Update on Kindle Scout Selection: Housebroken
I’m excited to have an update on my novel, Housebroken, which was a first-round Kindle Scout selection! My debut novel was chosen for publication back at the end of November. Originally, I had been under the impression that the book would be published shortly thereafter. The Kindle Scout team, however, is in no hurry to push these things out … and that’s a good thing!
While the delay may not be helping the brand recognition of the Kindle Scout program, I feel Amazon is looking at the big picture in taking their time to ensure each book’s success. They’ve included editorial and copy-editing services (despite neither of these being a part of the original contract), and are looking at this from a publisher’s perspective rather than that of a quick “turn-and-churn” contest. Considering the publishing imprints that are a part of Amazon — including 47 North and Thomas & Mercer — I find this highly encouraging.
Similarly, I believe Amazon will be approaching the marketing of these first-round selections with that same end-game attitude. There’s no doubt that Kindle Scout will be judged by the success of the books that are discovered through its program. If you review the list of Kindle Scout books selected for publication, you’ll probably agree that they’ll be off to a great start, and if there’s one thing Amazon knows, it’s how to market a product.
So while an end date is still a bit illusive, although much closer now that final edits have been completed, I expect that I’ll have word soon as to when my baby will be released into the wild. It’s been fun going back through my novel one final time, seeing where things could be clarified and others edited out. It’s also reminded me of the many reiterations the book has gone through, the ideas I had of where the novel would lead, and the changes the characters within it demanded. Some of them were very demanding.
Soon this novel will no longer be mine to change. Future changes will come through those who choose to read it, words on a page becoming a picture in people’s minds. The relationship between author and reader is not unlike that of a screenwriter and director, for only the reader can bring a novel’s words to life. I’m excited to be joining in this partnership, in laying the foundation of a world which will be shaped by so many, knowing, at the same time, that each of you are shaping my world in return.
