What fraction of the successful authors is Amazon Signing?

Huffington post notes how indie authors are using their success to go to publishing.

"It is for this group especially that e-books are so important, as they have essentially become a "gateway drug," enabling successful indie authors to stroll down the path into the welcoming arms of traditional publishers."

But thankfully I had just read David Gaughran's latest post. So I was thinking Amazon's latest imprint. When I recognize the cover it struck me to look who the listed authors had signed with:

Of the five examples, #1, #3, and #5 were 'was sold to Amazon's Thomas & Mercer'

Read the article on David's blog. Here is what struck me. Indie authors seem to respect "Joe Konrath has explained the power of an Amazon marketing push, something they don’t restrict to new titles, unlike most publishers." Yes, pbooks are marketing. Authors want simple contracts without 'non-compete clauses.' If they're going to risk pbooks, they want marketing.

My concern with Thomas & Mercer was their ability to put books into stores. With the quantity of best selling authors signed, the concern is 'can bookstores afford to not stock their titles?'

Got Popcorn?
Neil