Amazon reveals Milton Keynes has one of the highest number of Indie Authors per Capita in the UK

The city features in the top ten places with the most independently published authors per capita in the UK.

The data, released during the Amazon Academy event in Manchester, is based on the number of authors across the country using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) programme. Two top independently-published authors - Keith Houghton and Joseph Alexander - were speaking at the Amazon Academy, sharing tips and guidance with aspiring authors who are looking to follow in their footsteps.

Milton Keynes is home to one the UK’s bestselling independently-published authors, Tim O’Rourke: “Publishing with Amazon KDP has enabled me to achieve my lifelong ambition of becoming a full time writer,” he said.

“I was able to walk away from my 15-year career in the police force and share my books with readers from all over the world thanks to Amazon KDP. Publishing my paranormal fantasy books via Amazon KDP has changed my life.”

Amazon is encouraging authors in Milton Keynes to publish their work in time for The Kindle Storyteller Award - a new literary prize recognising newly published work in the English language across any genre – which is open to all authors who publish their book through Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon.co.uk until 19th May 2017.

The winning author will be rewarded with a cash prize of £20,000 and a marketing campaign to support the book on Amazon.co.uk, as well as the opportunity to have their book translated for international sales.

Alessio Santarelli, director of Kindle Content Europe added: “KDP allows anyone with the desire to write a book to get their story read locally and around the world. By giving authors the flexibility to publish both digitally and in print, they in turn can give their readers more options. There is no better time for authors to publish as the Kindle Storyteller Award is now open with a £20,000 cash prize to recognise the winning author.”

KDP is a programme that allows authors to get their work to a potential audience of millions of readers both digitally and in print. KDP enables authors to retain their copyrights, keep control, distribute globally, get to market fast and do it for free. With royalties of up to 70% many thousands of authors now earn a living through KDP. All books published through KDP are available on Kindle and Fire devices as well as the Kindle reading app for iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets.

The data is based on the number of KDP authors in top 50 towns in terms of population, divided by population.