Amazon KDP is breaking language barriers & encouraging regional authors
- Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) hosted a panel discussion to explore how online publishing has opened lucrative avenues for Tamil language authors
- The panel comprised of noted authors Cable Sankar, Pa. Raghavan and C. Saravanakarthikeyan and Vaishali Aggarwal representing Amazon KDP
Chennai, 9th November 2019: Amazon is transforming the author community in India by making publishing accessible to all via its free self-publishing service, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). To create awareness about the importance and impact of self-publishing for Tamil-language authors, Amazon KDP today organized a panel discussion in Chennai. The discussion highlighted ‘how online publishing will be a game-changer for the growth of Tamil language author community’. The discussion also focused on how the availability of self-publishing options like Amazon KDP has resulted in a more robust and diverse set of voices telling their stories and also making them available to the readers like ever before. The panel comprised of noted director, writer and critic Cable Sankar, successful Amazon KDP authors Pa. Raghavan and C. Saravanakarthikeyan, and Vaishali Aggarwal from Amazon KDP.
In India, Kindle is working towards creating an inclusive space for supporting and promoting regional languages. Amazon KDP launched the support for publishing in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi and Gujarati languages in October 2018. Tamil is one of the top Indian languages that has garnered traction on Kindle and has paved way for Tamil language authors from different walks of life to contribute and promote their work through Amazon KDP. All the eBooks published through Amazon KDP are accessible via free Kindle apps on mobile, tablets, PCs, and Kindle e-Readers. Readers can read Kindle eBooks on literally any device.
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) recently announced the third edition of Pen to Publish Contest, which is open to all genres in Tamil, Hindi and English. The contest is open to entries either in short-format (2,000 to 10,000 words) or long-format (more than 10,000 words) published on Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon.in till 14th December 2019. The judging panel includes popular authors Pa. Raghavan and C. Saravanakarthikeyan for Tamil entries, Durjoy Datta and Sudha Nair for English entries and Divya Prakash Dubey for Hindi entries.
“Kindle Direct Publishing has created a new wave in the world of Tamil writing. Even a first timer can become a successful author and make a living out of it. Amazon KDP also offers authors the ease of publishing and promoting their work as per my own experience of publishing on it”, said Cable Sankar, a noted writer, director and critic.
Vaishali Aggarwal, Lead, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, India said, “Our vision is to have every book, ever written, in every language, available to our readers in less than 60 seconds. With Amazon KDP, authors sitting in Chennai are able to get their books to readers sitting in New York within few minutes without having to bear the cost of publishing and transporting them. We will continue to work towards creating awareness and adoption of Amazon KDP across the author community, especially in regional languages”.
KDP is a fast, free and easy service for authors to self-publish their books in digital format to a global audience. Publishing on it takes less than 5 minutes and the book appears on Kindle stores across the world within 48 hours. Authors receive up to 70% royalties on the sale of their eBooks while keeping full control of rights and pricing. At present, nearly 10% of the Top 100 books on the India Kindle Store are self-published through Amazon KDP.
Additional quotes:
Speaking at the panel, Pa Raghavan, an author, said “Amazon KDP has opened new avenues for writers with books just a click away. It has turned publishing dream into reality for writers, as Amazon KDP lets you publish books at ease and reach readers thousands of miles away”.
- Saravanakarthikeyan, a self-published author, said, “Amazon KDP is an easy and transparent, investment-less and piracy-free way to reach millions of readers. These days, readers, including Tamil book lovers are moving towards digital medium. With Amazon KDP, a Tamil writer can reach an avid Tamil reader located at any part of the world instantly without any extra efforts or cost”.
For more information about Amazon KDP, visit kdp.amazon.com
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