Kindle Scout Diary - Pre-Sale Page and Purple Italian Boots

When I started my Kindle Scout campaign, I wore my new purple Birkenstocks for good luck. I guess it worked, since The Standout was selected. I decided it's the color. So on any landmark day, my footwear will be purple. Luckily, I have new purple boots, from Italy no less! (I did not go to Italy myself, they were a gift from my Mom and Stepdad.)
Anyway, the pre-sale page for The Standout is up. If you nominated it, you can download your free copy now!
Click here right now and do it!

My Kindle Scout Diary: Pre-Publication

It's been almost a month since I received the fabulous news that Kindle Press has decided to publish The Standout, and on Monday (10/26) the pre-sale page goes up, so people who nominated it will be able to download their free copy.

This is of course, very exciting for me. But I have also realized that I need to see my Kindle Scout success more as an opportunity than as a final destination. In the last month I've become acquainted with other Kindle Press authors (very friendly bunch of people) and I've checked out the sales ranking on many books published by Kindle Press. Some do great, but some do not. Some seem to get promoted, but some do not. Obviously, I need to work hard and promote my book as much as I can, so that Amazon will want to work hard for it and promote it too.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I want to dispel a couple of myths first.

Kindle Scout is a relatively new program, and before I put my book up, I read as much about it as I could. A couple of different sites I went to stated that the books aren't judged on quality, and that once they're chosen, they receive no editing.

Wrong, and wrong.

In the last few weeks, several more books have been selected for publication. Some had been in "Hot and Trending" pretty much the whole time. A couple were not. I don't know what Amazon looks for, but they do actually read the books before selecting them. When I talked to my contact at Kindle Press, she mentioned the editors' comments on The Standout - which said to me that more than one person had read it and liked it.

I also received editing services. They were mostly copy edits, very minimal, because I submitted a very clean manuscript. But there was one suggestion about a line of dialogue, which was quite helpful and showed good insight into one of the major characters.

Everyone has been very friendly and approachable. The other authors I've "met" via Facebook all seem quite satisfied with Kindle Press thus far. I expect there are exceptions - there always are - but so far I haven't heard any Kindle Press authors say anything negative about their experience.

I remain a little overwhelmed. There are literally over a million books available on Kindle, and being published by Kindle Press is not a guarantee of success. Every day I get half a dozen emails from places like Book Bub, Book Gorilla, Book Sends, etc., about all the books that are on sale, and I'm reminded what a saturated market this is. Yet, I love it. I love reading and I love writing, and even though I'll admit to being deeply competitive, I love meeting other writers like me.

So, if you nominated The Standout, don't forget to download your free copy, come Monday. Let the true journey begin!

Bernie Sanders and Angry Sex

There's a brand new post on November Surprises Blog! To read about Lucy's lost idealism, Bernie Sanders, and angry sex, click here.

Kindle Scout Diary: Success!

So, I beat the odds, and The Standout will be published by Kindle Press! I couldn't be more excited and I'm still sort of in shock.

I promised a run-down of my stats:

• I was in Hot & Trending 74% of the time. There were two stretches of seven days or more when I was in Hot & Trending for more than 170 hours (a week.) There were three days total when I wasn't in Hot & Trending at all, and the rest of the time I was in it for at least part of the day.

• By the end of the campaign, 41% of my page views came from people directed to my link and 59% came from people just visiting the site.

• I received around 1080 page views by the end. 

What worked?

First and foremost, I was lucky. Now, I have a long history of being unlucky when it comes to book marketing and publishing, so this is a really big break for me. I did a lot of things right, but so did a lot of other authors whose books didn't do as well.

As far as tangible things that worked, here's my list:

• The title: I didn't think about it at the time, but having a book called The Standout in a situation where it's competing with other books for nominations couldn't have hurt me. It's just asking to be noticed.
• The cover! My cover artist, Christa Holland at Paper and Sage is amazing and deserves a lot of credit. She designed a beautiful, noticeable cover that I believe got me a lot of page views.
• My visibility campaign: Candace at CBB Book Promotions got the ball rolling for me, and the first week-long stretch of Hot & Trending is due to her. I looked at it like this: One way or another, The Standout was getting published and I was simply doing my promotion pre-release. It worked, and a lot of people noticed The Standout.
• Facebook. I started by sending a message to 50 of my friends who I thought would be the most receptive to my Kindle Scout campaign. Several of them spontaneously posted for me. Later that week my mom and my husband posted for me. Towards the end of my campaign I had several more friends post for me, and I tried to space it out. I also posted on my own timeline twice, and every time I wrote a Kindle Scout Diary blog, I posted that too.
• Having a publishing history: I've already published several books on Amazon, and that seems to have helped, as many other Kindle Press authors can say the same. I made The Holdout free for two days during my campaign, it was featured on Pixel of Ink, and sales took off. Thank you Pixel of Ink!
• Putting forth my best effort with my book and author page:  I like to think I wrote a good book, and that the presentation is really professional. That's certainly what I was going for.

So there you have it. I hope that helps any of you Kindle Scout authors who may be in the beginning or middle of their campaigns. Good Luck!!!

My Kindle Scout Diary: Final Day!

Tomorrow is the final day of my Kindle Scout campaign. That means only one more night of waking up at 3:00 AM, wondering if I'm in Hot & Trending. Now I can look forward to dreaming about whether or not Kindle Press will actually publish The Standout. From what I hear, most authors get emailed the verdict pretty quickly, much sooner than the fifteen days that's allotted. Still, I expect the wait to be excruciating. No, no. Waterboarding is excruciating. This is just angst-inducing.

I was talking to a good friend, telling her how nervous I am, how devastating it will be if I don't get picked.

"It doesn't have to be devastating," she said. "You'll just do what you always do. You'll pick yourself up, self-publish, and move on."

She's right, and that was good to hear. But I still find myself wondering (obsessing) about who gets picked and why. Since my campaign started, three books have been chosen for publication. What do they have in common?

Their most recent pick is Blood of the Forgotten Coast, by William Shelly Gwynn:

Before that came Five Spot, by Cindy Blackburn:

And then there's There is a Land: a Novel of Haiti, by Ted Oswald:

They all have very professional looking covers, they were all in Hot and Trending for most, if not all, of the time, and they are each authored by someone with writing experience. None of the authors are new to publishing. All three of the books are classified as a mystery or thriller. I read the opening pages of each, and they were all well-written.

But that's just three out of seventy-seven books. Of all the published books, there seems to be a pretty even distribution of male to female authors. It would be useless to look at the genre breakdown, since until recently, the only genres allowed were Mystery & Thriller, Romance, and Science Fiction/Fantasy. Now they also allow Literature & Fiction, and Young Adult.

But how many books have been turned down by Kindle Press?

I'm not going to count how many books are currently up for nomination. But a brief glance over the categories tells me there are around 260 listings. Since many books are listed in more than one category, I'll estimate there are over 100 books up now, and at any given time. Of course, every day new books are added while other campaigns ends. It seems to me that Kindle Press averages slightly fewer than one book a week to choose for publication. Mathematicians, feel free to dispute me on this because I'm terrible at math, but I'm guessing about 95% or more of the books up for nomination DO NOT get picked. So if The Standout isn't chosen, I'll be in good company.

However, I have to say, my chances are still better here than with the normal route to publication - you know, finding an agent to pitch my manuscript to one of the big name publishers so I can be famous for having written the next Gone Girl. Is Amazon perfect? NO! Do I appreciate the opportunity, no matter what the outcome, HELL, YES!

And now, my final plea: I will REALLY, REALLY appreciate your nomination. If you haven't already, please click here right now to nominate The Standout.

Thank you! I will be back, once the verdict is in, with a run-down of my stats and my final thoughts on what worked, or what didn't work. Stay tuned!

Kindle Scout Diary - Five Days Left & My Five Favorite Comfort Foods

I've reached the final countdown. It will be great to be done, but I'm sure I'll be a mess during that waiting time, looking at my inbox every five minutes for the verdict from Kindle Press. I keep telling myself that I'll be fine whether they publish it or not. Self-publishing The Standout, like I have with my other books, is not the end of the world.

And win or lose, I'm happy I tried. I had no idea how supportive everyone would be. So many people have posted for me, encouraging their friends and family to nominate my book.(This actually works well and has put me in Hot & Trending more than once.) I've always been terrible at self-promotion, but one benefit to doing this campaign is I've forced myself to toot my own horn. (Oh, BTW, if you have nominated The Standout yet, please click here right now and do so! Please & thank you!) Anyway, the enthusiasm and encouragement I've received has been extremely gratifying.

And I'm all about gratification, instant and otherwise. That's why today, in honor of "five days left," I'm going to list my five favorite comfort foods.

#5: Mac & Cheese

I'm talking about the homemade kind, with melted cheddar, cream, dry mustard, and garlic breadcrumbs on top. Once or twice a year I'll make a batch and freeze most of it, and then defrost small portions to enjoy throughout the winter. It's especially good accompanying seafood.

#4: Chicken Enchilada Casserole

I learned to make it from my mom. She told me to use a grocery store rotisserie chicken, cut it up and season it, and layer it with corn tortillas, cheese, green chile sauce, onion, and cilantro. I'm not above making this every month or so.

#3: Tuna Melt

The Uptown Diner (now closed) in Minneapolis made the best tuna melt ever. I can't replicate what they did, probably because I don't keep that much butter in my refrigerator. So again, I make them like how my mom does, which is also really good. They're open faced, on English muffin halves. Served with tomato soup, they remind me of childhood: Tuesday evening dinner, after I got home from dance class.

#2: Chocolate Cake

Every year for my birthday I make my own chocolate cake. My husband always offers to either make or buy me a cake, but I always refuse. I like to experiment with recipes from my Chocolate Cake Doctor cook book. Maybe by the time I turn 70 I'll have tried them all, but I doubt it. The chocolate midnight cake is so good I've made it multiple times.

#1: Spaghetti

It's my favorite Sunday night meal! I make it often, so I often skip the garlic bread, and lately I've started mixing in bean sprouts with the noodles, which is actually really good. I also love spicy meatballs. The only concession I can make there is reduced fat pork sausage. What else can I do?

Honorable Mention: Sriracha Sauce

I would put it at number one, but it's a sauce, not a food. I use it like little kids use ketchup. I put it on everything I mentioned above, except the chocolate cake. But does anyone know of a good Sriracha/chocolate cake recipe? Let me know!

Kindle Scout: Nine Days Left (and my nine favorite movies)

So my days are down to the single digits on Kindle Scout. I have to say, it's gone better than I ever imagined. I still doubt I'll get picked, but it won't be for a lack of trying. I was in Hot & Trending for over a week (thanks again, Candace's Book Blog), but yesterday morning I fell out of that desired category.
Looking at my stats, I discovered that over half of my page views came from people who were already on the Kindle Scout site. For this, I need to thank Christa Holland at Paper and Sage. She designed my cover, and I have received so many compliments on it.  I can't stress the importance of a good cover. If it doesn't look professional and compelling, people won't click on it, and most likely, Kindle Press won't publish it. Christa has designed four covers for me now, and I love her work. Authors, I strongly recommend her. Her covers are fabulous, her rates are extremely reasonable, and she's super-professional.

Before I launch into my nine favorite films (in honor of my nine days left on Kindle Scout), I'll make my usual plea: PLEASE NOMINATE The Standout. It's super-quick & easy, and you'll get a free copy if it's chosen. Don't miss this Black Swan meets Project Runway thriller! Click here right now to nominate The Standout!


#9 - Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life
I'm sort of cheating here, by having a tie, but I just couldn't choose between these two equally cheesy yet wonderful Christmas movies:

Miracle on 34th Street is such a classic, and I love the court case where they prove that Santa Claus exists. In addition, it has probably my favorite line delivery of all time, when the drunk wife Mrs. Shellhammer says, "I would love to have Santa Claus come stay with us. I think it would SIMPLY charming!" (see video above)

I've seen It's a Wonderful Life literally dozens of time, and I still always cry when Harry Bailey says, "To George - the richest man in town."

#8: Babe

I recently watched Babe for the first time in years, this time with my children. It stood the test of time.  I'm a sucker for a strong ending. "That will do, Pig, That will do." I can't go into more detail without giving spoilers, but heck. I actually get choked up, thinking about it. I guess that make me a hypocrite, because I also love bacon!

#7: Dead Poet's Society

I was young when this movie came out and it inspired me. And, speaking of strong endings, Dead Poet's Society has my second-favorite ending of any movie, ever. I wanted to jump into the screen and scream, "Oh Captain, my Captain!"

#6: Terms of Endearment

There's some undefinable element about this movie that I love, but other parts are easier to name. Shirley MacLaine's scene where she demands that her daughter get pain medication? Debra Winger's scene where she tells her son that she knows he loves her? PURE GOLD.

#5: Citizen Kane

Call me pretentious, but I have to name Citizen Kane as one of the best, because I used to teach Film Studies, and this film is like a complex puzzle. Every time I showed it (around 40 times) I noticed something new, yet I could never remember the order of the scenes. It's amazing, to not be able to predict something that you are so incredibly familiar with.

#4: The Graduate

This is another one that I showed in Film Studies. It's rare that a movie can be so funny, deep, and complex, all at the same time.

#3: Tootsie

Dustin Hoffman is my favorite actor and the entire movie is hilarious, but the montage that ends with Bill Murray's line, "That is one crazy hospital!" is the most brilliantly orchestrated segment of a film that I can think of.

#2: Broadcast News

I admit to being a James Brooks fan (he also did Terms of Endearment.) This movie has some of the most quotable lines ever: "I can read, while I sing, I am singing and reading, BOTH!" The love triangle drew me, but the issues about media responsibility still resonate nearly thirty years after the film's been made.

#1: On the Waterfront

"I coulda been a contender!" The movie is campy by today's standards, but Marlon Brando's acting is unforgettable, the cinematography incredibly innovative, and the politics underneath the film are fascinating. Plus, this movie has my FAVORITE ending, ever. It's even better than Babe and Dead's Poet's Society, which says a lot. 

Now please, give me my amazing ending, and nominate The Standout on Kindle Scout. Here's the link again.

THANK YOU!