Amanda Hocking, J.A. Konrath, Victorine Lieske, Nancy C. Jackson. If none of these names sounds familiar, just wait a few months. In the publishing industry, these authors are dominating the indie publishing movement, with Amanda Hocking recently announcing that she's sold more than 1 million eBooks in under a year. She's signing a four-book deal with a traditional publisher any day now, as the New York Times reports, with Big 6 publishers bidding more than $1 million for her work.
So what is indie publishing, and how are these writers coming out of nowhere to take an obscure corner of the publishing world by storm?
Kindle Book Publishing and Every Genre
Hocking's story isn't unique, though her success is the most extreme. An active member on Kindleboards.com, an online community for Kindle users and writers who publish eBooks on Amazon.com's eReader device, Hocking published her first eBook in April 2010. A savvy marketer, the 26-year-old Minnesota native chronicles her journey at her blog, My Blood Approves.
While self publishing has a long history, the online version got its big push in the late '90s, when M.J. Rose proved that an eBook could sell. Amazon.com's Kindle eReader opened eBook publishing to anyone. Using the Kindle Direct Publishing account, all you need is a manuscript and a nicely-designed cover. Amazon does the rest, and pays authors between 35 and 70 percent of the purchase price as royalties.
Kindleboards is not owned by Amazon.com, but this board has become the go-to place for writers seeking to publish on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and other devices. The community is eclectic, with sci-fi, fantasy, romance, non-fiction, urban fantasy, Christian romance, thriller, mystery and historical fiction writers all intermingling, focused largely on the love of writing and the business of selling.
Kindleboards.com and Romance Authors
It's no secret that romance novels sell faster than a woman's bosom heaves or a throbbing member touches someone's silky folds and pulsating nub. In fact, the eBook revolution, started in the late 1990s but skyrocketed by the Amazon Kindle and the B&N Nook, has given romance (and erotica) lovers a chance to download and read with abandon, never in fear of being ashamed of a Fabio-glazed cover of a regency romance (OK, I'm dating myself with the Fabio reference. Whatever).
How big is romance fiction? As of 2009 it generated more than $1.36 billion (yes, BILLION) in sales, according to Romance Writers of America. For a bit of comparison: sci-fi generated $554 million in sales the same year. Romance authors can find kindred spirits at Kindleboards and learn more about the business side of indie publishing.
Indie Publishers
So how is "indie publishing" different from "self-publishing"? They're nearly identical, though indie publishing tends to imply eBook publishing only on platforms for people using eReaders, smart phones, or computers. You don't need to have a Nook, Kindle or Kobo to read an eBook - all the major companies offer free apps you can download onto a PC, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry, Android phone, or other devices to read eBooks.
Most indie publishers set prices at $.99 to $2.99 per eBook, a fair price for an unknown author. Choosing between a morning latte and a 300-page detective novel shouldn't have to be tough, and most folks find they can afford both.
As with any industry that is open to all comers, the quality of writing, cover art, marketing, and writer interaction with fans varies greatly from eBook to eBook. Kindleboards helps readers, and especially writers, to have a deeper understanding of the eBook revolution, the nuts-and-bolts of indie publishing, and to take a chance on some writers who have stripped out the middle man and just want to share their stories, from lovesick vampires, dwarf-eating orcs, time-traveling professors, heroines with secrets, and beyond.
Sources
- "The rise of the 99-cent Kindle eBook," David Carnoy, CNET.com, March 3, 2011 (accessed March 24, 2011).
- "Noted self publisher may be close to a book deal," Julie Bosman, Media Decoder (NYT), March 21, 2011 (accessed March 24, 2011).
- Romance Writers of America. Industry Statistics. (accessed March 23, 2011).
Melanie Zoltan - Melanie Zoltan is a former college professor and administrator who has written for About.com, PCWorld, Brain Child, Thomson Gale, and ...
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