Subscribe RSSAmazon vice president Jeff Belle says the company's first venture into traditional publishing "identifies great books that we think have been overlooked and brings them to a wider audience."
It's starting small, but, Belle says, "we plant a lot of seeds."
Last August, AmazonEncore released its only other book, Legacy , a fantasy by Cayla Kluver, 16, when she and her mother self-published it in 2008.
Belle says Legacy has sold about 2,000 copies. That's not much for a big publisher, but he says, "We're not in the business of stacking huge piles of books in the front of bookstores."
Belle and Elliott won't reveal details of their contract. Belle says AmazonEncore doesn't pay advances to authors, only a "competitive royalty" based on sales.
He says Amazon editors use customer reviews and sales data to find promising books.
