It’s been old news for me since Friday night–my book got rejected by Kindle Scout. It held on much longer than I had expected, but what I didn’t expect was the sudden wave of realizations that hit me moments after I got the email. I’ve been thinking about this the wrong way, for the most part. Kindle Scout is much bigger than I had realized.
1. I’m not out anything. There’s no cost to submit a novel, and 45 days is a relatively quick turnaround time for any serious publishing house. It gave me a few weeks to try a new option, and even if that option didn’t work, at least I know I tried.
2. I know my weaknesses. I had an idea beforehand, but there are two areas that I now realize I need to fix. First, I should have gotten someone else to lay out my cover. It wasn’t horrible and I had some great basic images to work with, but compared with some of the other novels it just didn’t hold a candle. Second, I need an email list. A real list, a serious and engaged list. That makes me nervous, but I plan on taking more serious action in that arena next month.
3. There aren’t any limits. On Kindle Scout, you can manage as many simultaneous campaigns as you want as many times as you want. There’s no need to wait, and it goes year round. So it’s not like a writing contest.
4. Kindle Scout actually does give good data. I could tell a while back that my campaign wasn’t doing well, but Kindle Scout also allowed me to see what worked: physical handouts and paid advertising–and what didn’t: vote exchanges and forum posts. That’s good stuff to know!
5. Kindle Scout grows your audience and contacts. I didn’t expect to get a new audience from my campaign at all, so I focused my efforts entirely on getting my current friends and readers to vote for me. But one thing I realized that can be life or death is how other people browsing Kindle Scout see it. The editors monitor the data and can see if your book grabs peoples’ attention off the shelf. At the end of the campaign you can also send out your social media info. More than that, I had several editors take an interest in my book and one offer to proof-read it for a future release.
So getting rejected really wasn’t as horrible as I had thought. And while I’m searching for publishing options for The Grim Reaper: And Company!, I decided to work on my weak spots by starting a new Kindle Scout campaign directed mostly towards people who are already on Kindle Scout. The book isn’t as well edited or put together, but the cover and title are eye-catching and the blurb has better keywords.
Here’s to take two!