L.A. Sniper has been published!

As one of the first authors to be selected in Amazon’s new Kindle Scout publishing program, I have been posting a series of articles describing my experience⎯writing in the hope that other authors who are considering submitting their own work to Kindle Scout can make an informed decision on the process. Previously having been published by a traditional publisher (A Song for the Asking, Bantam Books), I think I’m also in a position to compare fairly my various roads to publication.

We’ll get to that last part later.  Right now, what’s been happening since I teamed up with Amazon? Well, not much at first, and then lately a whole lot, including several pleasant surprises.

After submitting my fourth “Kane Novel,” titled L.A. Sniper, to Kindle Scout in October and having my manuscript accepted for publication by Kindle Press in November, there followed a tedious period of filling out tax forms, setting up Amazon payment accounts, waiting for my advance to arrive, and the like. During this time I met online with a number of the other Kindle Scout “winners,” getting to know a diverse group of fine writers who were in the same Kindle Press publishing limbo as I. Daily, we traded emails filled with probing questions like “Have you heard anything yet?” and discouraging answers like “Nope.”

Published by Kindle Press

Then, in mid-December, the sun came out with a phone call from a real person at Amazon! Caroline identified herself as my new Kindle Press editor and informed me that Amazon was preparing to do a copy edit of my manuscript. This welcome news was totally unexpected, as Kindle Scout guidelines stipulate that all submissions must be “publication ready.” I had spent considerable time, effort, and money preparing a “clean” manuscript, but from experience I knew another professional edit could make my work even better. And it did.

In mid-February I received an edited version of L.A. Sniper for my approval. The revised version proved to be a thorough and comprehensive edit by Sherri Schultz, whom I highly recommend. Other Kindle Press authors with whom I have talked say they’ve had a similar editing experience with Kindle Press as well.

Which makes one wonder: will Kindle Press continue to provide high-quality editing to future Kindle Scout authors, or was this simply done for the Kindle Press inaugural-book launch? I don’t know the answer, but I’m glad I got in on the ground floor.

Another question: how about improvements to the covers? Nope, that wasn’t done on mine, or, to my knowledge, on any of the other selected books. If you’re going to submit, my advice would be to make certain your cover is professional quality. Along those lines, despite the possibility of additional Kindle Press editing, I would try to submit a clean a manuscript, too. Maybe Amazon will continue to provide editing, maybe not.

Published by Bantam Books

Okay, let’s get to the bottom line. How has my Amazon Kindle Press experience measured up to my Bantam Books experience? To date, with the exception of Amazon’s nominal advance, Kindle Press wins. Hands down.

For one, Kindle Press published my book (in eBook format) mere months from acceptance. Granted, Bantam published A Song for the Asking in hardcover, which is a bit more involved, but they took over a year to do so, and not much was happening for long periods of time. Second, the Amazon folks have responded quickly and professionally to all my communications, something that generally was not the case with my trad publisher. Last, teaming up with Amazon has already resulted in national print, online, and radio exposure for L.A. Sniper. Because Bantam was under the gun to make good on my six-figure advance, I received a fair amount of attention from their marketing department, but I’m hoping Amazon will do even better.

After all, the success of Kindle Scout is tied to the success of its books, and if a novel has potential, Amazon certainly has the clout to help it succeed.

But let’s get back to me. After all, this is my blog, right? And at the moment, for me the most important question remaining is this: how will Amazon promote its Kindle Press novels? And, in particular, what does the future hold for L.A. Sniper?

I can’t wait to find out . . .

Have you checked out the Kindle Scout site yet? Have any of your “nominations” been selected for publication? If you’re a writer, have you submitted a novel, and if so, what do you think? Please leave a comment (click here) and join the conversation!