wern5821

who has self published a book and had it become a best seller or won awards or who has become rich and famous from a self published book ect.

this would really help me if I can get names,
thanks

Mike

Joe Moore

MJ Rose self published her first novel and went on to become a best selling author.

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lin

This is a topic that has been much done on many writing sites. Googling will show you much on the matter.

There were any number of self-published great writers back in the day. In recent times there have been self-publishers do well enough to get contracts with the big...a guy I know did it with "Let Us Prey"--a novel, no less.

There are some non-fiction successes here: Self Publishing Success Stories
Other titles would include: 'Celestine Prophecy', 'The Christmas Box', 'The One Minute Manager', 'The Whole Earth Catalog

Here's another very interesting list:
Self Publishing Hall of Fame: Honoring great self-publishers, self-pubishing authors, and self-publishers who have gone on to sell lots of books or make a contribution to society.

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wern5821

thanks this info has really been helpful, I will research these links. anyone else replying feel free to list authors and tell me exactly how they did it, I am very interested in the story, it also tells me who and where I need to go to sucessfully publish my book.

thanks

Mr Sci Fi

Hey man,

Well, Christopher Paollini self-published his book "Eragon," which became a bestseller. However, his parents were in the industry, so they had a hand in it.

Have you ever written anything before? Have you ever had anything published? I ask because I know how easy it all seems to get your story out there. You write it. Pay to get it published. Presto, you're a published author.

Well, it's not as easy as it sounds. Self-Publishing is a very difficult route, more so than traditional publishing. Foremost, a traditional publisher will market and distribute your book. With Self-Publishing, you're going to have to do all the marketing yourself. Sure, some presses will list your book on Amazon, but it's really up to you to get the word out there. Self-Publishing requires vast marketing skills.

Self-Published fiction is difficult to sell. If this is the first work to your name, you're going to have a difficult time convincing anyone your work holds merit. You're really better off getting yourself some credit through short fiction and then getting your name out there. People will be inclined to take you more seriously.

But who knows? You might be successful at it. Just don't get your expectations too high unless you're experienced enough to do the work. This is why authors are successful, because they have experience enough to market.

If you're writing just to make the bestseller list, to win awards and recognition, and for fame, you're in for a very difficult journey, and I suggest you rethink your motives. Writing certainly isn't a "Get-Rich-Quick" scheme, it's a difficult and tedious process that yields very little profit in the long run.

You should rethink your reasons for writing. If you want to write because it's within you - Good luck. If you just want to get laid, well you probably will, but it's still no reason to write.

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Malone

Chuck P., the guy who wrote Fight Club, self published his first novel, if I'm not mistaken.

Mike C

If you research properly you'll find the answer to where you need to go is A MAINSTREAM PUBLISHER.

There are a handful of success stories (and literally millions of failures) but the one unifying thing about every single one is that when they got the chance to ditch self-publishing, get an agent, sign with a real publisher and go mainstream, they did.

There are too many variables and too many obstacles to getting any real degree of success with a novel through self-publishing. It's hard enough to sell enough books with the weight of a publishing house behind you; how hard do you think it will be if you have to make every sale yourself?

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Erik Buchanan

Most people who have had self-publishing success have done so with non-fiction, rather than fiction. it's easy to market, especially if you have a target niche (SEO, Landscapeers, something like that).

As was said, there are some few self-publishing success stories, but mostly there are failures and wannabes so anxious to see their work in print they would rather pay for it than not have it happen.

I'd rather be paid for my work than have to pay for the right to have it in print. If no one's willing to publish it, I don't have the time or energy to do it myself and convince others to read it.

If you want to go the self-publishing route, be prepared to sacrifice all the time you were planning on writing your next book to promotions. Because if you want to get sales, you're going to have to do all the legwork yourself.

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JohnN

If your asking if you can self-publish and make it big, it seems you definitely can.

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Erik Buchanan

But you have to work your ass off to do it and there is no guarantee of success and no safety net.

Good luck if you want to do it, though.

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lin

It's important to notice that the most of these success stories involve non-fiction, and most of it either aimed at a powerful niche market or taking an innovative approach to something that appeals widely to people's pocketbooks. Often such books create a new genre or cottage industry (One Minute Manager, Color Parachute).

Another thing to keep in mind that guys who swing for the fence strike out most of the time. Trying to write a best-seller or Nobel book is not the best way to go about it. Generally fiction succeeds when you are writing the book you just have to write and non-fiction works when you are writing the book that a lot of people really want but don't know it yet.

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Joe Moore

Here's another one for you.

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ClancyBoy

The Celestine Prophecy
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Firm

(Yes, John Grisham's first book was self-published.)

Though I think it should be noted that these books were passed on by the big publishing houses not because they weren't engaging or well-written, but because they were outside established genres. (And The Celestine Prophecy and The Firm, actually pioneered new genres.)

If you're writing genre fiction and the publishers all pass on your book it's probably not because you're a misunderstood genius.

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Baron

You can add Watership Down and Jonathan Livingston Seagull to that list.

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ClancyBoy

I should just simplify the list by saying "every book that I like."

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