The £20,000 Kindle Storyteller Award 2019 has been won by Ian W Sainsbury’s psychological thriller The Picture on the Fridge.
The author has only been writing and self-publishing for a few years and this is his first book in the thriller genre but he’s been very successful in the science fiction/fantasy field with two series of books — Halfhero and The World Walker.
Before becoming an author, he had a colourful career as a musician with a band which played music for an act of monkeys riding pigs before moving on to become a piano player on cruise ships and then working as a stand-up comedian.
Sainsbury says, ‘It’s an amazing feeling. I love and appreciate all the feedback I get from my readers, but this recognition from my peers is an entirely different level.
‘To know I was chosen out of thousands is incredible and I was in such great company in the shortlist.‘
As well as the £20,000, Sainsbury will get a marketing campaign to support the book on Amazon.co.uk, and the opportunity to have his book translated.
The finalists and winning titles from all six Kindle literary awards around the world will also be evaluated by a panel of experts from Amazon International Originals, and one will be selected to work with Amazon Studios to have their entry developed for potential adaptation into a Prime Video production.
The Storyteller judging panel this year included TV presenter and host of podcast Books to Live By Mariella Frostrup, last year’s Storyteller Award winner Hannah Lynn, self-publishing best-selling authors L J Ross and Mark Dawson, and Orna Ross, founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors. Mariella Frostrup says The Picture on the Fridge was ‘immediately gripping with great tension and believable characters’.
The shortlist for the Kindle UK Storyteller Award 2019 was:
- The Army of Wolves by Claire Moore (YA Fantasy)
- The Bookshop of Hopes and Dreams by Hannah Ellis (Contemporary romcom)
- I Have Sinned by Caimh McDonnell (Crime thriller/satire)
- The Picture on the Fridge by Ian W Sainsbury (Psychological thriller)
- Tragedy at Piddleton Hotel by Emily Organ (Cozy mystery)
Series authors dominate shortlist for Kindle Storyteller 2019 Award
Hannah’s Lynn’s The Afterlife of Walter Augustus wins £20,000 Kindle Storyteller award