Why I Chose to Self-Publish, Part Three

So, who has done it? Who has self-published and found success in this modern day world? The real question is who to start with!  1. J.A. Konrath. He says it best in his blog. (Note: I have cut it down a bit. I hope he doesn’t mind.)

 “One hundred grand. That's how much I've made on Amazon in the last three weeks. This is just for my self-pubbed Kindle titles. It doesn't include any of my legacy sales, print or ebook. It doesn't include audiobook sales. It doesn't include sales from other platforms. This is from my self-pubbed books.  So far in January I'm averaging well over $3500 a day. In January of 2010, I made $2300 for the month on Kindle. In January of 2011, I made $34,000. That means I'd make about $50,000 in January, just in US sales. I can't see a limit. I can't see a ceiling.

This is no longer a question of choosing between accepting 17.5% royalties from a legacy publisher or doing it yourself. This has now become the best way in the history of mankind for a writer to earn money. It may be one of the greatest ways to ever make money, period.

...I've been following the ebook revolution for three years, and I never could have predicted this would get so big so fast. I've consistently been surprised by numbers and sales, and have lost count of the times I've said, "This is unreal." But it isn't unreal. It's very real. I know, because I just pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. For the fifth time today.”

2. Christopher Paolini

At fifteen, he began working on his first book Eragon. zpon completion, he toured over 135 schools and libraries. By nineteen, he was a New York Times bestselling author. Eragon was picked up by 20th Century Fox and made into a movie – making $249 million. It’s the highest grossing film with a dragon as its focal point and the second highest grossing film in the sword and sorcery subgenre. The last number I could find was that the Inheritance Cycle (a total of four books) has sold more than 25 million copies.

3. Graham P. Taylor
In 2002, British Vicar Graham P. Taylor self-published his young adult novel, Shadowmancer. Knowing that traditional publishers would probably not be interested in a novel about Christianity and black magic set in the 18th century, he self-published for approximately $6,700. This book sold thousands by word of mouth. Eventually Penguin Putnam bought the US rights for $500,000 and Graham Taylor sold the film rights for $4.5 million to Universal.
4. Darcie Chan

Her first novel was self-published early 2010. It has sold more than 413,000 copies. She bought some ads on Web sites targeting e-book readers, paid for a review from Kirkus Reviews, and priced her book at 99 cents to encourage readers to try it. After 600 copies sold, she spent about $1,000 on marketing, buying banner ads on websites and blogs devoted to Kindle readers and a promotional spot on goodreads.com. She's now attracting bids from foreign imprints, movie studios and audio-book publishers.

5. Amanda Hocking
6. William P. Young

Originally written for just his six children, but he ended up printing 15 copies of The Shack. Two of his friends encouraged him to have it published. Rejected by 26 publishers, he and his friends started a publishing house and spent $200 in advertising. A year later, it was number one on the New York Times best-seller list. Now, with 10 million copies in print, it continues on the NY Times Best Seller List. It’s been translated into 34 languages. It is also a bestseller in Canada, the U.K., South Africa, and South Korea.      

Six examples. I know there are a thousand examples out there of people who self-published and have sold under a hundred. But it can be done. Write a great book, get it on as an e-book, and work your butt off at marketing while writing more books. It’s a lot to do at once, but look at what you can achieve.