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Amazon is continuing to invest in its publishing business in the US and the UK, Sarah Jane Gunter, director of Amazon Publishing International, told The Bookseller.
Gunter confirmed that Amazon Publishing would launch 500 new titles this year, publishing a mix of UK and US authors globally. “It’s a number we are confident with,” she said. Gunter said publishing decisions were informed by Amazon’s data on its customers, but also by the recommendations of its editors. She highlighted mysteries and thrillers, literary fiction, women’s fiction and romance titles, as areas in which it was growing.
Booksellers have up to now resisted stocking Amazon Publishing titles, but Gunter said that it was making books available through wholesaler Gardners in the UK. “We are primarily platform-focused, but we publish digitally, physically and in audio, and we want to make our books available to customers wherever they want to buy them.”
She confirmed that Amazon Publishing was offering a standard publishing contract, in some cases with an advance upfront. “Authors come to us looking for distribution, participation [in the publishing process], availability and success, and what we’ve shown so far is that we can deliver on that.”
Gunter said Amazon continues to look for individuals to lead its UK publishing efforts, adding that it will hire an acquisitions editor to work alongside its senior acquisitions editor Emilie Marneur.
“These investments are the strongest signal we can make about what we think about the future of this business; the writers we attract tend to be those who understand our model best, and can see where [the industry] is headed,” Gunter said.