Amanda Hocking: “I became cooler when I stopped trying to be cool"
NY Times Magazine had an article/interview with Amanda Hocking, the 26-year-old e-book wunderkind who recently signed a $2 million contract with St. Martin's for her next four books.
In the past year, Hocking has self-pubbed 10 e-books and made about $2 million
from them, even though she prices them between 99 cents and $2.99. She now averages 9,000 downloads per day. While she says she thinks about each book for up to a year, she spends just two to four weeks writing them.
“Hocking is at a loss to explain the phenomenon. “I’ve seen other authors do the exact same things I have, similar genre, similar prices” — like many self-published authors, she prices her books radically below what traditional publishers charge; typically hers cost between 99 cents and $2.99 — “and they have multiple books out. And they all have good covers. And they’re selling reasonably well, but they’re not selling nearly as well as I am.””
She started with fan-fiction, then moved on to writing her own stuff. She started self-publishing because she couldn't get an agent. She has signed with a print publisher because only 15% of people owns e-readers and she wants to reach the other 85%. She's already a million-dollar author. For me to be a billion-dollar author, I need to have people buying my books at Wal-Mart.”
Read more about her here.
In the past year, Hocking has self-pubbed 10 e-books and made about $2 million
from them, even though she prices them between 99 cents and $2.99. She now averages 9,000 downloads per day. While she says she thinks about each book for up to a year, she spends just two to four weeks writing them.
“Hocking is at a loss to explain the phenomenon. “I’ve seen other authors do the exact same things I have, similar genre, similar prices” — like many self-published authors, she prices her books radically below what traditional publishers charge; typically hers cost between 99 cents and $2.99 — “and they have multiple books out. And they all have good covers. And they’re selling reasonably well, but they’re not selling nearly as well as I am.””
She started with fan-fiction, then moved on to writing her own stuff. She started self-publishing because she couldn't get an agent. She has signed with a print publisher because only 15% of people owns e-readers and she wants to reach the other 85%. She's already a million-dollar author. For me to be a billion-dollar author, I need to have people buying my books at Wal-Mart.”
Read more about her here.
Have you--or anyone you know--read her? As she says, others have done what she does and they sell only respectably while she sells stratospherically. Is it a case of people recognizing her name and being curious (after all, a ton of ink/pixels has been used re. her and her success) or is she the greatest storyteller since, well, since J.K. Rowling?
That's a guess though and I haven't read her.