E-Book Sensation

E-Book Sensation

Sculptor: M. Champagne

The name Amanda Hocking seems to be on the lips of everyone in the publishing world these days. The 26-year-old has gone from making $18,000 working with the physically disabled in 2009 to nearly $2 million since April 2010 when she released her first novel on Kindle. Since then she has published eight more books, selling 900,000 copies.

After Switch was rejected by traditional publishers, Hocking decided to strike out on her own and take the self-published route. As poetic justice would have it, Switch went on to become her best-seller. Her paranormal novels, featuring vampires and trolls, sell for $0.99 or $2.99 each, which is the price that she would be willing to pay for one. She makes 70% of sales on her $0.99 e-books and 65% on those at $2.99.

In June, Amanda changed her approach and sent out advance review copies to bloggers. Her strategy proved successful with her book sales jumping to 4,200 copies, netting her $3,000 in just one month. In July 2010, she decided to quit her job and write full time. Since then, her book sales have continued to climb, and in January alone she sold 450,000 units.

Hocking was recently approached by a District 9 screenwriter to option her Trylle trilogy for a screenplay. Quite a successful year for a young woman from a small town in Minnesota wouldn't you say? Will Hocking go on to become the new electronic J. K. Rowling? Still too soon to tell.

Have you ever bought an e-book? We have the entire Scott Pilgrim series just waiting to be picked up and read.

I know a certain person who could probably use Kindle to capitalize on her repertoire of ghost stories. I hope that this story might inspire her.

Further reading:
HuffPo Interview with Amanda Hocking




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