Can Aspiring Novelists Succeed by Publishing Their Work As eBooks?

Can aspiring novelists self-publish their work in ebook form and still hope to be able to make any money for their efforts?

What’s more, can they self-publish and still hope to be respected as “real” novelists?

I’d say the answers are yes and yes.

Take one 26-year-old author’s experience as an example.

If you’re contemplating launching your novel as an ebook and haven’t heard of novelist Amanda Hocking’s success story, it’s about time you did. It’s nothing short of amazing.

For one, she sells 100,000+ copies of her self-published novels (in the form of ebooks) per month.

Yes, per MONTH.

In fact, her sales exceeded $450K in January 2011 alone. And she’s already sold well over a million copies, with projections of selling more than 2 million by the end of 2011.

For two, in March of this year, she landed a 4-book deal with St. Martin’s Press for what some media outlets report to be over $2 million.

With hundreds of rejection letters from mainstream publishing houses for her novels, Hocking once contemplated giving up her dream of writing professionally. Luckily for her, she didn’t.

But she’s not the only one who has had tremendous success by self-publishing her fiction.

There’s a guest post on Joe Konrath’s blog that lists December 2010 sales figures (these are only for the month of December; 31 days of sales), for several ebook authors.

For example:

Stephen Leather sold 40K+ (copies).

Selena Kitt sold 20K+.

H.P. Mallory sold 10K+.

And the list goes on…

Just a few years back, self-publishing was looked down upon–especially if you were considering self-publishing fiction.

Looking at the above figures, I think it’s safe to say that times have changed.

 

In fact, I was just told by my literary manager, Ken Atchity (AEI) that I should launch my suspense novel as an ebook. That it’s a debut novelist’s best shot these days for sales success.

I found his words shocking at first. In fact, I’m still a bit shocked. Not just by his advice, but by the phenomenal success fiction writers like Hocking are experiencing.

Much more to come on self-publishing & ebooks here at WritersBreak.com. So, stay tuned!

If you want to read more about Amanda Hocking, check out her blog.

Also, here’s a good interview where Hocking explains how much epublishing has changed her life and career plans.

Has anyone here had any experience with e-publishing? If so, we’d like to hear about it.

Happy writing!

 

 

Jennifer Minar-Jaynes is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the editor-in-chief of www.WritersBreak.com. She can be contacted at jminar@writersbreak.com.