Self-Publishing can seem like a long and lonely battle
sometimes, so take heart with the stories of these authors who made it work for them:
Karen Inglis:
Karen is a children's author who has cracked the knack of self-publoshing books and marketing them to children. She breaks down exactly how she does it in this podcast.
Barry Eisler:
Eisler
is a thriller writer with the distinction of having served time in the CIA,
which is probably what gave him the balls to walk away from a six-figure
contract for his John Rain books. He now publishes his own ebooks and has retained
the rights to his previous works.
David Hendrikson:
David managed to sell his books in bulk to schools and colleges throughout the US and has a brilliant story of how he did it. Check out the podcast here.
Amanda Hocking:
The Texan author had 17 unpublished novels sitting on her hard drive when she
decided to self-publish them through Amazon. Through self-promotion, social
media, and already having the manuscripts to satisfy the emerging demand,
Hocking managed to make $2.5million in the first two years of going it alone.
She is now signed to a traditional publisher, a move which she welcomes.
EL James:
Whatever you think of them and the ‘New Adult’
publishing craze that followed it, The Fifty Shades of Grey book have been phenomenally
successful. First published online, the books spread like wildfire, and had
soon made the former TV producer a cool $95million.
Nick Spalding:
Spalding turned his humourous prose into gold by selling
his short funny books through Amazon. Titles such as Life with No Breaks and
Life on a High, which were written in one sitting, sold well and now Spalding
has a six figure book deal.
Edgar Allen Poe:
I’m not sure if you’d call Poe successful (dying young
and penniless), but he made his mark on the literary landscape, created the
detective novel and inspired generations. He self-published Tamerlane and Other Poems in 1827.
William King:
William King was already a
successful writer, having contributed to the Games Workshop Warhammer books,
and used his small fanbase to launch his original series as ebooks. His
brilliant blog includes a breakdown of exactly
how much he made from self-publishing in a year, and lots of tips on how to get
your book out to the masses. These make for great case studies for writers
thinking of going it alone.
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Dan Metcalf is a writer of children's books from Devon. He recently self-published Paw Prints in the Somme, about a cat in the trenches of the First World War. Find it here.
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Dan Metcalf is a writer of children's books from Devon. He recently self-published Paw Prints in the Somme, about a cat in the trenches of the First World War. Find it here.
3 comments:
I would add Jodi Taylor to these - though another adult author. Her first book, Just One Damned Thing After Another was self-published, then she was picked up by Accent Press, and is now with Headline. There are now 9 or 10 in the Chronicles of St Mary's series, of which JODTAA was the first, and several other series either published or announced.
All very encouraging! Have you seen signs that kids lit is increasingly being bought in digital formats in the UK, Dan? When I was looking into self-publishing a year or two back, the mood in the US was upbeat for Sci Fi, Fantasy, Romance and Suspense, but not for other genres, with people expecting the UK to follow suit. In terms of age, adult: yes, YA: maybe, anything younger still very much physical books, which would seem to make self-publishing less economical. Good luck with Paws!
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