When I wrote a post about the new world of book publishing, a number of Coffee with Julie readers told me that they hoped to author their own books one day. I know some of these peeps in real life, and some only from my blog. But regardless of how I know them, I hope they all manage to make their dreams come true. And if I can help push them along — heck, I will!
So, here is what I want to share with you my dear soon-to-be author friends: a self-published author has just broken into the ranks of the Kindle Million Club! To date, only 8 authors have achieved this milestone and they include heavy hitters like Stieg Larsson, James Patterson, and Nora Roberts. So this is a huge deal.
The author’s name is John Locke. In an interview on a blog called A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, he says that Kindle Direct Publishing allowed him to “receive the keys to the [publishing] kingdom.” With this Kindle model, an eBook can sell for as little as $0.99, with the author receiving a $0.35 profit per book sold. As of June 19th, Locke had sold 1,010,370 Kindle books. And with a quick touch on the calculator, I can tell you that this leaves Locke with a sum of $353,630. And apparently, all in a five-month time period.
I think that’s great work if you can get it, but others call into question his choice to sell novels at only $0.99 a piece. But regardless of where you stand on the pricing issue, one thing is certain: indie authors are hitting the mainstream. And fast!
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