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Self-published author John Locke, who built a large audience selling digital books and became the second independent writer to sell one million books through Kindle, has a few lessons to teach you, if you want to try and follow in his bestselling footsteps.
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One of the biggest self-publishing success stories in recent years, Locke's latest professional good news is a deal he's struck with Simon & Schuster for paperback distribution. The publishing company, owned by CBS, will distribute in paperback format eight of Locke's thrillers that feature the character of former CIA assassin Donovan Creed.
Locke will pubilsh the books through his John Locke Books imprint and Simon and Schuster will handle sales and distribution.
Locke is a Louisville businessman who self-published his first book in 2009. He became the second writer this year to sell one million books on Amazon.com, through the company's Kindle Direct Publishing service. The deal with Simon & Schuster was made by Locke's literary agent, Jane Dystel. Distribution will begin in February 2012.
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But what aspiring authors want from Locke is his secrets to success. One way to find out is to purchase his work published this summer, "How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months!" It's available on Amazon as a Kindle eBook for $4.99.
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Locke's how-to work, at 280KB, is ranked in the top three hundred of all books in the paid Kindle store. The book isn't doing as well as his multiple works that made him join the likes of blockbuster authors who came through traditional publishing circles and have also sold one million books through Kindle, including Steig Larsson, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Charlaine Harris and Michael Connelly, presumably because his price point is different.
Publishing through Telemachus Press, a print-on-demand and eBook publisher where authors pay to have their works designed, copy-edited and distributed through digital means, Kentucky-based author Locke found he could gain audience through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing program by pricing his fiction works at 99 cents.
That's his first secret, and you didn't even have to pay to get it.
Kindle Direct Publishing allows anybody to publish eBooks for free through the company's service, placing the books for sale on the company's Kindle pages. Barnes and Noble booksellers offers a similar program through BN.com and its PubIt! program. Any author who can format their book according to specifications that allow it to show up properly through eBook devices and, for no charge, upload a book and cover and begin selling the product publicly within 24 hours.
The author gets to name the price, any price they want, and they can upload any size book, within reason.So if an independent authors wants to bypass a company like Telemachus, they can just handle the eBook themselves from start to finish.
At Kindle, vampire writer Amanda Hocking became the first independent author to sell one million eBooks, and she followed a similar strategy, pricing her fiction works at 99 cents to earn readers in larger numbers and therefore have a better chance at developing a following leading to more success. She has since signed a multiple book deal with a traditional publisher. Now, Locke has become the second self-published author to find similar success this month crossing the coveted one million book plateau.
His success puts traditional publishing between the age-old rock and a hard place business-wise, since most do not consider his writing "Random House worthy." That's why he was self-published in the first place, industry insiders say. But in a business where money is tight, authors with mass followings get attention regardless of writing quality, therefore Locke is said to be considering offers from traditional publishers.
Price-point Determines Author Royalty Rate
Already, he's had financial success, though it's not what one might expect based on the attention he's received. Selling one million of anything typically translates into money and Locke is no exception to that rule, but at 99 cents per book his monetary rewards received are hardly worthy of big-time publishing headlines.
