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Beth Cox Report: January 2016

Dear Loyal Readers, Authors, and Publishers,

The latest innovations in digital publishing never cease to surprise me. Just recently, I learned about Amazon's "Kindle Scout" program for both ebook readers and ebook authors.

https://kindlescout.amazon.com

Essentially, it's a review program for never-before-published ebooks, which enlists readers to help sort the wheat from the chaff. Readers browse ebooks that have never been published in any format before, and nominate up to three ebooks at a time (each book has a 30-day nomination campaign). Readers also receive a free copy of any ebooks they championed that are selected for publication.

Ebook authors who submit never-before-published ebooks to the program can potentially earn publication by Kindle Press, 5-year renewable terms, a $1,500 advance, a 50% ebook royalty rate, easy rights reversions, and featured Amazon marketing... if (and only if!) their ebook receives so many nominations from interested readers that Amazon selects it for publication.

Of course, in order to secure nominations, prospective ebook authors are encouraged to promote their Kindle Scout title, perhaps starting with their Facebook fans and Twitter followers.

Oh, and please allow me to give a shout-out to the author who first informed me about the Kindle Scout program, Donna M. Zadunajsky. Her current title awaiting nominations on Kindle Scout is the suspenseful mystery "Hidden Secrets":

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/181EOC08YIMTY

Now for January's Link of the Month. It's "Publishers, Agents, and Films"

http://www.publishersagentsandfilms.com

a commercial website that serves both book authors and screenplay authors. Much like the MBR website's "Advice for Publishers" section, Publishers, Agents, and Films offers a vast array of informative and completely free articles in a section titled "Tips on Marketing & Promoting Your Books, Scripts, Films, and Yourself" at

http://www.publishersagentsandfilms.com/marketing-tips

I enthusiastically recommend checking it out!

January's Book of the Month is one of those "occupational hazard" titles in the book review business... once I picked it up, it was almost impossible to put down:



Curvology
David Bainbridge, PhD
The Overlook Press
141 Wooster Street, New York, NY 10012
www.overlookpress.com
9781468312027 $26.95 hc / $12.99 Kindle www.amazon.com

Accessible to readers of all backgrounds, Curvology: The Origins and Power of Female Body Shape applies evolutionary biology, cultural observation, and the latest findings in human psychology to a question that has perplexed anthropologists for generations: why are humans the only mammals on earth whose females have curvy bodies? Author and researcher David Bainbridge, PhD examines how wider hips improved women's ability to survive giving birth to babies with large brains; how storing body fat is both a survival tool and a means to signal to potential mates that one is well-nourished; and perhaps most interestingly, the ramifications of competition for social status and desirable mates between members of the same sex. "There is a huge amount of psychological data showing that women exist within a tumult of social competition, fueled by an indirect verbal aggression which contrasts strongly with the good old violence which makes men's lives so straightforward. And the evidence strongly suggests that indirect aggression works. The recipients of within-sex indirect aggression tend to start dating later in life, they flirt less, they find it harder to find romantic and sexual partners, and their romantic relationships do not last as long." Curvology does not shy from unpalatable psychological, social, or biological deductions in its science; yet in order to create a better world for humanity today and tomorrow, it is essential to understand the drives that have affected both male and female humans since prehistory. For its contributions to social science and anthropology, Curvology is highly recommended especially for public and college library collections.



That's all for the January 2016 Beth Cox Report. Don't forget that the post-Christmas "off season" is the best time to submit review copies to the Midwest Book Review - you're up against notably less competition, at least for a couple months!

Bethany Cox
Managing Editor
The Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com


James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
e-mail: mwbookrevw@aol.com
http://www.midwestbookreview.com


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