Amazon has announced that during the month of October they are putting the spotlight on self-published authors. They are putting the spotlight on content submitted via Kindle Direct Publishing, CreateSpace and Audiobook Creation Exchange. The celebration will include a dedicated Amazon landing page and special features on Facebook.
There are thousands of titles written by indie authors on the new landing page and readers are finding it difficult to find some good e-books. Some readers have dived deep and have basically said unless an authors title is on the first three pages, it is going to be challenging to have any visibility. I have heard reports that the curation seems more bot-driven than real people doing editorial oversight.
It will be interesting to see if putting the spotlight on indie authors all month long will lead to more sales. Amazon is planning on conducting a series of interviews for their social media pages to introduce new writers to the public.
Right now there are no discounts or promotions planned. Readers will have to pay full price for any of the content they decide to purchase on the new landing page.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
