I WON!! KINDLE SCOUT campaign A STRANGE TWIST OF FATE Part 3

I got an email from the Kindle Scout program! I made it! After 30 days of a campaign where A Strange Twist of Fate continuously stayed on the "Hot and Trending" list, and after 6 more days of consideration, I received notice that Kindle Press. 

It read: 

Dear Debra Erfert,

Congratulations! Our readers have spoken, and your book A Strange Twist of Fate has been selected for publication by the Kindle Press Team. We're excited to be working with you and eager to get started on your upcoming book launch.

I was never so excited about seeing an email in my life. I won something that I'd wanted for such a long time. It was three years ago when a friend first had her campaign. Sariah Wilson wrote a royal princess romance book. I loved it--and nominated it. I watched her journey with Kindle Press. Now she has three more books published through Montlake Romance, an Amazon romance imprint all because of Kindle Scout. 

There are steps I still need to cover, like writing an acknowledgment page to thank all of my beta readers and editor, and a dedication page, and a page listing my other available books, and then a final edit by their people, but these are truly labors of love. 

KINDLE SCOUT campaign A STRANGE TWIST of FATE 2017

A couple of years ago a talented author friend, Sariah Wilson, sent out a call for any writer willing to produce a cross-over novella of at least 17,000 words using a character/s or setting from her KINDLE PRESS published THE ROYALS OF MONTERRA. I'd read her book and loved the characters and the story. It's a princess book! I knew I wanted to write a story in her "world" so I  jumped at the chance. Six weeks later, my romantic mystery novella ROYALS OF MONTERRA: IT TAKES A SLEUTH was born. A few months after it was finished, it was published by Kindle Worlds. I had such a great experience I knew I wanted to write my own novel and submit it to KINDLE SCOUT. 

Writing a full-length novel takes longer than a short story, but I was willing to put in the time. Every book starts out with just an idea. A year later, I wrote a romantic mystery novel A STRANGE TWIST OF FATE, and after it went through beta reading, two editors, three proofreaders, and hiring an awesome cover artist, I finally thought it was ready to submit to KINDLE SCOUT and start my own campaign. You can see it HERE.  

It's been a week since the campaign went live, (January 12th through February 10th) and I wanted to share my experiences. 

First off, I want to tell you what you'll be getting into with Kindle Scout. If you haven't heard of it, you need to know that it is "reader-powered publishing for new, never-before-published books. It’s a place where readers help decide if a book gets published." 

What does this mean? Once accepted and your campaign is launched, you'll need to get "nominations." Enough nominations will get your book read by the folks at Kindle Press. You'll need to give them 45 days of exclusivity (not submitting to any other publishers), 30 days of that time is for the campaign and the other 15 days are for them to read part or all of your book.

If your book is selected, "it 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." It's that "featured Amazon marketing" I'm excited about.

In PART TWO I'll discuss what I'm doing to get those all important nominations while the campaign is live.