. At the same time, in the last few days, nominations could be coming from people who saved the book. It is possible to hit Nominate from the Saved Books page without revisiting the book's page. At the end of my last campaign, my book spent three days in H&T with low page views. The next to last day, it had 24 hours on the list with only 24 page views. The Saved Books list is the only explanation I can come up with.
Interesting I think you have something there, will start doing the save thing too, I think it also goes to who fills out that star form or remembers to hit skip. Getting them to click once is one thing,getting someone to do something else once they get there is another thing
 
#18,098 ·
JulianneQJohnson said:
Day one- 148 page views, 0 hours H&T. Yeah, zero! But today it looks like I've been H&T all day so far, so there's that. I know H&T means nothing as far as selection is concerned, I'm just hoping to not get a repeat of Teatime, which had 1 hour until the last two days. I know I'm never going to big one of the big hitters, I'm just hoping for a decent showing.
I did over 200 first day and no HT, i think sometimes we get zapped because so many books ending on day we start. As always you got my vote. Good luck and I RT you some today also
 
#18,099 ·
Hey, Steve! Can you add me to the list!

It's official as of tomorrow morning my book will be live! I'm working on that post for you (I have a couple of posts coming out during the campaign so I'll pull some information out from that for you) too, so hopefully once this gets underway I'll be less frantic!

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/3VV8S5ETQAJMM

Thanks!
 
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