Most authors-whether their books are independently published or traditionally published-want to be made rich and famous by their thousands of adoring fans, who will buy their books and read them to shreds. I applaud those that write and publish books simply for the joy of seeing their work in print, without feeling any pressure to try to get their books in the Top 10 list of Amazon or Barnes and Noble (or anywhere, really), but the reality is, the majority of authors see people who are wildly successful and decide that they want to be just as successful-no, even more successful than those people, and will do anything to obtain that kind of success.
One of the success stories I've discovered since I began researching was that of Amanda Hocking. Amanda Hocking, after being rejected by several traditional publishers, self published her works, which she had written during her free time. She was hoping to raise $300 to make enough money to make it to a Muppets exhibition in Chicago, but didn't have many expectations other than that. But her sales took off-and she was selling thousands of books every month. Before she knew it, she had gone from living paycheck to paycheck to being able to afford the convention to becoming a millionaire. She even signed a contract with a traditional publishing house, and is now publishing a series of books through them.
Unsurprisingly, many people are inspired by her story and try to do all that they can to reach the same astronomical sales, using hundreds of unique methods to share their work with hundreds of thousands. But while some are having more modest success, others are having a hard time selling their works, and I'm sure there are hundreds more that have only sold a handful. But why?
As we've read in Hamlet, nothing in life is certain. Hamlet learns that he can't be sure of who to trust and who's working against him. While self-publishing isn't nearly as life-threatening as Hamlet's situations, indie authors can identify with Hamlet in that . (Plus, sometimes authors can get pretty cutthroat. Haha.)
One of the success stories I've discovered since I began researching was that of Amanda Hocking. Amanda Hocking, after being rejected by several traditional publishers, self published her works, which she had written during her free time. She was hoping to raise $300 to make enough money to make it to a Muppets exhibition in Chicago, but didn't have many expectations other than that. But her sales took off-and she was selling thousands of books every month. Before she knew it, she had gone from living paycheck to paycheck to being able to afford the convention to becoming a millionaire. She even signed a contract with a traditional publishing house, and is now publishing a series of books through them.
Unsurprisingly, many people are inspired by her story and try to do all that they can to reach the same astronomical sales, using hundreds of unique methods to share their work with hundreds of thousands. But while some are having more modest success, others are having a hard time selling their works, and I'm sure there are hundreds more that have only sold a handful. But why?
As we've read in Hamlet, nothing in life is certain. Hamlet learns that he can't be sure of who to trust and who's working against him. While self-publishing isn't nearly as life-threatening as Hamlet's situations, indie authors can identify with Hamlet in that . (Plus, sometimes authors can get pretty cutthroat. Haha.)