It appears Amazon has stolen the march on competitors by announcing plans to launch a crowd-sourced publishing program that will see participating authors receive US$1500 plus 50% royalties on net eBook revenues.
The revolutionary publishing progam comes hot on the heels of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited (KU) initiative, which offers KU subscribers unlimited eBook borrows and which is predicted to further change the publishing landscape – and change it dramatically – if it hasn’t already.
While crowd-sourcing may not be new (feature films have been crowdsource-funded with much hoopla and fanfare) it’s a fairly new phenomenon in the publishing game. Certainly, other publishers have tried it – two others if our sources are correct – but there’s no doubt Amazon’s crowd-source funding will be highly visible. And, if our experience with the publishing giant is anything to go by, it will be highly successful.
The Digital Reader had the best summary of the new program we could find. Quoting Amazon’s PR department, it reports, “Authors will be asked to submit their complete, never-before-published book and cover. After a few days, we will post the first pages of each book on a new website for readers to preview and nominate their favorites. Books with the most nominations will be reviewed by our team for potential publication.”
According to the columnist, Amazon’s contract terms for authors are as follows:
Guaranteed advance & competitive royalties: You will receive a guaranteed $1,500 advance and 50% royalties on net eBook revenue.
Focused formats: We acquire worldwide publication rights for eBook and audio formats in all languages. You retain all other rights, including print.
5-year renewable terms, $5,000 in royalties: If your book doesn’t earn $5,000 in royalties during your initial 5-year contract term, and any 5-year renewal term after that, you can choose to stop publishing with us.
Easy reversions: After two years, your rights in any format or language that remains unpublished, or all rights for any book that earns less than $500 in total royalties in the preceding 12-month period, can be reverted upon request – no questions asked.
Early downloads & reviews: One week prior to release date, everyone who nominated your book will receive a free, early copy to help build momentum and customer reviews.
Featured Amazon marketing: Your book will be enrolled into the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, Kindle Unlimited as well as be eligible for targeted email campaigns and promotions.
To read The Digital Reader’s full report go to: http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/09/22/amazon-publishing-crowd-source-next-books-now-recruiting-kdp-authors/#.VCCBKBYXPCY
The KDP discussion forum on Amazon’s planned initiative makes for interesting reading also. Here’s the link to it: https://kdp.amazon.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=207604&start=0&tstart=0
Happy reading! Lance & James
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Morcan Books & Films 
Wow. I want to not like this, but…I kind of like this.
Kinda interesting huh?
Very.
My e books are suppose to already be listed with Amazon. However, for some reason I cannot find them. They are available through Smashwords, Barnes and Nobles on line, Apple and a few other stores. My question is would my e books qualify for the program since they are already listed on other sites even though they are self published but not really known to the public as of yet?
No I believe never before published is the rule Shellie…But the next book you write would qualify of course! Good luck.
Okay, thanks for the reply