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Amazon’s Kindle Worlds preparing to tell their last stories…

by | May 16, 2018 | G.I. Joe, Kindle Worlds

Unfortunate news circulating in some of the author communities today as Amazon is expected to announce today that they are sunsetting the Kindle Worlds platform.

Originally launched in 2013, Amazon’s Kindle Worlds was a unique collaboration between the online retail giant and several IP holders which allowed authors to write in different universes belonging to licensed properties.  As most of you know, one of those properties was G.I. Joe.

This hits me especially hard.  As many of you know, I am currently an independent author who has written and published several novels and novellas.  The first thing I ever published as a G.I. Joe trilogy for Kindle Worlds, and if not for that opportunity, I might never have become an author at all. 

Kindle Worlds, quite simply, changed my life.

I won’t tell you that I still make a lot of money off Kindle Worlds, I don’t, and honestly it’s never been that lucrative at all, it was one of those things I did because I loved it, and while I haven’t had much time lately to write more G.I. Joe content, I had a pretty cool twelve episode series in the works that I really thought was going to be neat.  Now, it may never see the light of day.

According to reports, the rights for the published work will be returned to the authors, however that’s more or less meaningless without the conduit to the IP holder allowing us to use their characters and their universes.  From what I’m hearing, some folks who own these Kindle Worlds properties are considering their own solutions that might allow authors to continue writing this work, but at this point, Hasbro has not made any official comment or determination.

So I guess, if you love G.I. Joe fiction and you’ve wanted to check out Kindle Worlds, you’d best do it now because you won’t have much longer.  Reports are saying that submitting new content will be denied after tomorrow (May 17th) and all published works will be taken down by July 16th.

I’m disappointed, of course, but also extremely thankful that the opportunity was  there to begin with.  Huge thanks to Hasbro, Derryl DePriest and others behind the G.I. Joe curtain, and to Amazon themselves for making this available and allowing some of us creatives a unique opportunity to play in their sandbox.

If you want to check out G.I. Joe at Kindle Worlds, do it soon.

Kindle-Worlds-GIJoe

 

The rumored letter going out to Kindle Worlds owners can be seen below:

As a valued member of the Kindle Worlds licensor community, we wanted to let you know that the Kindle Worlds program is closing. We will be notifying fan authors tomorrow, May 16th.
 
As of May 17th, Kindle Worlds will no longer be accepting new submissions. Previously published Kindle Worlds stories will no longer be available for sale on Amazon.com on or around July 16th. The Kindle Worlds website will be closed on August 29th; we ask that all Kindle Worlds participants update and validate their banking information, mailing address, and contact information by July 31, 2018 in order to facilitate a timely final royalty payment.
 
Your final royalty statement will include a proactive final payment for all remaining Kindle Unlimited borrows, including borrows that have not yet met the qualified borrow threshold. We plan to remove Kindle Worlds stories from Kindle Unlimited on May 16th.
 
Effective as of the date we remove each fan author’s work, we will revert the rights granted to us by that fan author. Our reversion letter to each applicable fan author will provide that such reversion is subject to the rights we granted to you in the Kindle Worlds License Agreement between you and us.
 
For five years, Kindle Worlds has been thriving, engaging writers and readers who enjoy writing in one another’s worlds, and we’re proud of the work we’ve done together. While we are closing Kindle Worlds, Amazon is constantly innovating on behalf of our authors and readers, and we look forward to continuing to do so.
 
We hope that 2018 and beyond bring wonderful things for you and your stories, and we appreciate your support over the years.
 
Warm wishes,
The Kindle Worlds team

 

 

New Kindle Worlds Novella – G.I. Joe: Nerves of Stone Coming Soon!

by | Dec 30, 2016 | G.I. Joe, Kindle Worlds

nerves-of-stone-cover-templThe time has come! Last year we brought you Welcome to Wolf Squad, a novella based on the 2015 series of G.I. Joe and COBRA action figures… now we bring you Nerves of Stone, the follow-up Novella to our Wolf Squad adventure from last year.

Familiar characters make their returns and some new characters get introduced…each and every member of the 2016 G.I. Joe and COBRA roster appears!

When a new G.I. Joe recruit goes missing while investing a top secret COBRA research lab in Alaska, G.I. Joe’s special operations Wolf Squad team gets deployed to see what’s up. They get far more than they bargained for and when G.I. Joe reinforcements arrive, a long kept secret gets revealed…

Now, for a limited time, get an exclusive sneak preview of this upcoming novella! Sign up for the World of Wolf’s Head Publishing and you’ll get immediate access to the Prologue and first chapter of this novella, due for release in early 2017. This will be available NOWHERE else.

As an added bonus you can check out the first three chapters of my original novel The Fog of Dreams and get access to a Top Secret Research Paper outlining the Operation: Harvest story. If you’re a fan of G.I. Joe, I really think you’ll enjoy this story as well. Lots of similarities as one might expect.

Just sign up for the World of Wolf’s Head Publishing, I promise we won’t spam you or throttle your mailbox, but we will have plenty of exclusive offers and fun stuff coming down the pipe. Check it out!



Hasbro Pulse posts Stiletto update and hints at more to come at retail

by | May 25, 2016 | 50th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, Kindle Worlds

As we move within a month of the 2016 G.I. Joe Convention, Hasbro has posted an exciting update over on their Hasbro Pulse regarding the upcoming development of Fan Vote winner Stiletto!

Along with the update, we see a first look at Stiletto’s head sculpt and what looks to be an early concept for the figure build using parts from the Rise of Cobra Agent Helix.  As a huge fan of the Helix action figure, I approve of this build big time.

Mark Weber mentions that Stiletto will appear at Toys “R” Us and Entertainment Earth in November, which surely seems to follow the familiar formula from the past couple of years, indicating that we will see some G.I. Joe product later this year.  Let’s all look forward to JoeCon to see what’s up Hasbro’s sleeves.

Check out the full article over on Hasbro Pulse, and I’ve mirrored a couple of images below.

G.I. Joe: Legacy Book 3 – Whisper is now available at Kindle Worlds!

by | Mar 1, 2016 | G.I. Joe, Kindle Worlds

To be brutally honest, this G.I. Joe: Kindle Worlds project has been an absolute blast.  Starting with Jim Beard’s brainchild and spiraling out of his Adventure Team universe, so far the story has traversed 20 years and writing Book 3 was a fantastic experience.

It has been officially released through Kindle Worlds, and takes place in the 1990s, so be prepared for some obscure 90s characters to be showing up in spades!

Check it out at Amazon.com or click the banner below, and I hope you enjoy it!

Don’t forget, you can pick up Books 1 and 2 now as well, to get all caught up with the story, only .99 apiece! You can’t beat it!

01-Whisper