#SINC Author FRANKIE BOW and Her Experience with Kindle Scout

Today's guest is Sisters in Crime member Frankie Bow, author of the Professor Molly series.

Like Molly Barda, Frankie Bow teaches at a public university. Unlike her protagonist, she is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, and a perfectly nice office chair. She believes if life isn’t fair, at least it can be entertaining.

 

In addition to writing murder mysteries, she publishes in scholarly journals under her real name. Her experience with academic publishing has taught her to take nothing personally. Frankie has agreed to share with us her experience with the Kindle Scout program.

 

Sisters In Crime: Thank you for joining us today, Frankie, and sharing your experience with the Kindle Scout program. You submitted a book for consideration to Kindle Scout, where readers vote for books they would like to see published. Which book did you submit for consideration and how did you qualify to submit your book?

 

FRANKIE BOW: I submitted the latest book in the Professor Molly series, The Blessed Event. It was a pleasant surprise to find that Kindle Press will consider books that are not first in series.

 

 

 

Sisters In Crime: How did you get readers to notice your entry and vote for your book?

FRANKIE BOW: To give readers a sense of the book, I put together cards with a quote from the book and an illustration. The cards went out on Twitter and Facebook. (I've attached some examples.) 

The  Clean Indie Reads community (my books are PG-rated), was great at retweeting and nominating. And of course my SinC - Hawaii friends were wonderfully supportive in helping me get the word out! I also posted on my blog and made the announcement to my mailing list.

 

You can't just throw your book out there and hope it gets noticed!

 

Sisters In Crime: Your book was selected for publication. Congratulations! What follow-up work are you required to do before publication?

FRANKIE BOW: They were wonderfully kind in their feedback. There was one description of Molly's wardrobe that they recommended shortening (they were right), but other than that there were no recommended changes. Some of the comments: 

 

·         light-hearted, funny, and smart standalone murder mystery featuring well-drawn and interesting characters.

·         The author does a great job integrating the several minor character-driven plots with the central murder mystery plot, which kept the story consistently interesting.

·         The author does an excellent job making all of the characters likable, even when they do unlikable things, 

 

 

·         Very entertaining and great reading flow.

·         The humor is great – there were several LOL moments.

·         It’s a light read, but it’s also a smart read. The author’s insights on the characters and the absurdities of their situations are compelling and give the book a sense of satisfying substance.

 

 

 

Sisters In Crime: The website for Kindle Scout has answers to the questions of who, what, when, where, and why. But having gone through the process, Frankie, can you give us an idea of your personal experience with Kindle Scout?

 

FRANKIE BOW: They made it very easy to submit. The hard part was working to keep reader interest high, to keep people coming by to nominate the book. The readers aren't the final judges, but I think the editors need to see that the book will get some interest. After the nomination period ended, it took about a month to find out that my book had been accepted for publication.

 

Sisters In Crime: Would KS be more beneficial to a new author or to someone who is already self-published? 

FRANKIE BOW: It's a great platform for a new author to get experience and exposure. Experienced self-publishers may feel restricted by the fact that they can't control the pricing or distribute the book on other e-publishing platforms. For me, it's worth the tradeoffs. I would definitely go the Kindle Scout route again. 

 

 

 

 

Sisters In Crime: Just an aside: Are you planning to attend LCC2017 in Honolulu?

 

FRANKIE BOW: YES I am already registered for LCC, and looking forward to meeting my SinC sisters and misters in person! 

 

 

You can visit with Frankie Bow at these sites:
www.frankiebow.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frankie.bow.1
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Frankie_Bow

frankie@frankiebow.com 

 

*****     *****     *****

 

For answers to the questions of who, what, when, where, and why, the link to the website for Kindle Scout is: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/about