Amazon Wants YOU to Scout for Books to Publish...For Free
If you’ve ever worked in publishing or read Fifty Shades of Grey (don’t lie now, we know you’ve all been discreetly reading it on the bus), then you know that there was once a time when people got paid -- or at least got to put “intern” on their resume -- to skim through dozens of possibly terrible manuscripts before passing along potential publishing gold on to editors. But, if Amazon has their way, it looks like the Anastasia Steeles of the world will soon be out of a job.
The corporate giant has decided to cut out the middleman and allow readers to decide what books they want to see published and sold through their e-book store. A few months ago, the company announced the creation of Kindle Scout, a platform which gives users free access to previews of unreleased books and allows them to nominate three favorites. Each book gets 30 days on the preview shelf. At the end of that time, Amazon will review the most popular ones and choose which ones to publish, and the readers who selected those books will receive free Kindle copies a week before the official release date.
“Amazon customers are passionate readers who have long influenced which books become breakout bestsellers,” explained Russ Grandinetti, Senior Vice President of Kindle, in the company's official statement. “With the launch of Kindle Scout, readers now have an even more direct say in what gets published and can get free books and discover new favorite authors in the process.”
For newbie authors wary of the world of big-time publishing, Kindle Scout seems like a solid starting-off platform. Authors selected will be published through Kindle Press and offered a 5-year renewable contract, a $1,500 advance, a 50% eBook royalty rate, rights reversions, and Amazon marketing.
Of course, for someone who spends several years working on their masterpiece, a $1,500 advance might seem like a measly consolation prize. But with the world of self-publishing making it possible for anyone to call themselves an author, it’s become more and more difficult for people to really break through into the bigger editorial houses and pull off a J.K. Rowling moment.
The sadness over declining traditional publishing and end of publishing jobs as we know them aside, Kindle Scout is basically heaven for bored book nerds. Might as well roll with the punches, folks; it’s not like Amazon is going anywhere anytime soon.
[Pic via Flickr - Richard Masoner/Cyclelicious]
