KINDLE SCOUT_WHAT'S THE TRUTH?

If you're like me and Survivor Duck --

 you got an email this morning from Amazon telling you of the Kindle Scout program.

Kindle Scout is a reader-powered publishing for new, never-before-published books. 

It’s a place where readers help decide if a book receives a publishing contract.

(Amazon's American Idol)

Selected books will be published by Kindle Press and receive 5-year renewable terms, 

a $1,500 advance, 50% eBook royalty rate, easy rights reversions and featured Amazon marketing.

What to do, right?

I went to our age's Oracle of Delphi, Google.

And the best information came from Victoria Strauss's site:

 http://www.victoriastrauss.com/2014/10/29/kindle-scout-the-pros-and-cons-of-amazons-new-crowdsourced-publishing-program/

 in a comment from Ebook Bargains UK :


Going with Kindle Scout means you will be exclusive to the Kindle site 

and automatically lose any chance of finding readers among the 35% of the US ebook market that does not shop at Amazon.
Which of course is the key purpose of the show – 

to identify and get exclusive rights to material that might otherwise end up on Apple or Nook or Google Play.

 Shelling out $1500 to keep a good quality book off a rival site is sound business sense for Amazon.

 Not so much for the author.

What indie authors need to ask themselves is why, if Amazon thinks their book is worth investing in at all, 

they don’t go the whole way and do it properly through the existing Amazon imprints?

As it is, Amazon stands to make substantial sums from these books while the author struggles to cover their costs.

Amazon will pay you 50% of net, not list price.

 So first Amazon takes 30% of list price for selling the book you paid to have edited, proofed, formatted, covered, etc. 

THEN it takes half of what’s left as well.

 Which means in real terms Amazon will be TAKING 65% of list price on every sale.

What does this mean in the real world of monthly payments?

It means that for doing absolutely nothing above and beyond what you can do on your own through KDP, 

you the author will be paid out as follows:

Pricing at $4.99 (and remember, Amazon decides the price, not you) 

AMAZON will make $3.25 a sale so will need to sell only 462 copies to make back the advance it paid out.

The AUTHOR will have to sell 1,200 copies to pay back that advance before they see another cent from Amazon.

Going it alone if you sold 1,200 copies at $4.99 you’d have $4,200 in the bank. 

PLUS your sales from other retailers.

At $3.99 list price Amazon grabs $2.60 per sale against your $1.40. 

You’ll need to sell 1,072 copies just to pay back the advance. Amazon will have made $2,800 off you in that time.

Going it alone if you sold 1,072 copies at $3.99 you’d have three grand in the bank plus your sales from other retailers.

At $2.99 Amazon will be taking $1.95 a shot while you get a buck. 

You’ll need to sell 1,500 copies just to pay back the advance. 

Amazon will have made nearly three grand off you on those same sales.

Going it alone that 1,500 sales at the same price you’d have just over three grand in the bank plus your sales from other retailers.

Unquestionably the first few titles selected will get the full promo they are “eligible” for and do well. 

Amazon needs this scam to be seen to be successful for the participating authors. 

But once the word is out that this is the latest road to riches Amazon can then apply the brakes, 

and just like KU it will be handful of selected authors who become all-stars and are the rest get shafted.

Now, the above is Ebook Bargains UK's perspective not mine. 

 Research yourself and come to your own conclusions.