I struggled with exactly what to do with The Disembodied. When I finished the novel last fall, I was torn among submitting it to the small press which published two of my earlier novels, self-publish it in order to learn the process, or submit it to a Kindle Scout campaign.
My previous publisher, Damnation Books, had just been bought out by Caliburn Press around the time when I finished The Disembodied. I have full confidence in Caliburn after reading about the new owner’s plans for the company. After all, they already had two of my novels and had acquired the rights to my third which had previously been accepted by Damnation Books. I recognized, though, that the new owner would have a lot of details to iron out - so I decided to consider other options for The Disembodied. That left self-publishing or Kindle Scout.
I quickly learned that I needed to hire an editor to work on The Disembodied whether I went the self-published route or with the Kindle Scout. So, after securing my editor and while the editor was working on The Disembodied, I explored Kindle Scout more thoroughly and decided what the heck. Let’s do it. What really intrigued me more than anything was having the Amazon marketing machine behind me if I was successful in being selected at the end of the 30 day campaign window. Self-promotion is a huge drag and I don’t think I do it well, so the idea of being promoted by Amazon was a convincing factor. More money would be nice, but really, who goes into this to make money? I was honestly looking for more readers.
The editorial process took months, since I went with the whole shebang of story editing, copy editing, and line editing – not to mention proofreading. But Saturday, April 30th, 2016, the Kindle Scout Campaign went live. I have no clue about how many people nominated it. I know I nominated myself (narcissism 101).
Flash forward nearly four months. The campaign was a success! The Disembodied was released on August 16th. Now, all I have to fret about is potential readers becoming aware of its existence. No big deal, right? Sheesh.
My previous publisher, Damnation Books, had just been bought out by Caliburn Press around the time when I finished The Disembodied. I have full confidence in Caliburn after reading about the new owner’s plans for the company. After all, they already had two of my novels and had acquired the rights to my third which had previously been accepted by Damnation Books. I recognized, though, that the new owner would have a lot of details to iron out - so I decided to consider other options for The Disembodied. That left self-publishing or Kindle Scout.
I quickly learned that I needed to hire an editor to work on The Disembodied whether I went the self-published route or with the Kindle Scout. So, after securing my editor and while the editor was working on The Disembodied, I explored Kindle Scout more thoroughly and decided what the heck. Let’s do it. What really intrigued me more than anything was having the Amazon marketing machine behind me if I was successful in being selected at the end of the 30 day campaign window. Self-promotion is a huge drag and I don’t think I do it well, so the idea of being promoted by Amazon was a convincing factor. More money would be nice, but really, who goes into this to make money? I was honestly looking for more readers.
The editorial process took months, since I went with the whole shebang of story editing, copy editing, and line editing – not to mention proofreading. But Saturday, April 30th, 2016, the Kindle Scout Campaign went live. I have no clue about how many people nominated it. I know I nominated myself (narcissism 101).
Flash forward nearly four months. The campaign was a success! The Disembodied was released on August 16th. Now, all I have to fret about is potential readers becoming aware of its existence. No big deal, right? Sheesh.
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