UK Writers Can Now Self-Publish Through Amazon Kindle Store

If you’re a budding Rowling, Orwell, Fleming or Dahl there is now a chance for you to get your words out to the buying public thanks to Amazon opening up the UK Kindle Store from today – 7 months after the service became available to the US, but mustn’t grumble eh?

The Kindle Digital Text Platform uploads a book to the store “in minutes,” allowing authors to become self-publishers.

The Kindle Digital Text Platform is a fast and easy tool which allows publishers and authors to add their books and start selling in the new UK Kindle Store in minutes. Books that are uploaded to the UK Kindle Store are available to UK customers via Kindle devices and Kindle apps for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, PC, Mac and Android-based devices.

“Publishers and authors can now take advantage of the Kindle Digital Text Platform and make their books available to the millions of customers that visit Amazon.co.uk,” said Greg Greeley, Amazon Vice President, European Retail. “Sales of Kindle books in the US continue to rise and we are now selling more Kindle books than hardcovers. We expect to see a similar pattern in the UK with publishers and authors benefitting from greatly increased sales as a result of adding their titles to the new Kindle Store via the Kindle Digital Text Platform.”

If global fame is your aim than publishers and authors can upload and make available their books in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. They are also able to set the digital list price for their titles on Amazon.co.uk in the coin of the realm (that’s still Sterling by-the-way).

Publishers that hold publishing rights for the UK and related territories will earn a 35% royalty for sales made on Amazon.co.uk. For sales made in the US via Amazon.com, publishers can take advantage of a 70% royalty option. In the future, Amazon intends to make the 70% royalty option available for UK sales as well.