It has been a while since Amazon launched its self-publishing platform for authors - Kindle. Now, the portal is offering a £20,000 literary prize for new work by authors who released their work on the platform.
The Kindle Storyteller award is open to authors across any genre, fiction or non-fiction, who are writing in English. Authors are eligible for the award if their books were launched on Kindle Direct Publishing between the dates Feb. 20 May 19, 2017.
When compiling the shortlist of the winners, the readers' interests will be taken into consideration as well the judging panel's opinions. The announcement of the winner will be made at a ceremony held in London in July. The prize is inclusive of the possibility of translation for sales internationally as well as a marketing campaign.
The Amazon EU Kindle content director, Alessio Santarelli, stated that the prize was created in order to celebrate great books. He said, "We hope to encourage aspiring authors and those who have already been published, to get writing and make their new stories available to readers across the world."
The Kindle Direct Publishing platform is responsible for almost a quarter of the Top 100 titles in the UK Kindle store. A bestselling Kindle author, Rachel Abbott, said that the expected caliber of entries will definitely be high. Abbott has just released her sixth thriller on the self-publishing platform.
She said her expectation remain high "whether it's from an established author or an aspiring writer who is encouraged by this prize to publish their first book".
The condition that writers need to meet in order to qualify for the prize is that their work should not have been previously published. Additionally, works need to be at least 5,000 words of length. An upper bound for the works has not been given, granting authors a free reign with the maximum length.
