This past November I was invited to a very exclusive Amazon Roundtable
to discuss the amazing perks of publishing digital with Kindle Direct Publishing. It should come as no surprise to anyone out
there that Amazon would be in the forefront of this new wave of self-publishing. They have already made themselves the leaders
in online shopping, as well as digital reading, it only makes sense that they
would create a program with that would be as user friendly to publish those
books as well! Amazon has set up two
wonderful programs, the Kindle Direct Publishing, and CreateSpace, which have
done wonders for the self-publishing industry.
To talk about how the process works, and
to give helpful hints as well as tell us their stories of success, we got to
talk to three highly successful writers in the children and teen genres. E.G. Foley is a real life couple that has had
real success in publishing their series of books The Gryphon Chronicles, both
in the printed book world and via online downloads. This husband and wife team live and work in
Pennsylvania and have been finishing each other’s sentences way before they
started publishing them.
The Gryphon
Chronicles is a series of books that although are published toward the young
adult audience but are as popular among the adults and they are within the
young adult genre. A period piece that
takes place in the Victorian streets of London, follow young Jake as he goes on
his magical and mysterious adventures, fights grand foes, and goes through the
trials and tribulations of also being a young boy on the brink of manhood.
Both Eric and
Gaelen (the E.G. of E.G Foley) agree that they have had a rise in popularity
that was largely in part with their partnering with Amazon Digital
Printing. They had a pretty big fan base
before, and Gael has had success writing in other genres as well, however
Amazon has done wonders with connecting with their current fan base, as well as
enticing new readers towards their books.
Eric especially
liked the try a sample feature, stating it gave the readers an opportunity to
go into their world without the commitment of buying it. Many people tend to like to try out the book,
However the days of pursuing the pages at a bookstore are swiftly coming to an
end, so this gives new readers a great way to really immerse themselves in the
world they have created, before purchasing. He makes a connection with this feature and
their high purchase rate on amazon.
