It's an amazing success story! An unheard of twenty-six-year-old woman sold 900,000 copies of nine different books since she first put her work for sale on April 15, 2010. There are paperback copies that sell for $8.99 and $9.99, but the ebook editions are the ones selling like wildfire at $2.99 and .99. Just check out the local news story in the video below:
Amanda Hocking tried to go the traditional publishing route for eight years but received countless rejections. She never thought of self-publishing as a viable option.
"Everything I'd heard about self-publishing is that is was impossible to make a living, reach readers, or produce a quality product. But last year, I heard about how some others like Joe Konrath and Karen McQuestion are doing well with ebooks. So I thought I had nothing to lose."
So how did she sell so many books? She worked it via social networking, of course!
"I didn't really have a strategy. I think one of the advantages I have is that stuff considered marketing is stuff that I do a lot anyway. I've been active on social networks and blogs for years.
"I also send ARCs out to book bloggers. Book bloggers are a really amazing community, and they've been tremendously supportive. They've definitely been a major force that got my books on the map.
"When I first published, I did do a bit of promoting on the Amazon forums, but they're not really open to that, so I haven't really interacted there much at all in months. I hang out at Goodreads, Kindleboards, Facebook, Twitter, and I blog. And that's about it."
She now has an agent who is working on selling the foreign rights to her books. She plans to continue self-publishing, but isn't turning her back on traditional publishing.
"As amazing as this ebook revolution has been, it's only 20-30% of the market, and I'm not going to ignore the possibilities to reach the other 70-80% of readers. However, it is hard to compete with what my books are already able to do with Kindle and PubIt."
While that may be true, rumor has it that she's been shopping a four-book series to major publishers and attracting bids well over a million.
It seems we are entering a new and inspiring age, where traditional publishing certainly isn't the last word. Being rejected by a publisher isn't the end of the line. If you have the drive to do it yourself, why not? Publishing, marketing, and creating websites is the cheapest and easiest it's ever been. And in most cases it's free. If you have any thoughts on this topic, we'd love to hear them!
To find out more about Ms. Hocking's books, visit her Amazon Author's Page.
Quotes from The Huffington Post interview, Meet Mega Bestselling Indie Heroine Amanda Hocking.
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Wow. Congrats to Amanda! I hope she does get her book deal through traditional methods, too--proving that the electronic world and the paper world not only can co-exist but can actually help each other.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, Amanda! After reading about your success, I am seriously thinking of looking into ebooks for my next venture.
ReplyDeleteYou are an inspiration!