Self-Published Authors Riding Wave of Success
So far, her astounding success story has been picked up by Huffington Post, USA Today and is soon to grace the pages of Elle Magazine. Twenty-six-year-old millionaire and self-published writer Amanda Hocking is taking the e-book world by storm with her mega-popular urban fantasy and paranormal romance novels that sell exclusively in e-book formats.
Just this past weekend, New York Times best-selling spy thriller novelist Barry Eisler announced that he recently turned down a $500,000 book deal with an unnamed legacy publisher in order to self-publish his own popular books. “Based on what’s happening in the industry, and based on the kind of experience writers…are having in self-publishing, I think I can do better in the long term on my own,” Eisler told J.A. Konrath in a lengthy interview posted on his blog as well as Konrath’s.
Konrath, who sells an average of 1,846 e-books daily on Kindle, Nook and other online stores, is a successful thriller e-book novelist who pens a helpful blog for aspiring self-published authors, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.
As the long-standing relationship between traditional publishers and new authors continues to evolve, Hocking and Eisler are certainly not along in their lucrative forays into self-publishing. A first novel by Irish teen author Leigh Fallon, Carrier of the Mark, was discovered as an e-book on HarperCollins’ teen social network Inkpop and will be published in print by HarperTeen this fall.
After years of rejections from traditional publishing houses, Wisconsin-based novelist Karen McQuestion self-published several novels as e-books on Amazon’s Kindle in 2009. Since then, one of her novels, A Scattered Life, has been optioned for film and printed as a paperback through AmazonEncore, Amazon’s new publishing division, with more on the way.
The same USA Today article that profiles Hocking also mentions rising self-published author H.P. Mallory, who recently signed a three-book contract with traditional publisher Random House, and the success of German novel The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch, a top-selling (100,000+) Kindle book.
We’ve previously sung the praises of best-selling author Seth Godin in the BookRix blog after he chose to ditch his publisher, Portfolio (Penguin) and sell his books directly to fans via print-on-demand. Another non-fiction author, John L. Locke has gone the same route, selling his books through Amazon with excellent results.
We hope to report about future best-selling BookRix authors someday soon, so keep writing and posting on our site…and share it with your friends!
BookRix Pray for Japan Charity Campaign
For every book uploaded or SocialBook© created on BookRix between March 15th and March 27th, 2011, BookRix will donate $1 to the American Red Cross to help those affected by the terrible recent earthquakes and tsunami in Japan.
* Upload as many books and create as many new SocialBooks© as you like – we’ll donate $1 for each new title on BookRix, no matter how many you choose to upload or create!
* If you do not know how to upload a book, check out this tutorial for help: http://www.bookrix.com/_title-en-bookrix-how-to-upload-books
*If you do not know how to create a SocialBook©, visit the info page with embedded video tutorial and link to FAQ for help: http://www.bookrix.com/socialbookinfo.html
* There are no page limits to books or SocialBooks© uploaded or created for this charity campaign, but the book or SocialBook© must be a new book title to count.
* Also, to get started, add your thoughts and prayers to our open SocialBook© “Pray for Japan” and BookRix will add an additional 25¢ on to what we will donate for each entry*!
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About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation’s blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit http://www.redcross.org.
Thanks,
The BookRix Team
*For donation details about the “Pray for Japan” SocialBook© entries, visit the Charity Campaign BookRix Forum Post.
E-Book Sales More Than Double in 2010
According to the Association of American Publishers, domestic sales of e-books jumped from $166.9 million (3.2% of combined trade sales) in 2009 to $441 million (8.3% of combined trade sales) in 2010. That’s an increase of 164.4% in just one year, and 623% since 2008, when sales were $61.3 million (only 1% of trade sales).
Meanwhile, printed book sales have been steadily decreasing. Kindle content revenues on Amazon.com have overtaken hardcover sales (since July 2010) and paperback sales (as of January 2011). Amazon reports selling 115 Kindle e-books for every 100 paperback books sold since the beginning of the year and up to 180 e-books for every 100 hardcover books.
We believe the e-book market stands to grow dramatically as more and more consumers acquire e-reader devices. A new report from the Pew Internet and American Life project claims that 5% of American adults currently own e-reader devices such as the Kindle, Nook or Sony Reader. These devices appear to be most popular among baby boomers, with 7% between the ages of 47 and 56 and 6% aged 66 to 74 owning them. However, since many people read e-books on their smartphones, tablets and computers, these figures vastly underestimate the total number of people who read e-books.
Speaking of which, here’s a quick tip: Did you know that much of the downloadable free e-book content available here at BookRix in the ePub format can be uploaded to and read on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch using the Stanza e-reading app?
With nearly 15,000 book and short story titles available for free on BookRix, you’re sure to find something you enjoy reading on your smart phone, e-reader or personal computer! And don’t forget to check out the new SocialBook© by BookRix writing feature authors are using to create collaborative digital e-books, with most available for download and written together online by multiple authors!
BookRix Get Published Contest Winners
Last week BookRix formally announced who the Get Published writing contest winners were! Congratulations to BookRix community members Michaelmpacheco, Felixthecat and Gooduklady! Their entries into the Get Published BookRix free writing contest were the winning works that the judges chose out of the final 11 entries for first, second and third places.
The grand prize “Get Published” package, generously provided by CreateSpace, was awarded to SUMMER TERROR IN TEXAS, written by Michael M. Pacheco, who has won a Total Design Freedom Publishing Solution, which includes all of the following services valued at $2,567:
Total Design Freedom Custom Book Interior
Unique Book Cover
One Round of Comprehensive Copyediting
Promotional Text Creation
Press Release Creation with Distribution
Plus a Complimentary Upgrade to Pro Plan
CreateSpace will also provide a free CreateSpace ISBN if needed, as well as the choice between the following sales channels through which he would like to enable the his book for sale: the Amazon.com website, a CreateSpace eStore, and the CreateSpace expanded distribution channel. Wow, what a great prize!
The second place winning book was The Redemption of Marvin Fuster, written by Patrick Sean Lee, aka Felixthecat, who will receive his prize of $500 in cash! Congratulations Patrick!
The third place winning entry, You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby!, was written by Valerie Byron, aka Gooduklady, winning a cash prize of $300. Congratulations Valerie!
And don’t forget, participants who read and voted for their favorites in the contest also had a chance at prizes as well, with 10 BookRix members each winning a $20 Amazon gift card!
Thanks again to all those who entered a book into the Get Published Contest on BookRix – we were excited to see so many qualifiying entries! To stay current with upcoming free writing contests offered by BookRix, visit the main Contest page on the BookRix website, www.BookRix.com.
Dear Diary BookRix Writing Challenge
The BookRix Dear Diary free writing challenge begins today! The challenge? Write 30 entries in 30 days!
This March diary journalers will get 30 days to create 30 diary entries, with a chance to win an iPad with a cool hardback leather case!
Write your 30 diary entries either in a BookRix online e-book or via the SocialBook© social media application feature, new from BookRix! Journal keeping and daily microblogging has never been this easy – collect posts from your Facebook status updates or your Twitter tweets with a SocialBook© easily and effortlessly with this automatic software! The idea for Dear Diary contest participants is to create a story via real or fictional diary entries spanning across 30 entries within 30 days.
Writing starts March 1 and ends March 30. At that point, your 30 entries should be complete in an online book on BookRix and submitted. Voting begins on March 31 and is open to voting by the BookRix community until April 14. The top ten contestants as chosen by the BookRix community will advance on to the independent jury, where final selections are made.
The prize for the top diary book of entries is an iPad with a cool bookbook case from TwelveSouth! That’s nearly a $600 value!!!
Readers can also win great prizes for reading, commenting and voting on Dear Diary contest books! Plus, if you participate in the Dear Diary contest by voting for your favorite, you will be automatically entered into a raffle for a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card! We’re giving away 10 Amazon gift cards so there’s a high likelihood you could win. Good luck!
Guidelines for Contest:*
- Contestants will have 30 days to write, create their books and post them on the site. Books should be uploaded by March 30. Voting starts March 31st and goes until April 14, 2011, 11 pm GMT.
- The book must contain 30 diary entries, which tell a story. Entries do not have to be created on 30 different days, but there must be 30 diary entries. You can begin writing as soon as you like.
- The entries can be fictional or true.
- The diary entries can be posted in a SocialBook© or in a BookRix book. The 30 entries can be posted in one day or over the 30 day writing period.
- There will be no wildcard nomination for this contest. If you like a contest book, feel free to pass the word along to your friends and ask them to read and vote for it if they think it deserves their vote. You could help them get into the top ten!
- Please do not spam your BookRix friends with voting requests – no one likes spam.
*For complete rules, please visit the Dear Diary contest’s Conditions of Entry page.
Ready to get started in the Dear Diary Contest using SocialBook©? Watch this tutorial to learn more:
SocialBook© Tutorial Part 7: How to Use a SocialBook© As a Journaling Tool Without a Hashtag
