10 Self-Published Authors Who Made it Big

Howey’s Wool trilogy began with a short story he self-published through Amazon. He decided to expand on the science fiction series and eventually sold it to Simon and Schuster for half a million dollars. He also sold the film rights to the series.

Genova self-published Still Alice through iUniverse. In 2009 it was reissued by Simon and Schuster. Since then it has been translated into twenty languages, been on the New York Times Bestsellers list for over forty weeks, and been made into an Academy Award winning film starring Julianne Moore.

In 1931, Rombauer spent half her life savings to print copies of her cookbook. Five years later her investment paid off when Bobbs-Merrill Company acquired the rights. In total, the book has sold over 18 million copies.

Redfield managed to sell 100,000 copies of The Celestine Prophecy out of the trunk of his car before it was finally published by Warner Books. Since then the book was adapted into a film, expanded with three sequels, and spent 165 weeks on the NYT Bestsellers list.

When Sullivan wrote the Riyria fantasy series, he found an agent but couldn’t find a publisher. So he decided to self-publish through a company his wife started. His sales were so good that traditional publishers took note, and he sold his next novel for six figures.

In 1989 Chilton published his financial planning advice book, The Wealthy Barber, out of his basement. It went on to become one of Canada’s all time bestselling books, spawning a sequel in 2008: The Wealthy Barber Returns. 

Another Canadian success story, Tucker self-published a YA fantasy series, which gave her enough of a following that she was able to sell her adult novel, Ten Tiny Breaths, to Atria Books in 2013.

Ward self-published her first book, Damaged, as an eBook on Amazon and it went on to become a #1 Bestseller in the New Adult category. She has continued writing the series and has sold over 4 million copies, all without signing on with a traditional publisher.

Hocking was one of the first self-published YA authors to make over two million dollars simply with eBook sales. Though already very successful, Hocking signed a 2 million dollar deal with St. Martin’s in 2011.

Perhaps the best known self-publishing success story, EL James’ Fifty Shades of Grey series began as 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 it took off. The rest of the story you surely already know.