Self-published genre iction is claiming more of the ebook marketplace

BY RYAN PORTER

A.L. KNORR HAD never written a novel before she left her job as a marketing director in Canmore, Alberta, and moved to Italy for love. When that relationship ended, she threw herself into writing her first book.

Born of Water, about a teenager whose mother is a mermaid, was published on Amazon’s all-you-can-read ebook service Kindle Unlimited in December 2016, kicking off a prolific two-year period during which Knorr produced another 16 contemporary fantasy YA novels and novellas. The proceeds have financed a wanderlust lifestyle – Canadian Rockies in the summer and Italy in the winter.

Knorr had aspired to find a traditional publisher but describes the multi-year path to publication as “impossible.” In comparison, digital platforms such as Kindle Direct Publishing, Apple Books, Google Play, and Kobo Writing Life generally publish within days and pay about 70 per cent royalties, compared to the industry standard of five to 10 per cent. “Amazon has almost singlehandedly eliminated distributors, wholesalers, retailers, the marketing team, publicists, the publishers, everybody between the author and the reader,” Knorr says.