“Find a career that has nothing to do with the English language.”
That was the advice Christopher Cartwright was given as a child who struggled at school and found it difficult to read. Still, Christopher had discipline and motivation by the bucket-load. At just 10 years old he sat down and wrote a 250,000-word epic sci-fi novel.
“Well, I thought it was epic at the time,” he recalls, laughing.
While this first story didn’t receive the critical acclaim that the determined young writer hoped for, it did teach him that if he sat down and started writing, eventually a story would unfold.
Upon graduating high school, Christopher announced to his mother that he would be a famous author. She reminded him that, in the meantime, bills would need to be paid. Employed as an orderly in a hospital Christopher went on to become a paramedic and over the next decade met his wife and started a family.
While writing had fallen by the wayside, the desire to tell a story never left Christopher. It was in the wee hours of the morning, when dream-feeding his newborn daughter, that the bored and exhausted young father picked up a pen again and started writing.
He tried the traditional publishing route but nothing took off. It wasn’t until 2015 when he was off work with a back injury, that Christopher turned to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). KDP is Amazon’s self-publishing service which enables authors to self-publish in both print and digital formats. Authors that publish through KDP retain their copyright and can get to market fast, distribute globally and earn royalties of up to 70%. Within 18 months, Christopher was making more money self-publishing than he was working his ‘day job’.
With the encouragement of his family, Christopher turned to writing full-time and within a few years was not only making a respectable living, but also making his 10-year-old self’s dreams come true; publishing action, adventure, and historical fiction stories
“KDP has shown the world that the traditional method of getting published and breaking out into the mainstream book market is not the only predictor of whether or not you can write”, he says.
By publishing on KDP, Sydney-based Christopher gains access to readers worldwide, receiving fan letters from across the globe.
“Because KDP is so straightforward, you don’t need to be computer literate to self-publish,” he enthuses. “Every step is easy”.
“I’ve won the lotto. I work hard but I am also so lucky. I love telling stories. Any story. I like to see where it goes. When you read books, you live more than one life.”
Christopher is one of thousands of Australian writers who are self-publishing via Kindle Direct Publishing. To find a new book to dive into or explore other Australian Kindle Direct Publishing authors, please visit Amazon.com.au. If you are interested in self-publishing please visit https://kdp.amazon.com
