UPDATE: Amazon accepting submissions from authors ($1,500 advance on offer)
In my last post I talked about Amazon accepting submissions from Authors and offering a $1,500 advance. Amazon has now announced this new publishing scheme is called Kindle Scout.
For those of you who questioned the authenticity of this, you can now Google Kindle Scout – or if you prefer links, you’ll find it here.
It’ll be really interesting to see how this goes. I read through the terms and conditions and strongly suggest if you’re thinking about submitting your story, you do the same.
Back to normal posts soon 🙂
PS – thanks for the reminder Nancy
Dianne Gray author 
I don’t trust them. 😉
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I love the way you just get straight to the point, Jackie 😀
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No use beating around the bush eh? 😉
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I heard about this a couple weeks ago, but haven’t given it serious thought. I rather like self-pubbing, and though no one is standing around offering me money, I usually make enough from sales to pay for the cover. Without Amazon, I wouldn’t be able to do this, but I’m not sure I want to get that close to them in bed. 😉
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Yes – be very careful who you get into bed with LOL. It does seem very strict (even though the marketing side might be okay) 😉
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Thanks for the information, Dianne. I have read where this might be a scam but it looks like you’re keeping up with it. Amazon is worth a look because of all their sells.
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I don’t think it’s a scam, but you never know these days – people are getting pretty good at this. They’re not asking for money, so that’s a plus 😉
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Thanks for the update. I look forward to checking it out.
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It’ll certainly be interesting, Carrie. It’s almost a ‘crowd-funding’ thing according to some of the snippets I’ve read.
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That’s true (that it’s important to read terms and conditions) with Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award also. There is a lot of legalese that’ll stick to your feet if you’re not careful.
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It’s pretty hard to walk sometimes when those legalese get stuck to your feet, Jacqui! I read somewhere where you may have to return the money if they don’t get return on their investment.
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Thanks for the info. It sounds like it’s worth a shot, Dianne!
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If you give it a go, let us know what happens, Amy.
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I just checked out the sample. Wow, what an opportunity! I better get to work. I have something half way there….
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Get to it! 😀
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Although I’m not in the market (or eligible) to register an interest, I was curious about the terms. Which all seem very clear. How disappointing for doubters and naysayers! It’s good I think to exercise healthly skeptism, and your fingers via a Google search, but also wise to reach out to opportunity with both hands… and your teeth if necessary, especially in the writing-publishing world 🙂
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Exactly! 😀
PS – I’m not eligible either, so I’m just going to sit back and watch 😉
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Thanks for taking the time to provide an update, Dianne! It’s so hard to know who to trust these days. I’m looking forward to your next post from down under. 🙂
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I’m getting there, Jill. Loads of gardening going on here, but it’s nearly set up and then I can sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor 😀
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I glanced at the terms and nothing jumped out at me screaming, “Run for your life!”
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I trust you on that one, Nancy – I’m sure you’re a lot better at reading agreements than I am 😉
It was this that kind of jumped out at me:
“We can withhold royalties, offset against future royalties, and require you to repay previous payments to us, as indicated below. Our exercise of these rights does not limit other rights we may have to withhold or offset payments or exercise other remedies”.
I’m not sure what that’s about…
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That’s a paragraph full, ain’t it?
Anyone who plans to submit something should read the terms with all due care. I really just glanced over them to get the general gist.
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Interesting! I’m not at that point, but I will be some day. 🙂
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Best of luck with it when you are, Marsha 😀
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Thanks Dianne. It’s definitely not a scam but it looks like they’re using the opportunity to get a major hold on the publishing market while leaving themselves all kinds of back doors to reclaim money advanced if they can’t persuade the public to buy the books. Having their own printing arm saves them a lot on production costs.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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I have found, reading the comments, some very differing or conflicting thoughts on this offer… found your comments page a great post…
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I think I will need to look into this further- still a little skeptical but definitely worth a little research!
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I was skeptical at first as well, but because it’s only for US writers at the moment I can only sit back and see what happens next. If it’s a huge success, that would be fantastic for the writing world 😉
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This very interesting, Dianne. I’m sure that all will be revealed in due course, when a few people have given it a try.
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I’m looking forward to seeing the outcome Sylvia. The literary world is changing very quickly! 😉
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Another way to go…I’ll wait a spell…
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…to see what happens next. Good thinking, Billy Ray 😉
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It’s a safe bet any company’s contract terms will favor and protect said company. 😉 Maybe the early birds who jump at this chance will be the ones to reap a financial windfall. Or not. If I had something ready to publish and was considering this outlet, I’d have a lawyer look over the terms before moving forward.
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Very sensible. JM 😉
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Terms and conditions are always important to read. Whoever drafts the contract always drafts it in their favor. I
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It’ll be interesting to see how it goes (and what other publishing houses think of the idea!) 😉
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Gosh, I’m skeptical at the best of times, but when they include things like this – “We can withhold royalties, offset against future royalties, and require you to repay previous payments to us, as indicated below. Our exercise of these rights does not limit other rights we may have to withhold or offset payments or exercise other remedies.” – how are we supposed to let go?!
Or, maybe that’s just me. Ha ha. I do hope it works out for those trusting souls. 🙂
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I am very wary of those words (mainly because i don’t understand what they’re saying). It’s all legal speak to me. I’d be a getting my lawyer to look at it first 😉
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