An Interview with James M. Jackson

by Grace Topping

Doubtful Relations

by James M. Jackson

What will Seamus do this time?

Financial crimes investigator Seamus McCree has wife problems, and Lizzie’s not even his wife anymore. Her current husband disappeared on a business trip to Savannah. Was he kidnapped? Dispatched by his hedge fund partners? Or did he run off with another woman? Police assume he’s AWOL, and Lizzie turns to Seamus for help.

Seamus has no desire to be sucked into Lizzie’s drama again, but her angst is also affecting their son, Paddy. Seamus agrees to help discover the truth, a quest that soon involves the entire extended family. Long buried secrets surface and each member must confront the question, “How far can you trust your family?”

Equal parts road trip, who done what, and domestic thriller, book four in the Seamus McCree series takes psychological suspense to a new level. Seamus McCree fans and newcomers alike will delight in this fast-paced novel that leaves no one in the family unchanged and keeps you guessing until the very end.

I’ve heard other writers comment about James M. Jackson’s character Seamus McCree and wondered what the buzz was about. So when I had the opportunity to interview him and learn more about Seamus, I jumped at the chance. What I discovered is that Seamus is a terrific character, and if he were real, someone I would enjoy having as a friend. That’s high praise for a fictional character.

Jim Jackson is one of the contributors to Writers Who Kill and also the president of the Sisters in Crime Guppy (Great Unpublished) Chapter. Whether he’s blogging on his own site, writing as a guest on another blog, or serving as Chief Guppy, Jim is always reaching a helping hand out to other writers. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to interview him about the latest book in his Seamus McCree series.

Welcome, Jim.

Frequently books are categorized as being character or plot driven. You have a wonderful balance of both. How do you keep that balance in your books?

I want my books to be driven by character motivations and reactions to the events that occur. When I realize a scene is there “because the plot needs it,” I develop another approach to organically reach that plot point. Similarly, if my characters engage in extended navel-gazing, I cut it back to the important observation.

When character motivations impel their actions and I follow Elmore Leonard’s advice to “leave out all the parts readers skip,” I’m confident folks will keep turning the pages past their bedtime.

Seamus worries about everybody, even his ex-wife. What is it about him that makes him feel responsible for what happens to his family and friends?

Seamus’s father died when he was young. Subconsciously he accepted the message that he needed to “be the man of the family.” He conceptually understands that feeling responsible for things out of his control is not healthy, but when a new crisis arises, he reverts to what he knows. To be “in control” he must take charge, and if he is in charge, he must be responsible. He’s getting better about dealing with this issue, but he still has many steps remaining on his journey toward wholeness.

The pace of Doubtful Relations is one of its strongest features. Even with a complex story line it moves and is hard to put down. Definitely no slumps in this story. Is there a secret to good pacing? What advice would you give new writers about pacing?

Excellent books have been written about pacing, but I think it boils down to two basic concepts. (1) Every scene must include tension. If one source of tension resolves, another source must become apparent so the reader always wants to know what happens next. (2) The reader has to be invested in the story. Usually that results from being interested in what happens to at least one character.

Doubtful Relations has multiple mysteries but no body until much later in the book. Do you consider it a murder mystery? If not, how would you categorize it?

I think of the Seamus McCree novels as crime fiction. I haven’t wanted to be pinned down any more than that. Although Ant Farm and Bad Policy could properly be called murder mysteries, Cabin Fever is much closer to a domestic thriller, and Doubtful Relations is probably a combination of road trip, psychological suspense and domestic thriller.

They all involve crimes, and have a focus on financial shenanigans. They all have at least one dead body, but as you note, not necessarily in the first pages of the story.

Computers and high finance play a major role in this story. In fact, you have me afraid to use a computer again. Do you have a background in those areas, or did you have a lot of fun doing research?

I first programmed a computer in 1967, have an MBA with a finance concentration, worked for thirty years in an arcane area of financial consulting, and I’ve always been interested in financial crimes. That background and an active imagination are sufficient for most things I write about. For more technical computer-related information, I rely on experts, including my son.

So many things writers love or hate appear in their writing, such as your love of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, which Seamus shares. How much autobiographical material do you allow to creep into your writing?

Seamus and I think alike and share many of the same interests, although not the same skillsets. Unfortunately for me, he is younger, stronger, smarter, richer, and better looking than I. I do have the advantage: No one has tried to kill me.

Because I enjoy reading books that use real locations, I incorporate actual locations into my writing, mostly from my own experiences. I know where Seamus hangs out in the Upper Peninsula and I know his Clifton neighborhood in Cincinnati because I’ve lived in both places.

Doubtful Relations kept me guessing throughout the book and then had a zinger of an ending. Did you start out knowing who your villain was? Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I am a pantser writing my first draft. I start a novel knowing the inciting incident for the story and not much else. By the time I finish the first draft, I’ve learned the who, what, where, when, and why of the novel. I never know “who done it” before I start writing, and I often change my mind about perpetrators and their motivations in the course of writing the first or second draft.

I suppose you could say I write a 90,000-word outline and then start the real writing, which for me is rewriting.

Seamus McCree’s mother, Trudy, is quite a character, starting with her dartboard performances and most unusual friends. I always worry that people will think I based my character’s awful mother on my mother. Do family and friends ever accuse you of basing your characters on them?

I am very fond of Trudy as a character because she is complex. The only character that bears any strong intended resemblance to an actual person is Seamus (as I described above).

However, sometimes people think they know who I used as a model for a character. After Cabin Fever was published, I had several people tell me they knew “exactly” who I based a particular character on. Since I had never met that person, I took it as a compliment that I had done an excellent job providing the character with realistic motivations to justify her actions.

You have a reputation for sharing your knowledge and helping other writers. What do you wish someone had told you when you first started writing? What would you tell your younger self?

Thank you for your kind comment on my behavior. Although I have a strong business background, for too long I treated writing as solely a creative endeavor. My original objective was and continues to be to write books people will want to read.

I don’t want my creative process to become subservient to the business of writing. I am not going to write something just because it will sell. However, by not paying sufficient attention to the publishing aspects of the business, I overallocated time on crafting the story at the expense of finding readers who would enjoy the kind of books I write. “If you write it, they will come” doesn’t work very well in today’s world.

Many writers are faced with the decision of whether to continue pursuing traditional publishing or taking their careers into their own hands and self-publish. What advice would you give writers facing this decision? What is the most challenging thing about self-publishing?

Writers need to be honest with themselves about why they write and make career decisions based on their goals. I am fortunate that I do not need to make money on my writing, although I would like to be fairly compensated in the long term. To reach my objectives, I need to expand the pool of people who know of my writing. With each book in the series, I’ve had the choice of sticking with Seamus McCree or starting something new. Because I have a longer story arc in mind, I have stayed with Seamus.

Given that I decided to stick with the Seamus McCree series, I decided that I could better utilize the available marketing and sales tools on my own rather than continue working through a publisher.

What’s next for Seamus?

Empty Promises will be the fifth Seamus McCree novel. In it, we follow Seamus back to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The first draft is complete and I am in the rewriting stage. False Promises is number six. Seamus returns to Boston after his Uncle Mike has been killed. I am about half way through its first draft.

Thank you, Jim.

Doubtful Relations is available for pre-order in paperback and e-book format with an August 23, 2016 publication date. You can check Jim’s website www.jamesmjackson.com for the current list of online retailers, to order a signed print edition of the book, or to learn more about Jim and his writing.

James M. Jackson Interview

In this prequel to Bad Policy and Cabin Fever, Seamus McCree escapes his desk-bound duties as a financial crimes investigator and takes the field to combat the evil behind two heinous crimes.

In his first official field assignment, Seamus breathes life into a moribund investigation

of the botulism killings of thirty-eight union retirees at their annual Memorial Day

picnic outside Chillicothe, OH.

Seamus also worms his way into the Cincinnati Police Department's murder investigation of a church friend's fiancé and determines police have developed neither suspect nor motive and are speculating the hit may have been the mistake of a dyslexic killer.

In each case, Seamus uncovers new, disturbing information of financial chicanery and in the process makes himself and his son targets of those who have already killed to keep their secrets.

http://www.jamesmjackson.com/Novels/ant-farm.html

 Jim Jackson’s main character, Seamus McCree, investigates crime or potential crime in the financial realm. The results of Seamus’s analysis reveal motive for murder. Jim put Ant Farm in a drawer for thirteen years while he improved his writing skills. This act of discretion amazed me because the book captured my attention, grounded his series, and introduced me to characters that I’d met before but from whom I felt alienated. In Ant Farm, those characters come alive.    

I have to admit, when you start reading Jim’s series, I recommend reading Ant Farm first. It sets the stage for Bad Policy and Cabin Fever. The cases presented in this book ricocheted, catapulting the action and kept the plot moving. It’s my personal favorite so far.   

Please welcome Jim Jackson as author, not blogger, to WWK.                                                                                                                                                 E. B. Davis

Why present a prequel to your readers, Jim, or was that novel lying in the drawer just bugging you?

For years I had referred to Ant Farm as my practice novel. I actually abandoned it in 2006. I knew many series authors used their first novel as a marketing tool. Not having that flexibility because of my traditional publishing contracts, I wondered if Ant Farms’s basic story had legs. It did, but needed a total rewrite to reflect my much-improved writing skills.

However, I would not publish it unless it was at least as good as Bad Policy and Cabin Fever. Early readers agreed with your assessment that it passes that test.

Paddy and Seamus are often at odds. It’s not surprising given that Paddy is a younger, college-age student, but they lie to each other at times by omission. Why, and why doesn’t Seamus trust Paddy?

Seamus is once burned, twice shy. When Paddy was in high school, he hacked a defense department computer system and published some embarrassing expense reports. The FBI did not look kindly on that escapade. Paddy cooperated and showed them how he accessed the data. They threatened to put him away if they caught him again. Seamus is in some ways an overprotective parent, and in Ant Farm Paddy is still working to be independent.

When a younger member of Seamus’s church choir asks him to help solve her fiancé’s killer, Seamus doesn’t want to take the case, but he does. Why?

Seamus knows he is not a licensed investigator, but he loves to solve problems—especially if other people can’t. And he likes to help people. The combination in this case is too much to resist once he figures out how to work under the auspices of the Cincinnati police department.

CIG, Seamus’s employer, is hired to investigate the botulism deaths of twenty-eight people at a company picnic. Why does the Ross County sheriff’s department suspect anything other than accidental death?

They are sure the botulism deaths are murders because the only foods infected were those at one particular Labor Day picnic, even though food used at other picnics had been prepared at the same time and place. What they can’t figure out is the motive. They ask Criminal Investigations Group (CIG) to investigate the company’s financials to see if there is anything suspicious.

Lt. Hastings and Detective Bear are wonderful secondary characters. They are in comparable positions, but the large, urban Cincinnati police department employs Hastings, whereas Bear is a detective in the smaller, more rural Ross County Sheriff’s department. While Hastings not only welcomes Seamus’s help, she also gets a contract for his company. Bear thinks of Seamus’s involvement as interfering even though his sheriff requested help. Tell our readers about these characters and why they have such different approaches?  

I love creating interesting secondary characters. Lt. Hastings is the first female African American to head the Cincinnati homicide division. Bear is a local sports hero come home. Hastings is overworked, understaffed, and has had success with Seamus and CIG on a previous case. She’s not particularly interested in bureaucracy; if someone can help her out, she’s all for it.

Bear works for a small county sheriff’s department beset by a huge murder investigation. The sheriff (a politician) crams CIG and Seamus down Bear’s throat. He takes it as criticism of his abilities. I doubt any of us would be too happy under those circumstances, but to Bear’s credit after Seamus gives him an out, he admits he could use help understanding who might have financially benefited from the murders.

In previous books, Seamus and Abigail have a romantic relationship. You introduce her in Ant Farm, explaining how the two came together. From the start, there is mutual attraction, but then Seamus also has a flirtatious relationship with Lt. Hastings. Is Seamus a typical middle-age divorced male on the prowl?

Seamus was divorced when Paddy was young and for years shied away from any permanent entanglements. He didn’t want to do anything that jeopardized taking care of Paddy. (I think many real women have made similar choices.) Paddy is now in college. Seamus was interested in Hastings when they first met (a bit before Ant Farm), but Hastings was hooked up with a Cincinnati Reds baseball player. She’s available now and starts to return the interest. Seamus is not sure how to react.

He has an active libido, but he’s not really on the prowl. He knows something major is missing in his life; he’d like to have a lasting relationship, but he’s not sure how to go about it.

Your motive for murder is totally reprehensible and amoral. A slap on the face. Explain the annuity balance sheets and stock price affects for our readers. Was your case based on any true-crime?

I’ll answer the second question first. I made this all up. However, I am aware of people who have manipulated pensioner databases for criminal purposes.

If you don’t like spoilers and have a good memory, skip the rest of this answer.

Annuities are promises to pay a certain amount each (usually) month for as long as the annuitant lives. There may be death benefits, but let’s ignore those. If a private employer or insurance company is on the hook for paying your annuity, they have a financial incentive to kill you. If you die prematurely they don’t have to pay you any more money. As a corporation, that gain adds to their profit. Increased profit generates increased stock prices. In this case, the folks who sell annuities are insurance companies. Therefore, if an insurance company killed its annuitants, it would reap additional profits, and its stock would go up.

Seamus’s life is threatened many times in Ant Farm. Most of the book he is trying to heal from a car accident, which wasn’t really an accident. His shoes, tires, SUV are destroyed. He picks up the tab for several airfares and pays out of pocket for many items while on the case. Is he rich or does he have a large expense account?

Seamus earned a lot of money when he worked on Wall Street as a stock analyst. Not the huge sums investment bankers earn now, but still enough. He quit when his bosses changed one of his reports because it was negative about a client of his employer. While not super-rich, he doesn't have to worry about money and can afford to accept financial expenses that regular people cannot.

A contract killer has been employed to execute Seamus. Your book is mainly written in first person. However, you chose to acquaint the reader with the professional hit man by writing his chapters in an anonymous third person. Why? What compelled you to write him into the story in this personal way?

I included the Happy Reaper’s perspective for two reasons. Readers know things Seamus does not, and that makes them worry about what will happen. Second, Seamus and the Happy Reaper have a lot in common, which suggests the question whether Seamus could go over to the “dark side.”

I couldn’t help but think of Rand, Seamus’s boss at CIG, as sort of a John Bosley in Charlie’s Angels. He’s not a hands on sort of guy but calls the shots from over the phone. Seamus likes to make his own decisions, which defy Rand’s decisions many times. Why doesn’t he fire Seamus?

Funny you should notice that similarity, E.B, because I had it in mind when I created Rand. We never see him, yet he has a presence. I think of Rand as something of a father figure. He is so prim and proper, yet he cares deeply for his employees—as evidenced by his behavior toward Seamus. He gave Seamus a meaningful task (to create the financial crimes group for CIG) when Seamus left Wall Street in a huff.

I suspect Rand tears his hair out when Seamus veers off the path he wants him to travel. Like a good parent he gives Seamus room to grow, but then worries he has provided too much space so Seamus will come to harm. Eventually Rand and Seamus will either have to agree on limitations or Seamus and CIG will need to part company. Stay tuned.

Would you like to explain the symbolism of your title, or would you rather leave that up to reader interpretation?

Seamus and Paddy are talking and Seamus describes what he does as a financial crimes consultant in terms of having an ant farm:

“The financial records are like the glass walls: they make everything transparent. Any business activity leaves accounting trails. You can see where people are currently working, where they worked in the past. It shows traces of abandoned work where the ant trails are partially caved-in. You can anticipate where new trails are headed, even before the ants get there.”

“And the ants don’t know you’re watching them,” Paddy added.

You leave the relationship between the contract killer and Seamus open. Will readers meet Mr. “Guaranteed Results” again?

I know the basic plot of the “E” novel (Empty Promises), which will take place in the Cabin Fever environs of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (this time in warmer weather), and “F” (not titled), which revolves around Boston. I don’t want to give away how, but the Happy Reaper and Seamus will meet and compete in that story.

Did you regret that your first book in the series ended up coming third in sequence but not time?

If you alphabetically line my books on a shelf you’ll read them in Seamus order rather than publication order. Fortunately, each book is not only part of the series, but a standalone novel. Readers can enter the series through any book and go back and forward in time.

What’s next for Seamus McCree, Jim?

I am working on the (I hope) last rewrite before submitting Doubtful Relations to my publisher. Seamus’s ex-wife’s husband goes missing and the whole extended family gets involved searching for answers. I have the premises for two more sketched in my mind.

In Empty Promises Seamus stumbles over the body of a guy who works for an organization that is planning an open pit mine near Seamus’s home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. That novel will address mining and drug issues in the U.P.

In the “F” novel, Seamus’s “Uncle” Mike is murdered. Seamus is his executor, as he settles the estate he uncovers unexpected assets and history relating to his family (naturally, while trying to find the murderer).

I’m having a great time writing about Seamus and friends. Of course I can continue only if people enjoy reading what I write. I’m so glad you liked Ant Farm¸ E.B, and thanks for the great questions.

~ Jim

Kindle Scout – a Survivor’s Report

As I write this blog, I do not know if Amazon will accept Ant Farm for the Kindle Scout program. Its nomination period ended Thursday, February 26. I’ve noticed that those selected typically show up on the approved list two or three business days after the nomination period closed. My guess is the authors find out a business day or two after the nomination period closes, and it takes a day for the contract signing and changing the Kindle Scout website.

If that guess is correct, I’ll know on Monday or maybe Tuesday.

Kindle Scout is releasing the first ten books of the program on March 3, 2015, following traditional publishers in picking a Tuesday publication date. Of the first ten, two are Science Fiction, two are straight Romance. One is labeled as Mystery, four are called Thrillers, and one is a combination Mystery/Romance. Two are by authors I know—how cool is that?

Preordering provides our first view of how Amazon will price these ebooks. The books range in length from a short 178 equivalent print pages to a substantial 436. Prices range from $2.99 to $3.99. Here is the page range associated with each price. Whether something other than length went into Kindle Scout’s pricing decision, we’ll be able to figure out later as they publish more titles. 

• $2.99 ranged from 178-205 pages
• $3.49 ranged from 250-329 pages
• $3.99 ranged from 338-436 pages

How does Amazon select which books to publish? They have been coy about how much the nomination process affects their decision and how much is based on their definition of quality. Their FAQs has this answer, “Nominations give us an idea of which books readers think are great; the rest is up to the Kindle Scout team who then reviews books for potential publication.”

As the program matures I suspect what they already have in the hopper will play a role as well as how similar stories have sold. Amazon knows how to use data to shape markets. However, sometimes their reporting of statistics leaves me scratching my head.

According to their press release, “Scouts,” as Amazon calls those who make nominations under their program, average reading nine excerpts before making a nomination. That is hard for me to believe. I know many of the people who nominated Ant Farm did so by following a link I sent them. For every one of those who clicked my link, read the sample chapters (or not) and nominated the book, some other (average) soul had to read seventeen excerpts before finding one worthy of nomination. Really?

The press release also indicates the average number of days in which a Kindle Scout author receives a publishing decision after submitting a book is 31 days. Since it usually takes a couple of days for Amazon to decide to allow a book into the nomination process, and the nomination process itself last 30 days, that would mean authors on average know whether they will be published before the nomination process is over. That math does not work.

I’m thinking someone is playing a bit fast and loose with data (or is arithmetically challenged). However, the quick turnaround between the completion of a book’s nomination period and when the author hears suggests that the humans behind the scenes are doing some work while the book is still in the nomination process.

My guess (because of the timing, but mostly because it is how I would do it) is that before a book is accepted for nomination someone checks to make sure the writing meets some minimal standard and is complete. Then up it goes. If during the first three weeks or so the book continues to gather support, then one or more humans read the entire manuscript. At the end of the nomination period the decision makers will know not only how many nomination votes a book received, but would have access to other statistics as well, such as

• How many of those votes came as a result of someone directly accessing the novel’s page? 
• Of those, how many read the excerpt before nominating the book?
•  How many nominations came from those who read other books’ excerpts before selecting this one?
•  How many who nominated this book went on to read other books’ excerpts?
•  How many people read the excerpt and chose not to nominate the book?
•  How long did people read the excerpt before moving off the page (or choosing to nominate it)?

In other words, Amazon has lots of information to evaluate the quality of a book’s nomination. Do they use it? I sure would. So what does that mean if you are an author interested in the program?

Keeping in mind that we really do not know how Amazon makes its decisions, I suggest authors do the following:

Try to maintain your book as “Hot.” Of course this presumably means that people are voting for it, a good thing of itself, but it also keeps it in front of people. Plus, when making a decision of what to nominate, we humans like to know we are not alone. Labeling a book hot makes it easier for someone to click the blue “Nominate this book” button.

This means you need to start out strong, but also spread out your asks over the thirty-day nomination period. Kindle Scout gives you a couple of days between notifying you that your book will be eligible for nomination and the day it is first available. Use those days to plan out your campaign.

Make sure your website has a nominate link prominently displayed.

Go through your personal email list and determine who you know well enough to ask that they nominate your book.

Consider your social networks: writing groups, the stamp-collecting forum you belong to, church, alumni associations, etc. Spread out informing them through your campaign.

Use social media to generate interest without falling into the trap of everything being about me, Me ME! There is a fine line between being too bashful to present your request for people to check out your three chapters and nominate your book and boring people so they ignore you. I chose to post on Facebook four times: The first day, about a week into the program, a week remaining in the program and the last day for nominations.

However, during the thirty days I also wrote an informativeblog for readers and authors about the Kindle Scout program that had a small mention of my entry and another blog for authors titled “Six Rules of AuthorSelf-Promotion” that also mentioned my Kindle Scout participation. My Facebook account automatically notes when my new blogs appear, so those were two more related posts.

Special are those people who will spread the word for you. Those authors with street teams could employ them. Author Alan Orloff whose novel Running From the Past was one of the very first Kindle Scout selections, offered a free story to anyone who nominated his book and shared his posts on Facebook.

You are competing against other authors, but really, aren’t we in this together? If you know other authors whose books are in the nomination process the same time as yours, figure out ways to support each other. I’ve even become online correspondents with three authors who I only learned about because their books were interesting, and we reached out to each other in mutual support.

Thirty days is a long time, more a marathon than a sprint. Carve out time each day to implement your plan and when people do support you, make sure to thank them.

Stop by my website say Tuesday afternoon. Whenever I know whether or not I have a contract, I’ll post the information. In the meantime, do you know how hard it is to touch-type with crossed fingers?

~ Jim

P.S. (added 3/2/15 early morning) Arriving in my inbox at 12:17 a.m. while I was sleeping was an email from Kindle Press notifying me that they selected Ant Farm for publication. ~ J.

Kindle Scout and Me

Have you heard about the relatively new Kindle Scout program? If not, I’ll tell you about it in a minute. If so, I’ll tell you why I chose to try it.

But first, here’s how I came to my decision to try to qualify for this Amazon publishing venture and here is the link where you can nominate my book, Ant Farm.

The situation before Kindle Scout

The Seamus McCree series is published by Barking Rain Press (BRP), a small publisher. The books have generated positive reader reviews. The few professional reviews they have received have also been positive. But BRP does not have the resources for any kind of major publicity campaign. While I have done what I can to promote the books, one aspect I have not had any control over (nor would I in a traditional publishing contract) is the ability to aggressively price books to generate a larger reader base.

I have confidence that if I can get people to read a book in the series, they will want to read more about Seamus and friends and the scrapes they get into. If I were persistent and produced a book a year, by the time I had five or seven books in the series, I would have built a bigger following and the series might have traction. Was there a better way?

My electronic equivalent of the bottom drawer contained the first novel I wrote with Seamus McCree. I referred to it as my practice novel because, through its dozen drafts I learned how to write a mystery. It was good enough to garner an agent offer, but not strong enough to be published, and so six years ago, I put it aside. Last fall I reread it. Ant Farm had good bones, but needed major work to bring it up to my current standards. With effort, I could make it an excellent read.

If I self-published that reworked story, I could use it as a marketing device to help bring readers into the series. It could be a loss leader for the series. I could hook readers with Ant Farm and continue to provide good stories with Bad Policy, Cabin Fever, and Doubtful Relations (the manuscript I put aside to rework Ant Farm). Done correctly, I could build the Seamus McCree “franchise” more quickly.

After hemming and hawing at this change in plans from finishing Doubtful Relations first, I decided to tackle Ant Farm. I rewrote, re-edited, sent to beta readers, re-edited, proofread, and now it’s ready to go.

While I was revising, Amazon announced the Kindle Scout program. Briefly, it is a way for Amazon to get great content for their Kindle ebooks and Audible audio books based on reader nominations. An author submits a complete book in one of three genres, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance or Science Fiction/Fantasy. Amazon staff reviews the submission, which includes a book cover, logline, blurb, author bio and some optional questions the author can answer. If they appear reasonable, within a couple of business days the book is listed and available for nomination. My direct link is https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/3IATL9SA04ZS2

Disadvantages of Kindle Scout Program

Extra preparation

Submitting to the Kindle Scout program cost me no money and only a bit of time to jump through their hoops.

Unlike traditional publishing where the publisher produces the book cover, for Scout I had to submit one. Since I had planned to self-publish anyway, I already had a cover prepared. However, I had to develop a logline with a maximum of 45 characters, a short blurb (max 500 characters), cram my author bio into another 500-character limit, and choose three questions to answer, each in 300 characters.

I can use the logline for promotion, and the other stuff didn’t take too much time, and I had no extra cost, so the process was not much of a burden.

Loss of Pricing Control

Recall that one of my reasons for independently publishing Ant Farm was to maintain pricing control so I could generate free and reduced price opportunities to introduce people to the Seamus McCree series. Amazon, as the publisher, controls all pricing decisions. They will decide if the book is $2.99 or $5.99 or whatever. They’ll decide whether to provide free days.

Loss of Timing Control

If selected, Amazon determines when the ebook version of Ant Farm will be published. If I am not selected, I could have had the ebook available a month earlier. That possibly cost a bit of revenue, but not much.

Kindle only

If accepted, my ebook will be available only in the Kindle format sold by Amazon or loaned through their Prime and Kindle Unlimited programs. No Barnes & Noble, no Kobo, no Scribd or Oyster. Amazon generates about 75% of my ebook sales. That means hooking my wagon to their horse gives up 25% of that potential revenue if all things are equal.

But will they be equal? I don’t think so, which brings us to the advantages as I see them.

Advantages of Kindle Scout Program

Promotion

The primary reason I wanted to independently publish Ant Farm was to generate more readers for the Seamus McCree series. I believe (no facts on which to judge as the program is too new) that Amazon will want the early books to succeed. As of this writing, the Kindle Scout program has selected eight books in November, eight in December, and so far only one in January.

If they select my book, it will be one of the first published, and I believe they will make sure those books will do well. They will promote the heck out of them, and they can do that much better than I, because they have the platform for it.

Advance

The Kindle Scout program pays a $1,500 advance for books they publish. That advance would cover the editing and book cover costs I’ve incurred. Whatever royalties I earn would be profit.

Free Publicity

Participating in the Kindle Scout program provides 30 days of free publicity for Ant Farm and by extension the entire series. Even if not selected, at the end of the 30-day period those people who nominate the book receive an email from me thanking them for their interest and inviting them to keep in touch with an email address and link to my website.

Plus, during the nomination process I will use social media to generate interest in Ant Farm’s participation in the program. If others retweet and share Facebook posts, it provides additional content for new people to learn of the series.

As the saying goes, “There is no such thing as bad publicity.”

Exit Strategy

The initial contract with Kindle Scout is five years. However, if the ebook does not meet defined monetary goals, an author can cancel the contract in as few as two years. My contracts with Barking Rain Press have a three-year lock in. In reading Kindle Scout’s contract, it’s clear they intend the authors to be successful and if not, let them out of the program. So, if it is a bust, I can exit after two years, self-publish on all the platforms, and move on.

My conclusions

It comes down to giving up total control and ebook retailers to gain Amazon’s marketing power. Given my current level of sales, I think it provides a good risk/return tradeoff. Others may be in different places in their writing careers and could come to a different conclusion for them.

In case I haven’t been obvious. If you haven’t nominated Ant Farm yet, I hope you will. If you have, then thank you very much. I am offering extra praise for those who help publicize Ant Farm’s quest by letting others know.

It’s a good book, although I am a bit prejudiced.

~ Jim