“Of the 300 or so six figure deals that were reported to them in 2012, 45 were from books that started off self-published.” -- Author Dean Wesley Smith, in a blog post on how authors cross over from self-published to traditional books. (Hat tip, Instapundit.) "I see no reason now why every book shouldn’t start indie published first, even if the ultimate goal for the book is traditional," he writes.
Extremely successful e-publishers:
- Amanda Hocking, author of paranormal romance, has made millions by self-publishing.
- E.L. James "Fifty Shades of Gray" trilogy. (Great analysis by Steven Pressfield, founder of BlackIrishbooks.com.)
- Hugh Howey's book, Wool, about life after the apocalypse, sold more than 300,000 downloads before inking a lucrative book deal.
- TV critic Alan Sepinwall's "The Revolution Was Televised," initially self-published, broke the high-level newspaper and magazine embargo on reviews of self-published books and got raves from The New York Times and The New Yorker. 2012 was "a stellar year for self-publishing," The Guardian writes.
