Posted on 2013-Dec-09
Best-Selling Self-Published eBooks
Based on last year’s list of Top 100 eBooks on Amazon, 25 eBook titles were actually self-published through KDP according to The Guardian. Being one of the major eBook distributors, Amazon’s presentation regarding Top 100 eBooks on its Kindle Store undoubtedly draws huge attention to the source’s tweet, Writer.ly, and websites for The Guardian and Daily Mail.
“This figure is referring to Kindle (e)books on Amazon.com in 2012, with ‘indie’ meaning books self-published via Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). So a quarter of the top 100 bestselling Kindle books on Amazon.com in 2012 were self-published via KDP,” a spokeswoman for Amazon said.
The Tweet of Attraction
The picture of the introductory slide was tweeted by Writer.ly. Although the presentation did not show details of all the 100 eBooks, 25 titles were highlighted under the title “A Quarter of Top 100 on Amazon.com Indie-Published.” Thanks to Kelsye Nelson, Writer.ly CEO and Co-Founder, who posted a picture of the presentation online, the picture alone sparks interests among The Guardian and The Mail Online that sought permission to use it in their article.
UK Author-Publisher
Although the figures refer to the American market, the UK one is catching up.
“If the UK isn't quite there yet then it's just a time lag – we are seeing that more and more of the top books around the world are published by authors themselves…We are in the middle of a major change. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we reached a situation where the majority of the top books are author-published. I don’t see what would stop that,” said Orna Ross, Founder & Director of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi).
Self-Publishers: A Hybrid Entrepreneur
The article mentions successful indie authors-Hugh Howey, Paul Pilkington, Amy Cross, Kerry Wilkinson, Beth Reeks-whose books were on the best-selling list. Several of them landed publishing deals with publishers and one of them became a hybrid author who self-published and traditionally published their book at the same time. Interestingly, he kept the eBook rights to himself despite selling the print rights to Simon & Schuster since he was capable of making seven-figures on his own. An interview with Hugh Howey revealed that he decided to sign a deal with Simon & Schuster after earning an average $50,000 per month.
CreateSpace: POD Heaven
Apart from KDP, Amazon’s homegrown CreateSpace also secures a top spot as a distributor of Print-on-Demand (POD) books, CDs, and DVDs. It registered 131,460 ISBNs and had a 123.34% increase according to Bowker’s Self-Publishing in the United States, 2007-2012 Total Print & eBooks in 2012.
Self-publishers are in the spotlight once again when Amazon revealed 25 titles that hit the best-selling list. Earlier, Bowker released a report how CreateSpace had registered ISBNs for their self-publishing clients. Combining the two sets of data together, we get to see the bigger picture how self-publishers have performed in the previous year. Although the data relies heavily on the US market, it seems the UK one does not fall far behind during the transitioning period according to the ALLi director. Once self-publishers build enough fan base and sales record, sales opportunities will knock on their door and they had better be ready for new ventures.
Label: Self-Publishing
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