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Kindle Scout experiences & Nomination Requests (MERGED)

2M views 26K replies 700 participants last post by  ShayneRutherford 
G
#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.
 
#24,661 ·
My campaign for Sicarius Soul finished this morning and I'm so relieved. Even though I did all my planning and scheduling before it went live, I spent 30 days obsessively clicking refresh on the Kindle Scout page and tracking my campaign data.

Sicarius Soul is the fifth book in a spinoff series. Notwithstanding the two strikes against it, I was determined to 1) deliver a fantastic book with 2) a great cover through 3) an outstanding Scout campaign. And if Kindle Press still says no, it would not be because of something I'd failed to deliver to the best of my ability.



  • Hot & Trending: 711 hours. It hit the list within 9 hours of going live, and stayed there the whole way through
  • Final count: 9,485 views
  • Highest view: 689 on Day 1, although 673 on Day 13 came close
  • Lowest view: 137 on Day 24
  • 20 of the 30 days delivered more than 200 views
  • Started at 81% internal, 19% external traffic. By the end, it had shifted to 59% internal, 41% external. It had, on Day 27 actually clocked in at 57%/43% but the last few days of mostly internal views shifted the balance back
  • Of the 3,856 external views, my shortlink (that I used on my social media posts and newsletters) delivered 1,846 views. I did use several advertisers, but I drove about half of the external traffic myself through my existing author platform

I have loads more daily data, and I've reached out to all my advertisers for click-through information to calculate ROI. When I have information, I'll share it!
 
#24,662 ·
Okay, so it's Sunday. I totally forgot to update the list for Saturday. I'm going to blame daylight savings time, although there is a strong chance that plain-old-stupid just got in my eyes.

So 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

1 day left Lips of the Sun by W. Town Andrews Jr.
4 days left A Trail of Embers by C.A. Kinnee
4 days left Mystic Evermore by Cecilia Hopkins
4 days left On Trial by Irene Lee
5 days left After the Green Withered by Kristin Ward
11 days left Tuning In: A Novel by Richard Roberts
12 days left Once in an Olive Moon by J.R. Laurence
12 days left On Holy Ground by Louise Cole
13 days left Future Warrior by Lexi Revellian
13 days left A Sensitive Situation by Lee Isserow
14 days left Dreaming of You and Me by Kristy Tate
14 days left Reclamation by Stephen D. Tucker
15 days left Worse Than Wicked by Kathryn Jankowski
15 days left Single and Looking, Daisy by Belinda Austin
15 days left Symphony of Death by Celina Summers
18 days left The Grand Unraveling by L.N. Heintz
18 days left Death In Vermilion by Barbara Elle
18 days left The Moon Thief by M.L. Hamilton
19 days left Bestseller by Carey Lewis
20 days left The Poet and the Muse by Navi Wang
26 days left Orion by Aaron Frale
27 days left Cutting Edges: Or, A Web of Women by Ruth Nestvold

I put this list up every morning and I strive to keep it up-to-date so that this thread needn't d
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!

PS: Don't forget, if you HAVEN'T been selected for Kindle Scout and you are wondering what to do next you can get just as much help from the "My Book Wasn't Accepted For Kindle Scout - Now What?" thread. Even if you already know what you are going to do I guarantee you'll get an awful lot of support from the gang over there!

Check it out - https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,243477.0.html

Keep your stick on the ice.
 
#24,663 ·
Steve Vernon said:
Okay, so it's Sunday. I totally forgot to update the list for Saturday. I'm going to blame daylight savings time, although there is a strong chance that plain-old-stupid just got in my eyes.
Haha, I was wondering! But having also lost track of the days over here, I figured the thread had just been super active between list postings ;D
 
#24,667 ·
JadeKerrion said:
My campaign for Sicarius Soul finished this morning and I'm so relieved. Even though I did all my planning and scheduling before it went live, I spent 30 days obsessively clicking refresh on the Kindle Scout page and tracking my campaign data.

Sicarius Soul is the fifth book in a spinoff series. Notwithstanding the two strikes against it, I was determined to 1) deliver a fantastic book with 2) a great cover through 3) an outstanding Scout campaign. And if Kindle Press still says no, it would not be because of something I'd failed to deliver to the best of my ability.
Great stats! Wishing you luck. I nominated your book.
 
#24,669 ·
Decon said:
I don't make the rules and I'm not trying to be contentious, but here's what it says in relation to editing. It says "CMOS recommended" below, and it's pretty obvious why as the majority of the market is in the US which must be their target market.

I hope that is not to say they wouldn't accept something contemporary or historical set in UK and edited to say The University of Oxford Style Guide, but I would think that it cuts down the chances of acceptance.
I'm sure you're right, but it does make me a little sad.

Intelligent readers should be able to switch between American English and UK English relatively easily. I figured out the difference in plural conventions in about two minutes just from reading Kboards posts.

I know a lot of readers don't like to exert themselves, especially in pleasure reading, but it would be far, far better if they did. (I'm speaking as a former English teacher.)

Fun fact: When American fans of Harry Potter discovered the US edition did not reflect Rowling's original language (which became common knowledge at some point early in the series), many of them started ordering the print edition from Amazon UK. This caused some consternation, since a different publisher was getting those royalties. The US publisher gave in, and the subsequent books in the series preserved more of Rowling's original language. It's too bad everyone isn't as motivated as those fans.

We can't avoid translating between completely different languages, but it's not unreasonable for readers to make the jump from different forms of the same language.

That's the end of today's rant. :p
 
#24,670 ·
I agree, Bill. We're all aware of the differences between UK and US grammar and usage. I've edited to both professionally. However, that's not to say that I don't find some aspects of CMOS downright ugly, so it isn't what I'd choose from preference.  I also think it can be problematic if you have a character who is  typical of their region - it can be quite jarring to see Americanisms and sometimes completely ridiculous. I remember picking up a novel which opened with an American academic at Oxford University and referred to 'fall semester'. No one at Oxford university would ever refer to 'fall semester' wherever they were from. It's Michaelmas. I find it ironic that if we write fantasy we can use all kinds of fictional foreign terms and phrases, but if we describe something English, we're supposed to translate.
As for CMOS - yes, they do say it's recommended. It didn't stop my last book getting picked up and, to be honest, if this one doesn't get selected, it won't be because it isn't edited to CMOS. If they like the other stuff about it, that won't stop them taking it, and if they don't like the prospective sales, the story or  the writing, CMOS  won't get me a contract.
 
#24,672 ·
I don't know who edited these but they are entirely wrong for Uk grammar.
"Have you seen this article, "The link between coffee and
cholesterol"?' he asked.
'It was as if', he explained, 'I had swallowed a toad, and it kept
croaking "ribbut, ribbut', from deep in my belly."
She particularly enjoyed the article 'Looking for the "New
Man"'.

The first one is wrong because you wouldn't use two sets of double quote marks or a punctuation string ("?') It should be: "Have you seen this article, The link between coffee and cholesterol?" he asked.
The second one bounces between double and single quotes within a phrase which is also wrong. It should be:
"It was as if," he explained, "I had swallowed a toad and it kept croaking 'ribbut, ribbut' from deep in my belly."
And the final one should be: She particularly enjoyed the article Looking for the 'New Man'?
 
#24,673 ·
Louise Cole said:
I agree, Bill. We're all aware of the differences between UK and US grammar and usage. I've edited to both professionally. However, that's not to say that I don't find some aspects of CMOS downright ugly, so it isn't what I'd choose from preference. I also think it can be problematic if you have a character who is typical of their region - it can be quite jarring to see Americanisms and sometimes completely ridiculous. I remember picking up a novel which opened with an American academic at Oxford University and referred to 'fall semester'. No one at Oxford university would ever refer to 'fall semester' wherever they were from. It's Michaelmas. I find it ironic that if we write fantasy we can use all kinds of fictional foreign terms and phrases, but if we describe something English, we're supposed to translate.
As for CMOS - yes, they do say it's recommended. It didn't stop my last book getting picked up and, to be honest, if this one doesn't get selected, it won't be because it isn't edited to CMOS. If they like the other stuff about it, that won't stop them taking it, and if they don't like the prospective sales, the story or the writing, CMOS won't get me a contract.
Yes, agreed. It makes sense for UK characters to speak English appropriate to their location and situation.

It's interesting that one thing indie authors can't hire--unless I'm missing something--is a fact checker. I suspect one could look up on the internet what the academic terms are called at Oxford, but I too have seen some odd everyday details go astray in novels. Even in writing urban fantasy, ideally one should be realistic about the real-life details.
 
#24,675 ·
Just filled my nomination list. I am attempting the post about it then forget it tactic and no h&t hours yet (I campaigned hard for all my other ones and decent h&t, but still no selections). I did notice the KS traffic is way up since I last came. I assuming more readers are on the site. Which is awesome, I felt all my other campaigns I was H&T because I was pestering friends to nominate. I so much rather it be people I don't know that would like to read my stuff. Because I always seem to get some regular readers each time I do this, I'd rather have it be that way.
 
#24,676 ·
JadeKerrion said:
My campaign for Sicarius Soul finished this morning and I'm so relieved. Even though I did all my planning and scheduling before it went live, I spent 30 days obsessively clicking refresh on the Kindle Scout page and tracking my campaign data.

Sicarius Soul is the fifth book in a spinoff series. Notwithstanding the two strikes against it, I was determined to 1) deliver a fantastic book with 2) a great cover through 3) an outstanding Scout campaign. And if Kindle Press still says no, it would not be because of something I'd failed to deliver to the best of my ability.



  • Hot & Trending: 711 hours. It hit the list within 9 hours of going live, and stayed there the whole way through
  • Final count: 9,485 views
  • Highest view: 689 on Day 1, although 673 on Day 13 came close
  • Lowest view: 137 on Day 24
  • 20 of the 30 days delivered more than 200 views
  • Started at 81% internal, 19% external traffic. By the end, it had shifted to 59% internal, 41% external. It had, on Day 27 actually clocked in at 57%/43% but the last few days of mostly internal views shifted the balance back
  • Of the 3,856 external views, my shortlink (that I used on my social media posts and newsletters) delivered 1,846 views. I did use several advertisers, but I drove about half of the external traffic myself through my existing author platform

I have loads more daily data, and I've reached out to all my advertisers for click-through information to calculate ROI. When I have information, I'll share it!
Great stats for your campaign. Good luck.
 
#24,677 ·
It's Monday and I've got a dayshift ahead of me.

So 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! Lips of the Sun by W. Town Andrews Jr.
3 days left A Trail of Embers by C.A. Kinnee
3 days left Mystic Evermore by Cecilia Hopkins
3 days left On Trial by Irene Lee
4 days left After the Green Withered by Kristin Ward
10 days left Tuning In: A Novel by Richard Roberts
11 days left Once in an Olive Moon by J.R. Laurence
11 days left On Holy Ground by Louise Cole
12 days left Future Warrior by Lexi Revellian
12 days left A Sensitive Situation by Lee Isserow
13 days left Dreaming of You and Me by Kristy Tate
13 days left Reclamation by Stephen D. Tucker
14 days left Worse Than Wicked by Kathryn Jankowski
14 days left Single and Looking, Daisy by Belinda Austin
14 days left Symphony of Death by Celina Summers
17 days left The Grand Unraveling by L.N. Heintz
17 days left Death In Vermilion by Barbara Elle
17 days left The Moon Thief by M.L. Hamilton
18 days left Bestseller by Carey Lewis
19 days left The Poet and the Muse by Navi Wang
25 days left Orion by Aaron Frale
26 days left Cutting Edges: Or, A Web of Women by Ruth Nestvold

I put this list up every morning and I strive to keep it up-to-date so that this thread needn't d
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!

PS: Don't forget, if you HAVEN'T been selected for Kindle Scout and you are wondering what to do next you can get just as much help from the "My Book Wasn't Accepted For Kindle Scout - Now What?" thread. Even if you already know what you are going to do I guarantee you'll get an awful lot of support from the gang over there!

Check it out - https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,243477.0.html

And remember, don't snap my garters.
 
#24,679 ·
Just nominated two:
Lips of the Sun by W. Town Andrews Jr.
A Trail of Embers by C.A. Kinnee

Best of luck to Andrews and Kinnee
 
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