kindlescoutAmazon has one of the most active reader communities, writing hundreds, if not thousands, of heartfelt reviews on a daily basis. It is that community base that Amazon is hoping to tap into to discover the next great novel.

The Seattle retailer’s new publishing platform, called Kindle Scout, harnesses a crowdsourcing model to get feedback on which manuscripts should get the green light, and ultimately the backing of Amazon’s marketing power.

It works like this: Authors submit their never-before-published books; participants read a short preview and then nominate up to three books at a time. At the end of a 30-day campaign, the Kindle Scout team will review the books nominated and select the ones to be published.

kindlescout selectedReaders will receive a full-length Kindle version of the book one week before the book’s official release if they choose the winners. Amazon is only accepting books for three popular categories at this time: Romance, Mystery & Thriller and Science Fiction & Fantasy.

In a press release, SVP of Kindle Russ Grandinetti said, “Amazon customers are passionate readers who have long influenced which books become breakout best sellers. With the launch of Kindle Scout, readers now have an even more direct say in what gets published and can get free books and discover new favorite authors in the process.”

Authors are being offered a number of incentives to participate, including a 45-day cycle from submission to selection. If published, they will have their works published by the Kindle Press and receive five-year renewable terms, a $1,500 advance, 50 percent e-book royalties, easy rights reversions and featured marketing by Amazon.

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