Amazon helps first-time authors in self-publishing

Bengaluru: Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing provided a unique opportunity to hundreds of first-time authors to self-publish their books instantly with ‘Wordsworthy’ – a short story contest in collaboration with The Hindu Lit for Life- one of the biggest literary festivals in India.

Highlights:

• A salesman by day and writer by night from Bengaluru epublishes his book Zaira and wins contest
• Five self-published books shortlisted from hundreds of entries ranging from literature & fiction, science fiction & fantasy to romance
• Celebrated author Rashmi Bansal judged these finalists; winner will be awarded a Kindle Oasis

Jithin Emmanuel Jacob, a 27-year-old graduate from IIM Kozhikode working with a multi-national technology corporation was declared a winner for his short story Zaira ,chronicles of a happy-go-lucky boy’s experiences with his first love. Interestingly, most books that were registered for Wordsworthy were from first-time authors who have never published anything so far.

These entries have garnered over a thousand reviews with an average rating of 4.5 stars. This initiative invited authors to publish an original English short story between 2,000-5,000 words on KDP between January 14 and February 13 at a price point of INR 49 and enroll their eBook in the KDP Select program.Five of these self-published books wereshortlisted from hundreds of entries across genres.

Participants self-published their eBooks on kdp.amazon.com to enter the contest. All eBooks from the contest are available on the Kindle Store on any device with the free Kindle app for iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, PC and Mac as well as Kindle e-readers.The shortlisted entries were judged by Rashmi Bansal - author of bestseller Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.

The winner was selected based on several criteria including creativity, originality, quality of writing, commercial viability and readers’ reviewsand will be awarded a Kindle Oasis. Jithin, the winner, says “It is every writer’s dream to see his or her work reaching as many people as possible and being a finalist KDP’sWordsworthy Contest has taken my story, ‘Zaira’, to people and places I could only dream of otherwise.”

The other shortlisted entries were:

•The Boy: A fascinating religious and spiritual fiction by Nrupal Das
•The Pigeon’s Nest: A gripping tale that explores the undercurrent of forced dislocation from a state of settlement by Vijaya Das

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is a fast, free and easy way for authors to publish their books in print and digital to a global audience, and receive up to 70 per cent royalties on their work. On any given day, up to 20 per cent of the Top 100 books on the India Kindle store are published by authors who havedecided to keep control by publishing through KDP.

KDP Select is an optional program that gives authors the opportunity to reach more readers and earn more money. Enrolling in KDP Select grants authors access to a set of promotional tools, including Kindle Unlimited and Free Book Promotion. It means that your digital book will be available only with Amazon. For more information visit kdp.amazon.com