Photo illustration by Slate
As the title of one of the new century’s most Reminds us of beloved novels, complexity can exist only where we see the absence of complication. A single color contains multitudes. That novel’s author, E. L. James might have been commenting on the category Which is her own work belongs “bad” books. Fifty Shades of Grey is a bad book-cheesy, boilerplate, and silly, despite its silky sophistication and dreams of naughtiness. But man, the simple descriptor bad encompasses so many other vistas of badness, strange and terrible to behold. These are planets of implausibility and awfulness That revolve beyond the wildest imaginings our.
Kindle Scout is a new initiative from Amazon, and “reader-powered” publishing platform for “new, never-before-published books.” It works like this: Their Authors submit manuscripts, 5,000-word excerpts of Which are posted on the website for a 30 scouting -day period. During That Time, Amazon, members can browse the selections and nominate the ones they’d like to see published. A reader is allowed just three swappable picks at a time, that preserve the integrity of each recommendation. At the end of the trial run, a team of staffers tallies the nods, applying its own secret to decide Which rubric manuscripts get released. (A Kindle Scout representative declined it elaborate on the criteria it uses.) Selected books, Explains the Amazon, “will be published to Kindle Press and receive a 5-year renewable terms, a $ 1,500 advance, 50 percent royalty rate eBook, easy rights reversions and featured Amazon marketing. “
On the writer’s resource site Writer Beware, Victoria Strauss has a smart post Assessing the authorial incentives and drawbacks of dry a deal. The advance, though small, is better than nothing, and a 50 percent royalty rate Seems fairly generous. Kindle Scout offers exposure (rose) on a swift timeline (rose) without much prestige or developmental support (thorn, thorn). Chosen manuscripts hit the digital shelves as-is, sans editing, proofing, or guidance on artwork, though a spokeswoman for the program did mention That Kindle Press had connected “some of the very first” authors with professional copy editors. The real winner would Appear to be Amazon, Which can leverage readers’ direct or expires this lure them it its website and profit from successful new titles without losing too much on clunkers.
Beyond each writer’s personal arithmetic, though, and Amazon’s feline-stroking evil genius, Kindle Scout invites all the usual philosophizing about publishing and access. A program with open submissions puts more voices in circulation. It amplifies different kinds of voices, razing That institutional wayposts tend to disproportionately welcome white men. It Responds more nimbly to the Demonstrated preferences of the reading public, asking us to rethink our inherited notions of literary merit.
“What Rafe did it That suit Should Be Illegal.”
But I am not here to talk about the democratizing heroism of self-publishers and crowdsourcers. Or about the growing centrality of the consumer, who is able is customize her reading experience by telling Amazon Precisely what she wants to read before any work goes to press. I am here to talk about The Billionaire’s Bride Bodyguard . This is one of the first success stories of the process, and the Kindle Scout-approved book soon to be “published to Kindle Press,” Between the romance unfolding kick-ass “covert protection” agent Lauren Reynolds and gorgeous business mogul Rafe Dimitriou. We meet them at a wedding-themed fashion show the where Lauren plays the bride and groom the Rafe. They have a past. “His kisses had tasted like forever,” but those “hard muscular lines That provided the perfect counterpoint is her soft curves” were not enough to save Their relationship after he discovered she had infiltrated That his heart for a newspaper story.
Two years later, at the fashion show, “what Rafe did it That Should Be Illegal suit,” and Lauren is ” even lovelier than she’d been When he’d first laid eyes on her after he’d fished her out of the waters of his private beach. “They yearn, they despise. “Practically Testosterone oozed out of his pores. Much to her dismay, all of testosterone That happened to be focused on her at the moment. “They bait each other with dialogue That belongs in an antique Archie comic. “If I’d known you were in New York, I would have been Certain to be out of town,” Lauren says. “Should not you be in France? I just read an article about your new publishing house there. Judging by the photo of you and your latest conquest That accompanied it, you’re still mixing business with pleasure. “
Oh, hell. I’ll keep going. You know you want it.
“You know what they say about all work and no play,” he shrugged, the subtle movement drawing attention to her impossibly broad shoulders magnificently showcased by the tuxedo’s exquisite tailoring.
“So what brings you here? Another acquisition? “She hated That she needed to know.
” In a manner of speaking. “He paused, capturing her gaze and holding it. “I have business with you, actually.”
“You came here to see me?” She asked, incredulous.
He nodded, pulling her closer while soft, romantic music pulsed and ebbed around them.
This kind of writing is unabashed. It is breathtakingly, gloriously bad. And it raises a question: What do we mean when we talk about bad books?
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