Amazon to Publish Emerging Authors Through 'Encore' Program
Amazon.com Inc. has taken on a new role: publisher. Through its new AmazonEncore program (http://www.Amazon.com/encore), which the online retailer launched this week, Amazon will use "information such as customer reviews on Amazon Web sites to identify exceptional, overlooked books and authors that show potential for greater sales." Amazon will then partner with those authors to reintroduce their books through marketing support and distribution into multiple channels and formats, such as the Amazon Books Store, Amazon Kindle Store, Audible.com, and national and independent bookstores via third-party wholesalers.
AmazonEncore's first project is "Legacy," a self-published debut novel by 16-year-old Cayla Kluver that, according to Amazon, has earned several prizes from literary groups and customer raves on Amazon.com, but only modest sales. This summer, “Legacy” will be revised by the author and re-issued as an AmazonEncore edition in print on Amazon Web sites globally, in brick-and-mortar bookstores, as a digital download from the Kindle Store, and as an audio download on Audible.com.
“Sometimes exceptional books and new authors don’t get the attention they deserve. We’re fortunate at Amazon to have customers who know great books and aren’t shy about telling us when they find one. We developed AmazonEncore to connect readers with great books that were overlooked the first time they were released,” says Jeff Belle, vice president of books for Amazon. “Cayla Kluver is a gifted young writer who shows promise for the future. She exemplifies the kind of authors that AmazonEncore will support and we look forward to showcasing ‘Legacy’ and many more similarly talented, but undiscovered voices to our customers through this program.”
"I'm thrilled to be a part of this exciting new program, and am so grateful to Amazon for giving me, and readers across the world, the amazing opportunity that Encore represents," says Kluver.
- Companies:
- Amazon.com
- People:
- Cayla Kluver
- Jeff Belle