It's the End of the World

Okay, yes, I’ll admit it. That title is a little melodramatic, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Just not in the way you’re thinking.

Two years ago, I was contacted by best-selling romance author Erin Nicholas and asked if I would be interested in writing a book attached to her Sapphire Falls series. For those of you who don’t know, and I’m sure that’s a small number, this popular series was set in the fictional town of Sapphire Falls, Nebraska and featured some hot country boys and sassy gals trying to keep them in line. As with most of Nicholas’ books, the Sapphire Falls brand was wildly popular. So popular in fact that it was getting its own Kindle world.

Until Nicholas reached out to me, I didn’t know much about Kindle Worlds. It turns out that Kindle Worlds is an Amazon brand. It takes a series of books that are being sold on Amazon and allows authors to write what basically amounts to fan fiction. Participating authors use the characters and settings of the original author with a few rules in place. Authors aren’t allowed to write stories for main characters already written but can use those characters to support their story. As the name implies, these titles are exclusively offered on Amazon.

I was both excited and honored when Nicholas asked if I would write a book for the October 2016 release. Even though she reached out to me in April, I jumped right on it and quickly churned out the book and secured a title and cover. I couldn’t have been happier when the book was well received by Nicholas’ rabid fans. In fact, it did so well, and I had so much fun being part of the Sapphire Falls Kindle world, that I released a second title in that world.

To this day, those two books are my most reviewed and possibly highest selling. I have no doubt those books are responsible for the increase in my fan base, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

Too bad all good things come to an end. Last week, I received an email from Amazon announcing they were going to discontinue the Kindle Worlds brand in the next few months. Not only that, but they’re pulling all existing titles. That means I lose the reviews attached to those titles as well as the income I net each month.

And no, authors can’t simply republish their titles. Some of us, me included, wrote under a trademarked brand. To republish would violate that trademark. Thankfully, the amazing Erin Nicholas is already on top of this and working with her authors so I will have some options in the future. I’ll keep you posted on those.

If you’re a Kindle reader, as many of us are, and you borrowed these books, you may want to consider buying them. If you don’t buy them, you could run the risk of never being able to read them again because the world is ending; the Kindle World that is.