Monday, March 09, 2015

Kindle Worlds Launch

This is cool.

The Jack Daniels and Associates Kindle World is now live. The official announcement was just made.

Right now there are 38 stories, with more on the way.

I first blogged about this last week. TL;DR - writers can now create stories using characters and situations from my books. How my KW is different from other Kindle Worlds (at the time of this writing) is that writers can keep the rights to their characters.

This is a big deal, because it allows authors to team up their characters with mine. Or their characters can kill my characters. Or have sex with them. Or whatever.

The takeaway here is that writers can do cross-overs and mash-ups, which is a fun way to cross-pollinate fans, and could never be done before in KW.

I encourage everyone reading this to check out the launch stories. Simply click on the title under the cover art.

In the upcoming weeks, many of these authors will share their experience on this blog. As far as experiments go, this one is pretty big. It has never been done before, and we're in uncharted waters. I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.

And if you're interested in writing in the Jack Daniels and Associates Kindle World, or the Codename: Chandler Kindle World, you can. You don't need my permission, or my help. You don't need to even tell me. You can do it entirely on your own. It's easy, and you keep half the royalties. All you have to do is follow the guidelines. So check those out, check these out, and mix your characters with mine.

Looking forward to seeing some cool stories!

Here's the list of titles so far:












































































17 comments:

Walter Knight said...

I love it when a plan all comes together, especially if others said it couldn't be done.

Ann Voss Peterson said...

Congratulations, Joe. I doubt most people have a clue how much work it took to make this happen. And now that the Jack Daniels and Associates world is launched, on to Codename: Chandler!

Okay, you can have a little break first.

Break over! ;)

JA Konrath said...

This took a bit more work that I expected, but I'm pleased with the end result.

What happens next is out of my hands. Either writers and fans enjoy it. Or they don't.

With great freedom comes great responsibility...

Unknown said...

Another leap forward for indie authors because you took giant steps on our behalf, Joe. Bravo!
Should be a fun ride with JD in her KW you've provided.
Thanks for your continued efforts launching these incredible opportunities for more creative stories and revenues.

BRYAN HIGBY said...

Congrats everyone on this wonderful venture. I look forward to reading everyones story.

T. M. Bilderback said...

I've just started reading Tracy's Happy Hour, and I'm really enjoying it! Next up will be Silas Payton's White Lady!

Philipp said...

that is a huge door you managed to open for authors mr konrath. i am so pleased to see it works and ppl contribute qualty stuff to your world.
an awsome project that hopefully makes amazon realize and have them rewrite their EULA for every world.

Alan Spade said...

Congrats for opening new possibilities, Joe!

Davieboy said...

This is really cool. I'd love an audiobook anthology...

Tracy Sharp - Author of the Leah Ryan Series said...

Thanks, T.M! I'm glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for reading. I'll be reading The Night Chicago Died as soon as I have two minutes together in a row ;)

William J. Thomas said...

Hey Joe, just curious how many of these new KW stories you've read. Do you plan to read them all at some point? Do you ever plan to offer your opinion on them?

JA Konrath said...

Do you ever plan to offer your opinion on them?

I read the nine I co-authored.

There's an ethical line involved with reading these. I wouldn't want to read one and have it be similar to a story I'm currently writing, or have planned, because it would seem like I stole the idea. I have enough ideas of my own to last several lifetimes, so I don't need anyone else's ideas, but still I wouldn't want an author to think I ripped them off.

So I'm maintaining a policy of not reading the KW stories, because I don't want any hard feelings/accusations of thoughtcrime.

Sally Clements said...

That's really cool, Joe! Next time you're talking to them, would you ask them to open up Kindle Worlds to other countries though? I keep asking, but its still US authors only :(

Vince Fahey said...

Good luck Joe to you and the other authors.

A question, though: For those shorter stories, do you forsee them being compiled into one volume at some point?

JA Konrath said...

For those shorter stories, do you forsee them being compiled into one volume at some point?

That wouldn't be fair to the authors.

Say ten authors put a single ebook together. They'd have to split their share ten ways.

Marcus Blakeston said...

Any news on these being available outside America, or do we need to trawl the pirate sites instead?

Anonymous said...

Wow, there were a ton of titles at launch. Do you feel that so many titles hurt sales of individual titles? Seems like a lot depends on sales rank and with so many competing titles it's difficult for the titles to sell enough to get a high ranking.