James M. Jackson authors the Seamus McCree novels. ANT FARM (Spring 2015), a prequel to BAD POLICY (2013) and CABIN FEVER (2014), recently won a Kindle Scout nomination. Ebook published by Kindle Press; print from Wolf’s Echo Press.
How I Got Published
Every one of my books has had its own road to publication. My most recent novel, Ant Farm, started life over a decade ago with interest from an agent, but garnered no publishing contract. It was my first novel in what I planned as a series. The second in the Seamus McCree series found a home with small publisher Barking Rain Press, which also took the third. Those books were well-received, but the audience too small.
I dusted off Ant Farm, gave it a thorough rewrite, and decided to become a hybrid author by independently publishing what would now be a prequel to the series. However, as I was finishing the final round of edits, Amazon introduced the Kindle Scout program. I considered the possibility of having marketing behemoth Amazon promote my book to be more than fair compensation for giving up total publishing control. I entered the program, was “Hot and Trending” for 78% of hours in the 30-day nomination period, and at the end of the nomination process, Kindle Press offered me a contract for the ebook, which went on pre-order earlier this week. I have published the trade paperback version through Wolf’s Echo Press.
Financial crimes consultant Seamus McCree combats the evil behind the botulism murders of thirty-eight retirees at their picnic outside Chillicothe, OH. He also worms his way into the Cincinnati murder investigation of a church friend’s fiancé and finds police speculate the hit may have been the mistake of a dyslexic hitman.
Seamus uncovers 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.
Find more information about Jim and his writing at http://jamesmjackson.com.
Carol Balawyder 
Thanks for sharing this, both. I’ve heard about the Kindle Scout program, and it’s good know that it worked as well as it did.
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Thank you for this Carol, it’s always interesting to read about the different routes to publishing experienced by writers. I’m learning so much.
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Thanks for stopping by and for your lovely comment! 🙂
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Congratulations to you. I am hopeful that some day I will find a publisher for my books too. Have a great day!
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Especially interesting to read about Jackson’s journey since I’m currently going through the Kindle Scout process myself. Best of luck to Mr. Jackson and his soon-to-be-released book. Sounds like a great premise.
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Best of luck to you too, Carrie. I wonder how many “supporters” you need in order to be published on Kindle Press.
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I don’t know, but although I trended on ‘hot and trending’ for the first five days, it’s only been sporadic since. I should do better about spreading the word, but it always makes me uncomfortable. Something I talk about in my Monday post. 🙂
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Too bad only US citizens can vote! I know what you mean about tooting your own horn but who else is going to do it. That’s part of the self publishing package.
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That’s even part of the traditional publishing package nowadays!
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Only U.S. people can vote for Carrie? I voted three different times but hadn’t noticed that. 😦
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I might be wrong here. I know that in Canada you can’t vote. But if you have an Amazon.com account you can vote.
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Boo hoo. We can only have an account for our country. 😦
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This is the message on Kindle Scout:
Only users based in the U.S. can participate in Kindle Scout.
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Jim’s a busy man! He’s also guesting on my blog today. http://wp.me/p3yeUA-Hu
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He sure is a busy man. 🙂
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Always heartening to hear of success despite everything! 🙂
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🙂
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I’m always interested in an author’s journey. Wish James M. Jackson much success and thanks for this introduction to him and his book. 🙂
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Interesting post Carol. I read some of the comments here, and you mentioned to Tess that if you have an Amazon.com account you can vote. Don’t we have an Amazon.com account since our books are sold on .com?
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I just tried to nominate Carrie Rubin’s Eating Bull and got this message:
Only users based in the U.S. can participate in Kindle Scout.
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Wow, this is getting a little old already; Canadians not being allowed to partake in many kindle activities like this and especially when we promote our books on countdown, only for Americans. This is so unfair. I’ve complained several times to KDP about the countdown issue, to no avail. Perhaps we have to get a petition going from Canadian authors?
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Yes, indeed. It’s really unfair but if we complain to Amazon.com they throw the ball to Amazon.ca.
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So nice to hear the stories of other people who have been eventually published through most often a circutuous route.
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So encouraging to hear of your success! Well done!
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Interesting and inspiring story about James Jackson.
About Amazon… they worry me. I’m American, so can “participate” fully in this, but I think they have too much power in the market. If they get monopoly on ebooks, what will they do with that power? I don’t trust that it will be good for writers… or readers.
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So very interesting, Carol, thanks for sharing. Always love reading how it works for other authors, and the details.
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Inspired by James’ journey and where it’s led him. Congrats on the new opportunity w/ Kindle Press.
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