Writing is a creative business. Many writers made it big by writing books. Now, there’s been a shift in this industry. Many authors have turned entrepreneurs by either starting their own publishing house or by self-publishing their books.
Here are four authorpreneurs who had the motivation and entrepreneurial spirit to make it big in the world of literature.
Amanda Hocking
The author of the “My Blood’ series and “Trylle” Trilogy, Amanda Hocking was the first self-published novelist. She made over $2 million by only publishing e-books. Being a self-published author and her own boss allowed her to set the prices of her books. She used some brilliant marketing techniques, and decided to sell the first book of the series for 99 cents to attract readers. Since then she increased the price to $2.99 for each sequel.
Amish Tripathi
One of the most successful Indian authors of today, Amish Tripathi was rejected by publishers 20 times. He then decided to take the path of self-publishing his first book, ‘The Immortals of Meluha’, the first in the Shiva trilogy. Amish’s Shiva trilogy is considered as one of India’s most successful series. According to Forbes report, Amish earned more than 16 crores just by book sales.
His success can be estimated by the fact that, Dharma productions bought the movie rights for his first book in Shiva trilogy. While Amish chose to self-publish his book, he did not just concentrate on writing and getting the book out but also put a lot of thoughts into marketing it. For instance, he offered copies of the first chapter free of cost.
Ravinder Singh
Bestselling Indian writer Ravinder Singh has now ventured into publishing. The author of the famous book “I too had a love story” is enjoying letting the entrepreneurial seed within him sprout. Singh’s publishing house, ‘Black Ink’, is only meant to publish budding authors. They will earn royalty from the sales. This is for the first time there is an established author who is bringing out these new authors.
EL James
EL James is the poster child of self publishing success. EL James’ world famous trilogy, “50 shades of grey" began as a twilight fan fiction. She published it on fan sites and eventually decided to turn it into an original erotic trilogy. She self-published the first book, and the rest was history. She sold more than 100 million copies, which is nothing short of miracle.
