3 Self-Published Authors Who Went On To Have Mainstream Success — And How They Did It
Although it seems but a pipe dream to many, over the last few decades, a variety of self-published authors have gone on to experience mainstream success.
In fact, a number of self-published authors have topped national bestseller lists this summer alone.
One example is Mike Omer, a relatively unknown author who, over the course of Amazon’s “Prime Day” back in July, sold more books than current literary heavyweights like J.K. Rowling, James Patterson, and Stephen King. He did this with his most recent title, a mystery called A Killer’s Mind.
Omer, a 39-year-old Israeli computer engineer and self-published author, found initial success with his first eBook, Spider’s Web, along with its sequels — so much success that Thomas & Mercer, an Amazon imprint, signed him to a distribution deal. In fact, it was Thomas & Mercer who published A Killer’s Mind.
As he told The Atlantic last month, Omer now makes more money from his books than he ever did as a computer engineer.
Another example is Andy Weir. Weir initially failed to sell his first book, The Martian, so he began posting free chapters of it on his personal website. Later, he put a 99-cent version on Kindle. By 2013, the book had become so popular that Weir received an offer from Crown Publishing to buy the book for $100,000.
Meredith Wild, meanwhile, wrote the erotic Hacker novels, a series that follows young businesswoman Erica Hathaway and her relationship with billionaire and rumored hacker, Blake Landon.
Wild self-published the series’ first four books before scoring a $7 million publishing deal with Grand Central Publishing’s “Forever” imprint. The series has gone on to sell 1.2 million eBooks and approximately 200,000 print-on-demand trade paperbacks.
Examples of this sort of self-publishing success are countless. But the question for those seeking the same thing now is, how did these authors do it?
It’s all about the three P’s.
There are, ultimately, three components every successful independent author possesses. At BookBaby, we call them the three P’s.
- Professionalism. It’s incumbent that self-published authors invest in the content and packaging of their books. That means using a professional editor to thoroughly vet the words. Next comes a book formatting expert to enhance the reading experience with an attractive book layout, be it a printed book or an eBook. And finally, your book deserves the services of a real book cover designed professionally. A self-published book must look and read every bit as professional as the best sellers.
- Platform. All authors need to have some kind of marketing platform from which to launch their online literary career. That platform should exist primarily online: almost 80 percent of all books are now purchased through online retail sites or direct-to-fan pages. From Twitter and Facebook, to blogs and sales pages, authors have to devote resources to cultivating an excellent online presence.
- Perspiration. Finally, good old-fashioned sweat goes a long way in successfully promoting a book. Very few books ever get picked up in a viral storm of sales. Successful self-published authors understand how much energy is needed to adequately promote their work.
This might seem like a lot, but the authors who follow this formula garner more widespread success.
The success of Weir, Omer, and Wild might not have been possible via traditional publishing.
This is evidenced by the data. According to AuthorEarnings.com, independent publishers are gaining readers as quickly as traditional publishers are losing them. The self-published share of paid US eBook units increased from 44.7 percent to 46.4 percent between the second quarters of 2017 and 2018. Meanwhile, the traditionally published share of paid eBook units decreased from 45.5 percent to 43.2 percent.
It used to be quite rare for a self-published author to experience breakout sales. Every few years, the public might hear about some unknown author zooming up the bestseller lists like the occasional comet in the sky. But it was far from common.
Now, that’s all changed. Last year, 284 of the top 1,000 best-selling eBooks in the US were written by independent authors. Not all are as famous now as Weir, Wild, or Omer, true — but that’s likely because they’re busy writing and selling books.
At the end of the day, not every independent author is going to hit the bestseller list. But you have a better chance of doing so if you study the hard work of those who have.
The success you seek is attainable — you just need to work for it.