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The "My Book Wasn't Accepted for Kindle Scout, Now What?" Thread

163K views 2K replies 153 participants last post by  CF 
#1 ·
Hi, all!  This is the support thread for those of us whose books weren't selected for Kindle Scout. Most of us have, or will be, self-publishing. We'll meet here to support one another and share marketing tips and details about our book launches.

My book, Beyond the Forest, launched (secretly) on October 28th. I'm going public today, and Amazon sent the notification email to those who nominated my book. Let's see what happens next!
 
#1,829 ·
JulianneQJohnson said:
Hello everybody!

Dan P- getting advance reviews after a KS campaign is tricky. One isn't allowed to send out ARC copies while campaigning, and waiting to do it after can seriously hurt the sales you might get from the campaign itself. (Learned that the hard way.) In my opinion, go ahead and publish the book as soon as it's ready. Hopefully some reviews will come from your nominators. Also, go ahead and send ARC copies out to any beta readers or newsletter subscribers you wish. The reviews won't be there on launch day, but they will get there eventually, and reviews are good whenever you get them. Stay away from sites like Instafreebie if you are in KU.
Also, I think the .99 launch is a good thank you.
Thank you!!
ID Johnson- Good to see you and hope your launch goes swimmingly!

C L Salaski-
I'm with you! yes, a profusion of -ly adverbs can be the sign of a green writer, but that does not mean one has to eradicate them all as if they were plague carriers.
As for beta readers, if you have a newsletter you can ask for volunteers. You can also get involved in a writer's forum such as Absolute Write, where they have a section for those looking for beta readers. You could also post places like the KBoards.

Billy- there's tons of online info about how to get the word out. You can also back up in this thread and read a bit, there's tons of information here. My only advice is to not sink a bunch of money into ads and promotion if this is the first title under this name. Paid promotion works best when there is a back-list or more books in a series to promote buy-through. Just my opinion, of course.
You can set up the book for pre-order and get those author pages in place, but if it was me, I'd wait on pushing that KS button until it's live.
 
#1,830 ·
I know there has been some conversation about AMS ads (on the other thread mostly, I think) but wanted to mention that I started mine as soon as they became available, and I usually have pretty lackluster performance with those. Probably because I'm not very good at writing the product description and I hadn't done sponsored until a few days ago. I'm having really good luck with one of my product display ads. I'll usually spend about what I make but this one is at 29%. I think that's pretty good, isn't it? Or not? This may be a topic for a different thread, but since we were talking about how quickly to get them going, I would advocate for as soon as possible.
Alexa--my also-boughts are pretty all over the place now. I always have a ton of my own books in there but I also have some out of genre stuff from other KS authors so it is definitely something to think about. I know I'm in a lot of those authors' for those particular books as well. I think it will straighten out as sales catch up to the population algo, but who knows. I'm certain not all of my sales have come from my friends or KS friends, but it looks that way right now.
 
#1,831 ·
ID Johnson said:
I know there has been some conversation about AMS ads (on the other thread mostly, I think) but wanted to mention that I started mine as soon as they became available, and I usually have pretty lackluster performance with those. Probably because I'm not very good at writing the product description and I hadn't done sponsored until a few days ago. I'm having really good luck with one of my product display ads. I'll usually spend about what I make but this one is at 29%. I think that's pretty good, isn't it? Or not? This may be a topic for a different thread, but since we were talking about how quickly to get them going, I would advocate for as soon as possible.
Alexa--my also-boughts are pretty all over the place now. I always have a ton of my own books in there but I also have some out of genre stuff from other KS authors so it is definitely something to think about. I know I'm in a lot of those authors' for those particular books as well. I think it will straighten out as sales catch up to the population algo, but who knows. I'm certain not all of my sales have come from my friends or KS friends, but it looks that way right now.
My sister listened to a podcast that recommended product display ads. I'll be interested to hear how your campaign goes. I'd say you're doing extremely well so far. As for also boughts, I wouldn't worry too much about other genres being mixed in. I've never felt I got much benefit from my also boughts regardless of what books were in the lineup.
 
#1,832 ·
Kay7979 said:
My sister listened to a podcast that recommended product display ads. I'll be interested to hear how your campaign goes. I'd say you're doing extremely well so far. As for also boughts, I wouldn't worry too much about other genres being mixed in. I've never felt I got much benefit from my also boughts regardless of what books were in the lineup.
Thank you! I can't complain about anything right now, that's for sure! I need to learn more about AMS ads. Do you happen to know the name of the podcost your sister listened to? I think I know just about enough to be dangerous! Most of my also boughts historically have been my own books, so I either I have a loyal fanbase or not enough reach, lol!
 
#1,833 ·
ID Johnson said:
I know there has been some conversation about AMS ads (on the other thread mostly, I think) but wanted to mention that I started mine as soon as they became available, and I usually have pretty lackluster performance with those. Probably because I'm not very good at writing the product description and I hadn't done sponsored until a few days ago. I'm having really good luck with one of my product display ads. I'll usually spend about what I make but this one is at 29%. I think that's pretty good, isn't it? Or not? This may be a topic for a different thread, but since we were talking about how quickly to get them going, I would advocate for as soon as possible.
Alexa--my also-boughts are pretty all over the place now. I always have a ton of my own books in there but I also have some out of genre stuff from other KS authors so it is definitely something to think about. I know I'm in a lot of those authors' for those particular books as well. I think it will straighten out as sales catch up to the population algo, but who knows. I'm certain not all of my sales have come from my friends or KS friends, but it looks that way right now.
I had a similar experience with Also Boughts when I released my Kindle Scout reject: lots of KS and Kindle Press books, none of my own. I didn't notice a lot of out-of-genre connections, but I wouldn't worry about that part. To me, the pattern looks a lot like reaching new readers, people I wouldn't have reached if I hadn't gone through the KS process.
 
#1,834 ·
ID Johnson said:
Thank you! I can't complain about anything right now, that's for sure! I need to learn more about AMS ads. Do you happen to know the name of the podcost your sister listened to? I think I know just about enough to be dangerous! Most of my also boughts historically have been my own books, so I either I have a loyal fanbase or not enough reach, lol!
I haven't listened to it yet myself, but this is the program. Please let us know if you find it helpful.

http://sellmorebooksshow.com/episode-163-amazon-ads-writing-for-exposure-and-kfc-romance-novels/
 
#1,835 ·
Glad to have found this group, having recently run a KS campaign for my novel, Incognolio, a surrealistic psychological thriller which I'm preparing to self-publish.

I have published books before, but never self-published, so am feeling a bit overwhelmed with how much there is to learn.

One issue I'm trying to clarify: If I purchase an ISBN via Bowker and list my newly named imprint as the publisher, will that appear on my Amazon page as the publisher, rather than CreateSpace?
 
#1,836 ·
Michael Sussman said:
One issue I'm trying to clarify: If I purchase an ISBN via Bowker and list my newly named imprint as the publisher, will that appear on my Amazon page as the publisher, rather than CreateSpace?
Yes, exactly. There is also be a field there to designate the publisher name, so don't miss that. And fill out all of the fields in Bowker as well for the book.
 
#1,837 ·
Kay, Bill,

You might not be aware that a messy also-bought is hurting your sales. I know for a fact because my genre is more niche, and I experienced the change. What happens is, if you have your also-bots all lined up with your genre, Amazon will regularly send out emails to recommend your book to people who had purchased books similar to yours. They also put your book in these pop-ups at the end of other books that are in the same genre as yours. It's free advertising that you might not be aware of. They're continuous and can keep your sales steady.

If your also-boughts is a mix and the algo can't figure out who to recommend your book to, you don't get that kind of free advertising. You might think you're not being hurt, but you're not getting this really huge benefit.

I ran a free promo back in Nov which messed up my also-boughts. I suffered a sales downturn for 3 months and took a lot of efforts to restore the also-boughts. That's why I don't do free promos anymore.
 
#1,838 ·
BillyDeCarlo said:
Yes, exactly. There is also be a field there to designate the publisher name, so don't miss that. And fill out all of the fields in Bowker as well for the book.
Thanks, Billy!

Has anyone hired a "book shepherd" to help with self-publishing? Was it helpful and worth the money? I'd like to avoid these full-service companies, but perhaps find someone to guide the process.
 
#1,840 ·
Michael Sussman said:
Has anyone hired a "book shepherd" to help with self-publishing? Was it helpful and worth the money? I'd like to avoid these full-service companies, but perhaps find someone to guide the process.
I think you'll find that it's not that hard.

Once you have your publishing company set up it's not that hard. I did a sole proprietorship with my wife to start, but might go s-corp with it. Anyway, once you have that, it's just a matter of going to KDP and uploading your cover and content, along with your ISBN from Bowker, etc. Same with CreateSpace if you are doing a paperback, just select Ingram Spark rather than CS's expanded distribution as recommended here.

To make it easier, get someone to do your cover, and use a pre-formatted interior design template. Some are set up to work for both paperback and e-book, which saves a lot of hassle. I bought mine from bookdesigntemplates.com and they have a good selection for different genres. You can order author copy paperbacks very inexpensively from CS (but not from KDP's new paperback option, so be careful there, it's not quite baked yet). You can preview your kindle book by sending the files to your own kindle or using the previewer from KDP on your computer.
 
#1,841 ·
BillyDeCarlo said:
I think you'll find that it's not that hard.

Once you have your publishing company set up it's not that hard. I did a sole proprietorship with my wife to start, but might go s-corp with it. Anyway, once you have that, it's just a matter of going to KDP and uploading your cover and content, along with your ISBN from Bowker, etc. Same with CreateSpace if you are doing a paperback, just select Ingram Spark rather than CS's expanded distribution as recommended here.

To make it easier, get someone to do your cover, and use a pre-formatted interior design template. Some are set up to work for both paperback and e-book, which saves a lot of hassle. I bought mine from bookdesigntemplates.com and they have a good selection for different genres. You can order author copy paperbacks very inexpensively from CS (but not from KDP's new paperback option, so be careful there, it's not quite baked yet). You can preview your kindle book by sending the files to your own kindle or using the previewer from KDP on your computer.
Thanks, again. I'll give it a whirl.
 
#1,842 ·
Hi guys!! Fellow reject here...see some familiar faces! I heard about the Storytellers contest and scrambled to get everything together to launch just in time. My mystery IMPULSE SPY just released at the end of last week, at $0.99 promo to thank my nominators. It is also in Kindle Unlimited. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071S7FH3T
No huge sellout so far, but hoping for a nice steady trickle :)
AlexaKang said:
One thing I'm really concerned about is what the KS buyers will do to my Also-Boughts. I need my Also-Boughts to be populated by the right books in my target genre. I'm in a total dilemma about what might happen if a surge of KS buyers might make my Also-Boughts a mess.
Alexa, I am now actually grateful for the fact that my Scout email took several days before going out, after I pushed the button. By the time it hit, I already had a bunch of relevant also-boughts. Now it has been taken over by Scout books, but only partially. So I'm happy to see that there are still others there in the genre I'm going for. I think that having irrelevant also-boughts may turn off browsing readers, who think it's not what they're looking for. I didn't realize that messing them up also changes potential future marketing! Good to know.
 
#1,843 ·
Kay,
I listened to the podcast last night. It was very helpful, although they didn't get too much into AMS until about 50 minutes in. The other info was still helpful but not as pertinent as the AMS discussion.  Thanks again for suggesting it! I learned a lot about how to tell if an ad is working, how long to wait, and when to scrap it and try again.
 
#1,844 ·
Knox said:
Alexa, I am now actually grateful for the fact that my Scout email took several days before going out, after I pushed the button. By the time it hit, I already had a bunch of relevant also-boughts. Now it has been taken over by Scout books, but only partially. So I'm happy to see that there are still others there in the genre I'm going for. I think that having irrelevant also-boughts may turn off browsing readers, who think it's not what they're looking for. I didn't realize that messing them up also changes potential future marketing! Good to know.
Carrie Ann, do you mean KS took a few days to get the message out? I thought it was instantaneous and they have it on autopilot.

I was going to send them a message last night then decided to wait again because it's Memorial Day weekend. Will probably do it next Tuesday instead. I'm not really expecting any significant sales bump. Most of my voters probably got the book free from me already when I did the soft launch. Then again, I haven't seen Scout books in my Also-Boughts yet. It'll be interesting to see what results from their message.

I gotta say, the whole KS experience definitely affected how I normally run a launch. I haven't decided yet whether it's a good thing or bad thing.
 
#1,845 ·
AlexaKang said:
Carrie Ann, do you mean KS took a few days to get the message out? I thought it was instantaneous and they have it on autopilot.
I thought it is mostly instant, with some hangups on occasion. But then I hit the button at 1pm on Friday-- and the email went out at 6pm on Monday.
I know from the Scout board that Dan hit the button at 4pm on Monday-- and his also went out at 6pm on Monday. So now we're thinking they actually send some in batches...putting us in competition again! :)
 
#1,846 ·
ID Johnson said:
Kay,
I listened to the podcast last night. It was very helpful, although they didn't get too much into AMS until about 50 minutes in. The other info was still helpful but not as pertinent as the AMS discussion. Thanks again for suggesting it! I learned a lot about how to tell if an ad is working, how long to wait, and when to scrap it and try again.
Good. I'll have to make time to listen. I'll fast forward to the good part!
 
#1,847 ·
AlexaKang said:
Kay, Bill,

You might not be aware that a messy also-bought is hurting your sales. I know for a fact because my genre is more niche, and I experienced the change. What happens is, if you have your also-bots all lined up with your genre, Amazon will regularly send out emails to recommend your book to people who had purchased books similar to yours. They also put your book in these pop-ups at the end of other books that are in the same genre as yours. It's free advertising that you might not be aware of. They're continuous and can keep your sales steady.

If your also-boughts is a mix and the algo can't figure out who to recommend your book to, you don't get that kind of free advertising. You might think you're not being hurt, but you're not getting this really huge benefit.

I ran a free promo back in Nov which messed up my also-boughts. I suffered a sales downturn for 3 months and took a lot of efforts to restore the also-boughts. That's why I don't do free promos anymore.
That's a good point, but most of my Also Boughts were in the right genre. They were just dominated by KS and Kindle Press books, but all of the ones I noticed were either the right genre or at least a related one. Aside from the people on Kboards, I'm assuming nominators would tend to buy books in genres they read themselves, which shouldn't cause a real problem.
 
#1,848 ·
AlexaKang said:
Kay, Bill,

You might not be aware that a messy also-bought is hurting your sales. I know for a fact because my genre is more niche, and I experienced the change. What happens is, if you have your also-bots all lined up with your genre, Amazon will regularly send out emails to recommend your book to people who had purchased books similar to yours. They also put your book in these pop-ups at the end of other books that are in the same genre as yours. It's free advertising that you might not be aware of. They're continuous and can keep your sales steady.

If your also-boughts is a mix and the algo can't figure out who to recommend your book to, you don't get that kind of free advertising. You might think you're not being hurt, but you're not getting this really huge benefit.

I ran a free promo back in Nov which messed up my also-boughts. I suffered a sales downturn for 3 months and took a lot of efforts to restore the also-boughts. That's why I don't do free promos anymore.
Hello
I have bought quite a number of books from the almight Zon site and NEVER have received an email suggesting a buy. I dont understand how that works please let me us know thanks dan
 
#1,849 ·
Dan Petrosini author said:
Hello
I have bought quite a number of books from the almight Zon site and NEVER have received an email suggesting a buy. I dont understand how that works please let me us know thanks dan
Dan I get them on a weekly basis, sometimes twice a week, and I don't even buy books with the account tied to my author account. I browse a lot of books in my genre in search of keywords for my AMS ads, and like clockwork, Amazon would send me emails with a list of books they think I'd like based on my searches.

Maybe the emails they send you went to your SPAM box? It should go to your email account where you use to search for books.
 
#1,851 ·
AlexaKang said:
Ok so I just notified KS that my book is now up for sale. My KS page gave me an automatic message that my message to them is "in review". What happens next? Will they send me an email to let me know when their email to those who nominated me has gone out?
If you nominated your own book you'll get an email when everyone else does. I'm not sure what happens if you didn't nominate your own book, but it seems like some people have said they didn't get any type of notification that the email had gone out to those who had nominated if they didn't nominate their own book. I can let you know when I get the email though since I nominated your book!
My email went out only a few hours after I requested it be sent, which I think is different than some people who had to wait a few days.
And for the numbers people, I sold 25 books the day the email went out and 16 the next day before any promos.
 
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