By now, avid readers probably have heard that Amazon is going to cancel the Kindle World program. As of the end of July, all seven of my Lei Crime, Jet and Sydney Rye Kindle World books will no longer be available.

Reminder: Kindle World

Kindle World is, or was, a program where authors could write books based on the successful series of bestselling authors. For instance, in 2015, Toby Neal, author of the bestselling Lei Crime series, invited me and seven other authors  to write books based in the fictional world she had created.. We could incorporate the characters and settings she had created. This gave her fans more of the kinds of books they love, and exposed the other authors to new audiences.

I wrote four books in total in the Lei Crime Kindle World, all featuring my own character, FBI Special Agent Vanessa Storm.

Russell Blake also invited me to contribute to his  then-new JET Kindle World, and Emily Kimelman invited me to join the Sydney Rye Kindle World. So I wrote three books, all featuring the duo of tech genius Earl LeBrun and master of disaster, and irresistible to women, Van Freeman.

Seven books. And now Amazon is cancelling the program.

A fantastic learning experience

I had a lot of fun, reading the books of Russell Blake, Toby Neal and Emily Kimelman. It was blast writing books that were very different from what I had written and published up to that point. I learned a lot.

But there were limitations to the whole Kindle World program. First, they were available only as e–books, and only in Amazon’s Kindle format (hence the name). And second, they were only available in the United States. If you bought your books through amazon.ca or amazon.co.uk, you could not buy any Kindle World title. Some people outside the U.S. have accounts with Amazon.com, but as time went on, it seemed the ‘Zon worked out ways to stop that, as opposed to opening up the program to wider audiences.

Turning lemons into opportunity

Now that Amzaon is cancelling the Kindle Worlds program, all the rights revert back to the authors. Well, except for the rights to the characters and other elements created by the original authors like Toby Neal.

What this means is that I can now re-publish all my former Kindle World novellas and novels just as I have my other books. They will be available in every market in the world, and through all retailers and platforms, including Barnes & Noble, Kobo and iTunes. AND they’ll be available in print, too.

The plan

I’m excited about this—I’ll finally be able to bring all my books to all audience around the world. First, I will have to make some changes to the contents to make sure the books don’t infringe on any copyrights. Then I’ll have them proofread one more time. But finally, I’ll publish  them all, one at a time.

I’ll start with the former Lei Crime books, which I’ll call the Hawaiian Storm series. Expect to see Torn Roots soon after the Kindle World’s  formal end on JuLy 31. I hope to publish the rest about once a month, with a few adjustments to punish Palm Trees & Snowflakes just ahead of the holiday season.

By early 2019, you’ll have seven more Scott Bury titles for your physical as well as electronic bookshelf.

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