Two of the bestselling Kindle Books of 2011 were independent authors who used Amazon’s popular Kindle Direct Publishing service. Publishing an e-book has never been easier. This opportunity gives everyone a chance to express their voice and unique writing style. The money isn’t too shabby either.
Darcie Chan, an attorney who lives with her husband and son in New York, released her first novel, The Mill River Recluse last year. It is a huge hit among its readers, and definitely worth adding to your list of Kindle books to read.
Mary McAllister, the victim of an abusive late husband, spends sixty years of her life in a marble mansion overlooking the tiny Vermont town of Mill River. This is one of those feel good books that provide a good story, but it doesn’t work the brain too hard. It has great reviews, and Chan achieves what most authors strive to do: draw the reader into the story and make them forget that the characters are fictional.
Chris Culver was another extremely successful independent author that hit the bestseller list with his book, The Abbey. The Abbey is a fast paced murder mystery that features a Muslim detective. The fact that Ash is Muslim is an added twist, but it isn’t his religion isn’t the focus of the book. He gets wrapped up in a case involving the possible murder of his niece, and well, see how the story unfolds from there.
There are many other independent authors who have hit bestseller lists, and have enjoyed great successes through KDP. It is still important to carefully edit the book and format it so that it can be published to the Kindle.
Since I got my first Kindle two years ago, I have read a number of books by independent and lesser known authors. It has given me the opportunity to explore new genres and writing styles. Publishing a book is no longer this tangible thing restricted to an exclusive group of top notch writers. Not to mention, many of these books are either free or very cheap.
The downsides to allowing such free reign on publishing e-books are the quality of books and spam. Amazon has had to deal with some major issues with spammers flooding the market with fake e-books.
So, it will be interesting to see how the publishing industry evolves as e-books and e-readers become increasingly popular. There has to be a balance that retains the quality of books written by established authors, and a way to give new authors the chance to shine.