Author Boyd Morrison wrote and uploaded a book called The Ark, pictured, to Kindle, and found such success that he has now signed a two book deal with Simon and Schuster in that weird, dying papery format your grandparents like.
Morrison made a name for himself through frequent participation in Kindle online communities and self-promotion online, and will see both The Ark and a future novel in the same series published in hardcover in summer 2010. This happens to musicians all the time; they blow up on MySpace, sell music on iTunes and finally some suit at a record company takes notice and signs them.
This is the first such example we’re hearing about from a digital author, and it’s really great news both for Morrison and the publishing industry as a whole, including Kindle: It adds legitimacy to the Kindle’s self-publishing tools and it’s a sign of recognition that electronic reading, in some form or another, is a valid format, which is a fact many (myself included—I was just being new-media snarky about the death of print) have denied at some point or another. Congratulations to Boyd, and let’s hope it encourages more underground writers to publish on Kindle and get their stuff read. [Crunchgear]
