Everyone buzzing about self-publishing points to people like Richard Phillips who has a sci-fi series of two books, so far, that have been parked on Amazon.com’s top ten list as if they’ve made a permanent home there. Or to John Locke’s (not to be confused with the John Locke of the Lost Series) Donovan Creed mysteries which have dominated the genre ebook listings even though the reviews aren’t always stellar.
And now there’s Amanda Hocking. She claims to have already made two million dollars with her multiple self-published paranormal romance series. Her recent announcement to go traditional has the publishing market buzzing. She is giving up her independence to let a publisher do the hard work from now on. But why? A built-in marketing system, better editors, the ability to see her books in places like Barnes and Noble, Target and airport books stores, these and the millions she hopes to make, are the reasons Amanda sites for deciding to go with the ‘legacy publishers’ as some are calling them.
She has worked hard to get into that best seller slot. You can find video promotions for most of her books. Her blog is full of long ramblings with hits that run in the hundreds of thousands. No wonder the girl wants someone else to do the heavy lifting!
According to the New York Times, a big fat advance was finally negotiated at the end of the bidding war between seven mega publishers, all clamoring for her four book Watersong series. St. Martin’s Press won the war bidding battle. Amanda seems to have won the war.
She is young. She is prolific and now, she is going to be even richer than she already is. Now, she can relax and do what she does best. Write!
M. L. Doyle has served in the U.S. Army at home and abroad for more than two decades as both a soldier and civilian. Mary is the author of The Desert Goddess series, an urban fantasy romp consisting of The Bonding Spell and The Bonding Blade. She has also penned The Master Sergeant Harper mystery series which has earned numerous awards including an IPPY, a Lyra Award and the Carrie McCray Literary Award. Mary is the co-author of two memoirs; A Promise Fulfilled; the story of a Wife and Mother, Soldier and General Officer (Jan. 201) and the memoir, I’m Still Standing: From Captive U.S. Soldier to Free Citizen—My Journey Home (Touchstone, 2010), which was nominated for an NAACP Image award. Mary's work has been published by The Goodman Project, The War Horse, The WWrite Blog and The Wrath-Bearing Tree, an online magazine for which she serves as a fiction editor. A Minneapolis, Minnesota native, Mary current lives in Baltimore. You can reach her at her website at mldoyleauthor.com.
2 comments on “Self-publishing success stories”
That's amazing. She is so young too!
She is so young and she is CRANKING out the books. The more she writes the more she sells. To be frank, I'm not crazy about her books, but hundreds of thousands of people are.