BOOM: Amazon, “A quarter of top 100 Kindle books are now written by self-published authors”

A quarter of the top 100 Kindle books sold by Amazon.com are written by self-published ‘go it alone’ authors, it has been revealed.

Although the figures are for the online retailer’s U.S. website, experts said the same is likely to be repeated in Britain over time.

The statistics, released at a trade show, have been dubbed a victory for start-up authors who have traditionally struggled to get their work published.

The chart was posted on Twitter by Writer.ly, an online marketplace which links writers with the editors, book designers and marketing help they need to publish.

Amazon.com’s figures revealed a quarter of the leading titles are by ‘indies’ – a broad term which includes all titles that aren’t put out by the big six publishers.

Although the online giant has not released figures for the UK, it is thought that there has been a significant growth in the success of ‘indie’ authors.

Orna Ross, director of the UK Alliance of Independent Authors, said the success of self-publishers in the U.S. is likely to be repeated in Britain.

‘We are in the middle of a major change. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we reached a situation where the majority of the top books are author-published. I don’t see what would stop that,’ she told The Guardian.