Amazon Provides Boost for Indie Authors

Image: Amazon.com

Amazon is giving independent authors and publishers a hand up—as long as they agree to publish first in Kindle format.

The Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Select program will provide a shot at the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and a chunk of a $6 million royalty fund to authors and publishers who go Kindle-exclusive for the first 90 days.

The royalty check depends on the number of times the book is borrowed by Kindle readers—Amazon Prime Members can now borrow one book each month for free.

As Lauren Indvik at Mashable writes, the program will likely boost the borrowing program, which hasn’t won Amazon many fans in the publishing world so far. It will also provide opportunities for smaller publishers with a set of free promotional tools—although exactly what this means is not yet clear.

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