Amazon today announced that its publishing imprint, AmazonEncore, will release the newest book in J.A. Konrath’s Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels series, Shaken. The Kindle version will go on sale in October, and the print version in February 2011. Hyperion had published the six previous books in Konrath’s series about the Chicago cop, including Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, Fuzzy Navel, and Cherry Bomb.
On his blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, Konrath wrote, “I signed a print deal with a company that can e-mail every single person who has ever bought one of my books through their website, plus millions of potential new customers. I’ve never had that kind of marketing power behind one of my novels. I’d be an idiot not to do this.” Konrath said he shopped Shaken to “traditional publishers,” but they passed on it.
Amazon will sell the Kindle version of Shaken for $2.99. “My Kindle readers have been incredibly faithful fans,” Konrath said. He was not concerned about the $14.95 paperback being sold in trade outlets beyond Amazon. “I know for sure many of my bookseller friends will get copies into their stores,” he wrote on his blog. “But I have no idea if the book will actually be stocked in any of the chains or indies. And, frankly, I’m not concerned. I believe this is going to sell well regardless.”
Konrath has also written under the names Jack Kilborn and Joe Kimball, and has published more than 12 books using Amazon’s Digital Text Platform. He has been featured in numerous articles and blog posts as an author who is making a living off of Kindle; in a recent interview, he said he is currently selling 180 Kindle e-books a day.
