Welcome to My World: What it’s like to write for Amazon’s Kindle Worlds

With: EmKay Connor

Congratulations to "Dee", the winner in EmKay's giveaway. Thank you to all who participated!

I recently released my fourth book in Roxanne St. Claire’s Barefoot Bay Kindle World and my second book in Erin Nicholas’ Sapphire Falls Kindle World. With six stories set in other authors’ worlds, I’m often asked why I continue to participate. I’d like to share what it’s like to write for Amazon’s Kindle Worlds (AKW) and why I keep going back.

How I got started writing for AKW

In 2013, I published two romance novels. After that, life got a little crazy. Recently divorced, I was working three jobs and taking full-time college courses. Oh, and I had three sons at home. Over the next three years I managed to put out two self-published novellas, but I couldn’t dedicate the time and effort needed to build a serious writing career.

In 2016, I learned Roxanne St. Claire was launching a Kindle World. After researching how AKW works, the idea of participating intrigued me.

·      Since I write to deadline, this gave me a firm due date.

·      The word count was flexible, which meant I could do a short story or novella, which is part of my author voice and style.

·      The most significant advantage was getting my book in front of Roxanne’s readers, since I didn’t have an audience of my own.

My first Barefoot Bay Kindle World novella, Perfect Mismatch, released on April 12, 2016.

Seeing that book up for sale on Amazon gave me a tremendous sense of achievement. After months of not publishing anything, I finally had a new release. Making a commitment to write for Roxanne’s Kindle World provided the structure and incentive I needed.

Why I continue to write for AKW

I often put in 12-14 hour days for my “regular” job, which I love. Still, it makes it difficult to schedule regular releases. When Roxanne announced a second round of Barefoot Bay Kindle World books, I came up with a story idea for one of the secondary characters in my first book. And thus a series was born.

My Perfect Match series includes three other titles: Miss Match (August 22, 2016), Romance Rematch (October 10, 2016) and Matchless Mayhem (February 21, 2917).

I also have a series set in Erin Nicholas’ Sapphire Falls Kindle World. The Natural Love series includes Going Strong (October 24, 2016) and Going It Alone (February 13, 2017).

Right now I have three more books planned for the Perfect Match series and two more for the Natural Love series. All of these stories will be published through Amazon’s Kindle Worlds.

Some authors believe publishing through AKW, which is essentially authorized fan fiction, builds the sponsoring author’s brand and not the individual author’s brand. I disagree. I’ve applied proven book marketing strategies to all of my AKW books.

·      Instead of standalone books, I created a series so each new release automatically markets the rest of the books.

·      All of the books are strongly branded through cohesive cover design and series order

·      I release a new book (on average) every quarter

My approach to writing for AKW

I was a freelance writer for 15 years. During that time, I discovered I write most effectively and successfully when given a specific topic, word count and other parameters. Writing in another author’s Kindle World provides these parameters for me.

My Kindle World romances focus primarily on my characters and settings, with the sponsoring authors’ characters and settings woven into the fringe of the story. My goal is not to write like Roxanne St. Claire or Erin Nicholas, but to replicate the ambiance and emotion their readers adore. In one story, the characters basically breeze through Sapphire Falls, but the rest of the action occurs elsewhere. I worried that I wasn’t giving Erin’s readers enough of the location and characters they’ve come to love, so reading this review reassured me that my approach is working:

“Ms. Connor has done a great job integrating the Sapphire Falls culture & atmosphere into her series.”  -PamD, Amazon

The benefits of writing for AKW

It’s been ten months since my first Kindle Worlds release. Did it help my writing career? Hell, yes!

·      Six published novellas

·      I added subscribers to my mailing list

·      I have a street team / reader group (we’re up to 16 members!)

·      I can count on reviews from “my” readers

·      Stronger connections with other authors

·      Increased brand awareness #sexysassy

·      Royalties

·      I “feel” like a published author now

·      The opportunity to apply book marketing strategies (and see results)

·      My writing is getting better

·      I regained my love for the creative writing process

What readers like about AKW

I was curious about what readers think of Amazon’s Kindle Worlds. I asked a few of them to share what they like about AKW. Here’s what romance readers had to say:

I love visiting a favorite fictional town with new authors for their take of the community. Kindle Worlds is a great way to find new authors in a familiar setting. Normally at a great price too.  –Shari B.

Barefoot Bay to me means ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Ms. St. Claire created the perfect means of escape. Beautiful scenery, heartwarming stories and a bit of romance to brighten up the day. I read Kindle Worlds Barefoot Bay because I enjoy getting the chance to discover new authors but I also get the chance to fall in love with some great characters along the way.  –Isha C.

I love the Barefoot Bay books, and everything the new authors bring to it. When they work the characters into their stories, it makes it fun. What I liked most is the suspense in some, the heat level in the others, and the romance in all of them. –Ramona K.

I enjoy reading a love story. They are a quick read, and you can't wait to read how it all ends.  –Gail F.

If you aren’t familiar with Amazon’s Kindle Worlds, you can learn more here. To visit Barefoot Bay Kindle World, click here. For Sapphire Falls Kindle World, click here.

Connect with EmKay Connor:

Website: www.sexysassyromance.com
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bI5sYz
Facebook: www.facebook.com/EmKayConnor
Twitter: twitter.com/EmKayConnor

Giveaway:
EmKay will be giving away a $10 Amazon gift card to one person leaving a comment or email entry.

Giveaway ends 11:59pm EST February 23rd. Please supply your email in the post. You may use spaces or full text for security. (ex. jsmith at gmail dot com) If you do not wish to supply your email, or have trouble posting, please email maureen@JustContemporaryRomance.com with a subject title of JCR GIVEAWAY to be entered in the current giveaway.