Self Publishing Success Stories

[Lily]

"The past winners list for the Stephen Leacock Award for humour is home to such Canadian literary giants as Mordecai Richler, W. O. Mitchell, W. P. Kinsella, Farley Mowat and Robertson Davies. To that exclusive list you can now add local resident and businessman Terry Fallis. He won the $10,000 prize for his debut novel The Best Laid Plans, a satirical look at Canadian politics, which he had to self-publish".


www.insidetoronto.com/news/local/article/57744--author-s-self-published-debut-wins-prestigious-leacock-humour-award

[Lily]

"Twenty-six-year-old self-publishing sensation Amanda Hocking made headlines earlier this year when it was revealed that the then-unsigned author (she now has a contract with St. Martin's Press) had managed to sell more than a million copies of her paranormal novels -- once rejected by publishers -- as e-books.

Now another self-published author reached a significant milestone: John Locke -- not the 17th-century philosopher, but the thoroughly 21st-century thriller-writer -- sold his millionth e-book on Amazon.

Locke sells most of his works for 99 cents each (although his "How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months!" costs $4.99), and he can now boast membership in the same (very small) authors' circle as Stieg Larsson and James Patterson -- two more of the nine individuals who have sold more than a million Kindle volumes."


www.salon.com/books/feature/2011/06/21/ebooks_john_locke

[Lily]

"Mary-Ann Kirkby has sold 75,000 copies of her self-published book I Am Hutterite, and last year she signed a world-wide publishing deal for the book. This weekend Mary-Ann Kirkby is the keynote speaker at the Elementary, My Dear Writers: Demystifying the Publishing Process workshop."

www.cbc.ca/manitoba/scene/books/2011/05/11/successful-self-published-author-shares-some-secrets/

[Lily]

Hmmm...kind of knocks the old advice from traditional writer's sites that the only way to "success" is through an agent. ;D Agents, incidentally, only insinuated themselves into the process in fairly recent times.

[jacklawson]

Yeah but they're the exceptions that beat the odds. Most self pubbed authors make peanuts.

[Richard]

One thing I am finding to be promising, is to contact local and independent book stores. If they do not want to carry your particular genre, they can point you to places that will.

I have had nothing but positive responses and am branching out to surrounding areas.

One owner told me she didn't think a particular local authors book would sell, but she was so nice she decided to carry it on her shelves. She has sold 3000 copies in the last 3 years. If you multiply that by a number of stores, it can certainly be worth your while.

Indie book stores are a great source for promoting. Their regular clients often ask for new recommendations. If the owner likes the book, you can bet they will be a great source for selling.