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Online BookstoreScott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip and book series, self-published an original ebook, God's Debris, early in 2001 as a way of testing the market for a new book. As a result, he was able to get an “unusually good deal” from his regular publisher, Andrews McMeel, when he sold them the book rights. Online bookstore In 1998, Arthur Agatston, author of The South Beach Diet, began by self-publishing several hundred pamphlets outlining his diet ideas for patients. Several years later, with the help of an agent, he sold rights to Rodale. Within a year, the book had sold almost seven million copies. Online bookstore Julie Aigner-Clark founded the Baby Einstein company to produce early-learning videos, DVDs, and audio CDs for babies and toddlers. Many of the products feature poems written by her. The company has won many awards for its products and has sold more than 8 million copies of its videos and other products. In November 2001, she and her husband sold the company to Disney for $25 million. Online bookstore Nigerian writer Christopher Albani was jailed in his home country for publishing some of his books. A number of his books were banned in Nigeria before he sold right to his first U.S. novel, GraceLand, to Farrar Straus Giroux with the aide of agent Sandy Dijkstra. Online bookstore Craig Alesse began Amherst Media by self-publishing his own how-to photography books. His company is now one of the premiere how-to photography publishing companies in the world, distributing to photography stores across the country. Debbie Allen sold 40,000 copies of her Confessions of Shameless Self Promoters and then sold reprint rights to McGraw-Hill. In addition, she sold rights to a new book, Positively Fearless Selling, to Dearborn Trade. An international speaker and consultant, she helps businesses to out-market, out-sell, and out-profit their competition. Online bookstore Marc Allen, publisher of New World Library, chose to publish his own book, Visionary Business, after publishing many other bestselling titles, including Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra, and The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Online bookstore In 1962, trumpeter Herb Alpert and his partner Jerry Moss formed A&M records with $100 apiece. One of the first albums they produced was the gold-selling Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass's White Cream & Other Delights, a classic record of the mid-60s. They built A&M into the nation's largest record company not owned by a conglomerate before finally selling out to Polygram in 1989 for $500 million. Online bookstore Judith Appelbaum originally self-published How to Get Happily Published, then sold the rights to Harper Collins. The book has now been through many editions and has sold more than 500,000 copies. Online bookstore Mary Appelhof self-published Worms Eat My Garbage. Her first edition sold more than 100,000 copies. In 1997, she published her second edition. Online bookstore Mawi Asgedom self-published his memoir, Of Beetles and Angels, which told the story of his journey from war-torn Ethiopia at age three to a refugee camp in Sudan, a childhood on welfare in an American suburb, and eventual triumph as a Harvard graduate, where he gave the commencement address in 1999. In 2001, he sold rights to that book and another nonfiction book (featuring advice for teenagers drawn from his motivational speeches), to Little, Brown for six figures. Online bookstore Stephanie Dircks Ashcraft never expected to sell thousands of copies of the book of recipes that she and her husband once assembled by hand in their small living room in Utah. She created the first copy of 101 Things to Do with a Cake Mix as a college class project, then a few months later began teaching a cooking class based on the book at a local supermarket. Her students pleaded with her to put all the recipes together in a book, which led to her first print run and several subsequent reprintings. Over 7000 copies of Stephanie’s self-published version sold locally in Utah, the Intermountain West, and on the web. In August 2002, Gibbs-Smith published a new edition of the book and gave it national distribution. By mid-October 2002, the book had hit #9 on the New York Times paperback advice bestseller list. Tami Oldham Ashcraft former her own publishing company, Bright Works Publishing, to self-publish her story of surviving Hurricane Raymond out in the Pacific Ocean (Red Sky in Mourning). After selling more than 8,000 copies of her edition, a literary agent discovered the book while biking on the San Juan Islands. Several months later, the agent sold the reprint rights to Hyperion for half a million dollars. Online bookstore Bestselling Canadian author Margaret Atwood self-published her first volume of poetry Double Persephone in 1961, the year she graduated from college. The print run was only 200 copies. Atwood has gone on to become a bestselling novelist and short story writer. Online bookstore In the fall of 2004, Joe Babcock, winner of the Writer's Digest International Self-Published book award, sold rights to his novel The Tragedy of Miss Geneva Flowers to Carroll & Graf with the help of agent Michael Mancilla of Greystone Literary Agency. Online bookstore After promoting his self-published book, The Truth about Relationships, on more than 800 radio shows, Dr. Greg Baer and his agent Wendy Sherman sold rights to Gotham for its debut list where the book was published as Real Love. After selling 7,000 copies of her self-published first novel A Little Piece of Sky, Nicole Bailey-Williams sold reprint rights to Harlem Moon, the African-American imprint of Bantam Doubleday Dell. African-American author Michael Baisden has been self-publishing his own hardcover novels and then selling paperback reprint rights to Simon & Schuster's Touchstone imprint. The trade paperback edition of his novel The Maintenance Man hit the USA Today bestseller list. In 1983, Phyllis Balch self-published her first book Nutritional Outline for the Professional and the Wise Man with her then-husband James F. Balch. That book was later titled Prescription for Nutritional Healing when it was picked up by Avery in 1990. Cheryl and Peter Barnes started up Vacation Spot Books by self-publishing Peter's children's book, Nat, Nat, the Nantucket Cat, in 1992. They sold the first edition of 5,000 copies within a year and continue to sell about 5,000 copies every year since that time. In 2001, Cheryl met Mattie J.T. Stepanek, a child poet suffering from a rare form of muscular dystrophy, while working as a volunteer at Washington, D.C.'s Children's Hospital. Inspired by his spirit and poems, she went on to publish several collections of his poems. Heartsongs and Journey Through Heartsongs both made it to the New York Times bestseller list after Mattie appeared on Oprah. John Bartlett financed and published the first three editions of Familiar Quotations, the bestselling quote book on the market. L. Frank Baum self-published at least some of the books in the Wizard of Oz series. John Bear self-published Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning in 1972 and sold more than 200,000 copies by direct mail before he sold rights to Ten Speed Press in 1983. In the spring of 2004, attorney Philip Beard was about to write a check for the printer to self-publish his novel Dear Zoe when Clare Ferraro, president of Viking Press, called to make an offer on his book. Beard's bookseller friend, John Towle of Aspinwall Bookstore, loved his book and had recommended it to a visiting sales rep, John Gobble of Penguin. Taking a chance on a self-published title, Gobble read the book and loved it. He, in turn, recommended the novel to Ferraro, who promptly bought the book. In 1993, Barry Beckham wrote and published the first Black Student's Guide to Colleges. In addition, he developed the Black Student's Guide to Scholarships. These books and others helped him to create the Beckham Publications Group. Impressionist artist Guy Begin, the Painter of Perfumes, created his own first break by self-publishing his artwork as lithographs, serigraphs, and note cards. He now licenses his artwork to six companies. In 1985, Paula Begoun self-published her first book, Blue Eye Shadow Should Be Illegal (now called The Beauty Bible), a how-to book on using the right cosmetics. She followed the success of her first book by writing and publishing a second book called Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me. A few years later, she also published another follow-up called Don't Go Shopping for Hair Care Products Without Me. All told, these three beauty books have sold more than two million copies in the past thirteen years. In 1928, Peter Beilenson began publishing books from the Peter Pauper Press using a foot-treadle press in his father's basement to publish books “at prices even a pauper could afford.” For more than 75 years, the press has continued as a family business. Pierre Bennu sold rights to his self-published book Bullsh**t or Fertilizer to Andrews McMeel. Rights have also been sold to digicube and Japan. Todd Bermont is author and self-publisher of 10 Insider Secrets to Job Hunting Success and 10 Insider Secrets Career Transition Workshop. Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson originally self-published The One-Minute Manager so they could sell the book for $15.00 at a time when all the experts were telling them that they'd never sell the book for such a high price. In a three month time, they sold over 20,000 copies in the San Diego area alone — and then sold the reprint rights to William Morrow. The One-Minute Manager has sold more than 12 million copies since 1982 and been published in 25+ languages. 31-year-old British author Marc Blaney self-published Two Kinds of Silence to the sound of silence. So he decided to submit his book for the Somerset Maugham award (for young authors) so he could tell booksellers that his book had been entered for the award. Well, he won. He was flabbergasted: “I didn't expect in a million years to win.” In 2000, after getting 70 rejections for his comic novel, screenwriter John Blumenthal self-published a trade paperback of What's Wrong with Dorfman?, which was selected by January magazine as one of the 50 best books of 2000. He went on to get more major reviews and finally sold the book to St. Martin's Press for a nice sum of money. In the 1970's, American poet Robert Bly self-published many of his poetry books and translations through his own publishing company. Richard N. Bolles originally self-published What Color Is Your Parachute as a small typed guide for Episcopal priests who needed to readjust after leaving the priesthood. Later he sold the rights to Ten Speed Press. The book has now spent 288 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and returns to other bestseller lists (such as Business Week's) each year when a new edition comes out. Since 1973, Australian dietician Allan Borushek has sold more than 11 million copies of his self-published calorie counter books and other products in the U.S. and Australia. About 8 million copies were sold in Australia, which is an amazing feat considering that Australia has a population equivalent to Texas. Former Major League baseball pitcher and bestselling author Jim Bouton decided to self-publish Foul Ball through his Bulldog Press in 2003. The book, an account of his efforts to preserve the oldest minor-league ballpark in the U.S. (at Pittsfield, Massachusetts), was originally sold to Public Affairs but after an editorial dispute, Bouton decided to self-publish. Ruby Ann Boxcar, Trailer Park newspaper columnist and web site host, self-published her first book, Ruby Ann's Down Home Trailer Park Cookbook, via POD through iUniverse.com. The rights were quickly snapped up Kensington/Citadel Press which has since gone on to publish Ruby Ann's holiday cookbook. Ruby Ann is known as the Dame Edna of the double-wide world. She is a crowd pleaser. At regional bookshows, she autographs and kisses every book before handing them over to booksellers. Online bookstore
Stewart Brand self-published the first editions of The Whole Earth Catalog before selling the rights to a larger publisher. The Catalog, famous for widely disseminating the first photograph of the earth from space, was the bible of the back to the land movement. More than one edition of the Catalog hit the New York Times bestseller list. Hilery Bradt self-published her first award-winning guidebook and now publishes a growing list of travel guides by other writers under her imprint, Bradt Travel Guides. Engineer Marshall Brain began by publishing his work as a hobby on his web site . This site features colorful easily understood illustrations and simple explanations to describe how things work, from how a black hole works to an expresso machine to plasma TV to Christmas lights. The site has grown to a business with more than 20 staff, numerous spin-offs, and $20 million in annual revenue. Two volumes of How Stuff Works have been published by John Wiley. Jeff Brauer started On Your Own Books in the basement of his parent's house. He had begun working on his first book, Sexy New York (a Zagat-like guide to the kinky places in New York) while still in law school. In 2002, while still running his Brooklyn-based publishing company, Brauer also ran for Congress from a district on the east side of Manhattan. David Brody self-published his book Unlawful Deeds via iUniverse's print-on-demand program. He sold almost 3,000 copies in his home area of Boston, Massachusetts while doing 26 bookstore appearances. At one point, his book hit #8 on the Boston Globe bestseller list. His book is probably the first print-on-demand book to hit a bestseller list. Amanda Brown used First Books to publish her first novel Legally Blonde as a print-on-demand book. Her self-published book was made into a movie starring Reese Witherspoon. A year and a half after the movie was made, Plume published her book, with an additional chapter on what's next for Elle Woods. H. Jackson Brown originally self-published his Life's Little Instruction Book. Soon thereafter, the book was bought by Rutledge Hill, a local publisher, who went on to sell more than 5 million copies. The book made the bestseller lists in both hardcover and softcover and continues to be a great seller around graduation time every year. English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, author of Sonnets from the Portuguese, paid for the publication of her first book. After being dissatisfied with the results of regular publishers, Dorothy Bryant and her husband Bob established Ata Books to self-publish her next four novels, all of which didn't fit the acceptable mold of current publishers. Here's what Pat Holt of Holt Uncensored has said about Bryant: “With Ella Price's Journal, for example, Bryant anticipated the movement of middle-aged women returning to college in droves; The Kin of Ata was the first of many spiritual-mentor novels by such writers as Carlos Castaneda, Lynn Andrews, Dan Millman and others; with Prisoners, Bryant foresaw the trend by liberals such as Norman Mailer of sponsoring the release of convicts they knew nothing about, and didn't want to; her novel, The Test, was among the first books to recognize the dilemma of middle-aged baby boomers caring for both their own kids and their own aging parents; A Day in San Francisco was her portentous 1983 novel about a mother's concern over her gay son and what Dorothy calls ‘a liberation movement gone astray’ (only a year before gay bowel syndrome was recognized as a disease called AIDS).” Nick Bunick, an Oregon businessman, self-published The Messengers by Julia Ingram and G.W. Hardin. This nonfiction book tells the true story of Bunick and his experiences with angels and reincarnation. Self-publishing the book at the end of 1996, Bunick spent $160,000 promoting it. Through his marketing efforts, more than 20,000 copies were sold in a few short months in the Portland and Seattle areas alone. A few months later, he sold the rights to that book and a sequel for $1,000,000 to Pocket Books. Did his efforts pay off? You do the math. Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of the Tarzan books, self-published some of his books. William Byham self-published the bestselling business book, Zapp: The Lightning of Empowerment. The book has sold more than 2.5 million copies in self-published and Crown Publishing editions. In 1975, Ernest Callenbach self-published his counterculture classic Ecotopia. The book was reprinted by Bantam in 1977. Before selling rights to Putnam, Julia Cameron self-publisherd her bestselling The Artist's Way. The book has sold more than a million copies now. Professional gambler Avery Cardoza built a publishing empire writing and publishing gambling advice books. In 2003, he took it a step further by publishing a new magazine, Avery Cardoza's Player, for the amateur gambler. Richard Carlson, author of the bestselling Don't Sweat the Small Stuff series, began his book career by self-publishing The Business of Bodywork. Ricki Carroll and her then-husband Robert self-published Cheesemaking Made Easy in 1982, four years after starting the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. Later they sold the rights to Storey Publications. That first book sold more than 100,000 copies. In 2002, Ricki brought out a new edition with Storey Publications called Home Cheese Making. Cindy Cashman, with her then partner Alan Garner, self-published Everything Men Know about Women (using the pseudonym of Dr. Alan Francis) and sold more than half a million copies of the blank book before selling rights to Andrews-McMeel. The book has now sold more than 1.5 million copies. In 1977, student teacher John Cassidy joined with two college pals to self-publish Juggling for the Complete Klutz as a stapled little book, which had come out of a mimeographed high school lesson plan. The book went on to sell more than 2.5 million copies and led to the establishment of Klutz Press, which has published fifty books. Novelist Willa Cather paid for the publication of her first book. Her novel, One of Ours, won the Pulitzer Prize. When Dave Chilton self-published The Wealthy Barber in 1989, he took a long-term view to building the book. He dedicated himself to doing hundreds of interviews during that first year. By 1990, his book was selling ten to fifteen thousand copies a month. By 1991, his book had made the Canadian bestseller list. By 1996, it was still on the Canadian bestseller lists. With more than a million copies sold (in a country of 29 million!), his book is the bestselling book in Canadian history, excluding the Bible. Deepak Chopra vanity published his first book and then sold the rights to Crown Publishing. The book went on to become the first of many New York Times bestsellers for this author. British journalist Stephen Clarke originally self-published in France his travel adventures, A Year in the Merde. Since publishing the book, he and his agent Susanna Lea of Susanna Lea Associates have sold U.S. rights to Bloomsbury, for publication in spring 2005, as well as French rights to Laffont, Australian rights to Random House, and UK rights to Transworld. Well-known author Douglas Clegg has also experimented with self-publishing. With the help of his agent Jimmy Vines, Dr. Will Clower sold his self-published book The Fat Fallacy to Crown. After selling over 20,000 copies of his self-published novel Before I Let Go in less than four months (primarily via independent bookstores on the East Coast), Darren Coleman with the help of agent Jimmy Vines sold rights to that novel as well as another to Amistad/Harper. After self-publishing three chick lit crime novels, Jennifer Colt sold rights to all three novels (The Butcher of Beverly Hills, The Mangler of Malibu Canyon, and The Vampire of Venice Beach) to Broadway Books with the help of agent Jenny Bent of Trident Media Group. Bestselling novelist Pat Conroy self-published his first book, The Boo. He spent thousands on printing and promoting the book. Now, of course, his advances run much, much higher. His bestselling books include The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, Beach Music, My Losing Season, and The Water Is Wide. Wade Cook, through his various companies, has self-published many of his bestselling books, including Stock Market Miracles and Wall Street Money Machine (500,000 copies). Online bookstore Nick Corcodilos self-published Ask the Headhunter. For the first two years he made a profit in the mid-six figures. In the third year a major publisher offered him a high five-figures advance and he sold the rights. Laura Corn self-published 101 Nights of Grrreat Sex and several other books. She sold 100,000 copies of 237 Intimate Questions Every Woman Should Ask a Man from the trunk of her car. Total sales for 101 Nights was 525,000 copies as of March 1999. Steve Crist, owner of The Daily Racing Form, self-published under DRF Books his memoir, Myself: Adventures of a Horse-player and Publisher. American poet e.e. cummings self-published No Thanks, a volume of poetry financed by his mother. On the half-title page, he listed the thirteen publishers who had rejected the book, which became one of his classics. Norman F. Dacey self-published the bestseller, How to Avoid Probate. In 2001, Lisa Daily self-published Stop Getting Dumped. With the help of publicist Sherri Rosen, she got so much publicity for the book that she was able to sell the rights to Penguin for a very nice sum. Diana Dalsass, author of five cookbooks published by NAL, Norton and Contemporary, self-published The Butterscotch Lover's Cookbook, under her Buttercup Press imprint so she'd have more control over its design. In 1973, Bill Dalton self-published A Traveler's Notes: Indonesia. By the time he sold the company he had founded, Moon Publications, it had published almost 100 titles and was the largest American publisher of guidebooks for independent travelers. Half African-American, half-Blackfoot Jamise L. Dames sold more than 30,000 copies of her first novel Mamma's Baby, Daddy's Maybe. The novel even made the Essence bestseller list. Dennis Damp founded Brookhaven Press to self-publish The Book of Government Jobs, which has now been through 8 editions. After Craig Danner made a big impression at regional trade shows in the Pacific Northwest and northern California, booksellers began ordering his self-published novel Himalayan Dhaba. The book was then named as a Book Sense 76 pick. In a heated auction, Dutton won the right to republish the book as a hardcover for a high-altitude six-figures. In 1933, Charles Darrow invented the game of Monopoly. Parker Brothers had originally rejected the game because of “52 design flaws,” so Darrow produced the game himself and quickly sold 5,000 games to a Philadelphia department store. The rest is history. Parker Brothers changed their minds and took on the production and marketing of the game. More than 200 million copies of Monopoly have been sold thus far. Mary Janice Davidson began by publishing her romance novels as e-books. a web site featuring saucy romantic fantasies. A friend of hers brought her novels to the attention of Cindy Hwang, an editor at Berkley, who liked one of them enough (Undead and Unwed) to offer a three-book deal. Max Davis originally self-published his book, Never Stick Your Tongue Out at Momma, then sold the rights to Bantam Doubleday Dell. As a self-promoter, he sold more copies of the BDD edition than the publisher did. He sold the rights to his next book to Penguin Putnam. In 1998, Verna Burger Davis self-published her memoirs, My Chosen Trails, at the age of 96. Her granddaughter, Amy Martin, and son, Jim Davis, with financing by Verna, set up the publishing company, Deep Creek Press. Verna did all of the writing about her life through the 20th century. The first printing sold over 2,000 copies and, in 2003, she was preparing to go to a second printing with an additional chapter, detailing the ensuing five years and the changes that being an author brought in her life. Afrikadzata Deku has self-published 40 books, including Sacred Verses for My Afrikan Queens, The Power of Afrikan-Centricity, and The Afrikan Truth. When Kathleen Dexter self-published her fairy tale love story, Fifth Life of the Catwoman, it was chosen as a BookSense 76 pick. The book was then sold to Berkley where it once more became a BookSense 76 pick. Don Dible originally self-published the New York Times bestselling book, Up Your Own Organization. In 1978, train buff Chuck Ditlefsen self-published his first calendar, Those Magnificent Trains. Since then, he has built his company, Cedco Publishing, into one of the fastest-growing companies in America (it made the Inc. 500 list in 1998). Ben Dominitz self-published several books, one on free travel (Travel Free) and another on romance, before completely establishing Prima Publishing, one of the largest of the independent small publishers. In less than fifteen years, he built a company that had published well over 1,500 titles, had more than 140 employees, and competed with New York publishers on an equal standing. Prima was sold to Random House in 2001. Laura Doyle originally self-published The Surrendered Wife. Once it became the bestselling book in Washington state, she sold reprint rights to Simon & Schuster. The book went on to become a New York Times bestseller. After Canadian writer Oriah Mountain Dreamer's prose poem The Invitation appeared on dozens of web sites, agent Joe Durepos helped her to sell the rights to the poem in book form to Harper SanFrancisco in 1999, where it became a bestseller and has been translated into more than 15 languages around the world. Prior to that poem, she had also self-published a small chapbook of poetry, Dreams of Desire, in 1995. American civil rights leader William E.B. Du Bois, co-founder of the NAACP, self-published The Moon in 1906. He went on to edit the Crisis journal from 1910 to 1932 as well as write other books, including Color and Democracy, that promoted the concerns of African-Americans. In a little over two years, author Laura Duksta and illustrator Karen Keesler sold 130,000 copies of their first book, I Love You More. Available now in 46 states, the book sells best through eclectic gift shops, art galleries, children's boutiques, and great independent bookstores. French novelist Alexandre Dumas, author of such swashbuckling romances as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, self-published some of his first books. Paul Laurence Dunbar, the first African-American poet to achieve national prominence, published his first poetry collection at the age of 21 after being invited to read his poetry at the 1893 World's Fair. Before that he had published an African-American newsletter, the Dayton Tattler, with the help of his classmates Wilbur and Orville Wright. He went on to publish many more collections of poetry, several novels, librettos, and scripts. He is known as the poet laureate of African Americans. In 1989, Cyndi Duncan and Georgie Patrick began C & G Publishing by self-publishing Colorado Cookie Collection, a collection of favorite recipes collected over ten years from cookie exchanges held in their homes. During their years of publishing, they have won eight Evvy Awards (from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association) and a Benjamin Franklin award for Nothin' But Muffins. Hale Dwoskin and Lester Levenson sold more than 20,000 copies of their self-published book, Happiness Is Free: And It's Easier Than You Think, via their web site and various online bookstores. To promote the book, Dwoskin began by emailing thousands of his former students at Sedona Training Associates. Their response was to propel the book to the top of the list at Amazon.com. With the help of six friends, Betty J. Eadie self-published Embraced by the Light, which went on to become a New York Times bestseller (on the list for two years as a hardcover and paperback). Mary Baker Eddy, founder of The First Church of Christ, Scientists, originally self-published her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, in 1875. That book is now published in 17 languages and has sold more than ten million copies worldwide. Eddy also founded her own publishing company which today publishes weekly and monthly magazines as well as the Pulitzer Prize award-winning daily newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor (founded in 1908). Bob Easter wrote and published two books on buying and selling homes. He has sold thousands of copies via his web site. With the help of agent Anna Ghosh, India Edghill sold the rights to her self-published novel Queenmaker to St. Martin's which offered her a big advance and full-page ads in the New York Times Book Review. In 2002, best-selling author Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) published his first novel through his own publishing company, McSweeney's. Arlene Eisenberg self-published What to Do When You’re Expecting before Workman went on to republish it and sell 8 million copies (and counting) plus millions more copies of other titles in the series. Nobel Prize-winning poet T.S. Eliot, author of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and The Waste Land, paid for the publication of his first book. In 2002, bestselling author Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) published his first novel through his own publishing company, McSweeney's. He sold 10,000 copies as a limited edition through his web site mcsweeneys.net. Books published by McSweeney's are printed in Iceland. Paulette Ensign's success in selling 500,000 booklets (110 Ideas for Organizing Your Business Life without Advertising) shows you can have success in self publishing without needing to write a full length book. Her website is www.tipsbooklets.com. John Erickson founded Maverick Books to self-publish the first book in his Hank the Cowdog series in 1982. To make sales, he loaded his pickup with copies and sold them at cattle auctions, rodeos, schools, Rotary meetings, and anywhere else he could find a crowd. He later sold the series to Texas Monthly Press, which was later bought by Gulf Publishing. Steve Eunpu has sold more than 650,000 copies of The 20 Gram Diet book. Due to demand from many friends, Richard Paul Evans self-published 8,000 copies of his little holiday story, The Christmas Box, in August 1993. That fall he sold many thousands of copies in the Salt Lake City area alone. When the major publishers became interested in the book, dozens of them participated in a two-day auction. Simon & Schuster came out the winner. They only had to pay Evans a $4.2 million advance (which included the rights to a prequel as well). He retained the rights to his softcover edition. The next year, both editions ended up on the bestseller lists. The book has sold more than 7 million copies in 17 different languages. Online bookstore When Jim Everroad lost his job as a high school athletic coach, he decided to become a sportswriter. The first job he tackled was to write an article describing the exercises he had developed to tighten his pot belly. After selling the article to a newspaper, he expanded it into a full book called How to Flatten Your Stomach and printed a first edition of 3,000 copies. Later the book was discovered by Price/Stern/Sloan who published a national edition of the book, which became a bestseller. The book has since sold over 2 million copies. Twenty-five years ago, Helen Exley self-published the first of her many illustrated quote gift books. Since 1976, Exley Publications has sold more than 41 million copies of her gift books. New Harbinger's president, Patrick Fanning, conceived of founding the company over a box lunch with publisher Matthew McKay. The first book they published, The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook, was one they co-authored. It has now sold over 450,000 copies. New Harbinger grew slowly, with McKay and Fanning writing many titles themselves. In 1951, Howard Fast couldn't find a publisher for his novel Spartacus because he was a member of the Communist Party and therefore blacklisted at that time. So he published the book himself. It became a bestseller and went on to be made into an incredible movie. In 1956, Fast broke with the Communist Party after revelations of Stalin-era atrocities. Father and son team Jim and Charles Fay, along with Foster Cline, formed the Love and Logic Institute to self-publish an entire line of self-help parenting books, including Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood, Grandparenting with Love and Logic, Oh Great! What Do I Do Now?, Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers: Love and Logic Parenting for Early Childhood, Hormones & Wheels, Developing Character in Teens, Parenting Teens with Love and Logic, Trouble-Free Teens, and more. In 1953, Lawrence Ferlinghetti founded City Lights Bookstore. Soon thereafter, he self-published Pictures of the Gone World, his classic book of poems, as the first of many books published by City Lights Books, including such books as Allan Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems. About 30 years later, he became the first living writer to have a San Francisco street named after him. Nature and environmental photographer John Fielder founded Westcliffe Publishers, which has published 31 of his exhibit format books and guide books, including John Fielder's Best of Colorado and Colorado 1870 - 2000 (Colorado's bestselling book ever). Canadian lawyers Barry Fish and Les Kotzer sold more than 15,000 copies of their self-published book on wills and estates, The Family Fight: Planning to Avoid It, within the first nine months of publication. Most of those orders were generated via mail order from publicity in publications like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Books by writing groups do sell. For example, Wednesday Writers: Ten Years of Writing Women's Lives, edited by Elizabeth Fishel and Terri Hinte, hit #7 on the San Francisco Chronicle's bestseller list, right behind Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit. Bill Fisher began his publishing career by self-publishing performance car manuals in 1947. Later, in 1963, he and his wife Helen founded HP (horse power) Books, which they sold to Knight-Ridder in 1979. Eight years later, they founded another company, Fisher Books. British poet and translator Edward Fitzgerald paid to have the first copies of his translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam published in 1859. The book has sold millions of copies since its first publication. E. Randall Floyd founded Harbor House in 1998 to self-publish his Civil War novel Deep in the Heart, which has since sold 100,000 copies. The company now publishes five to ten titles per year. In 2003, Harbor House was named one of the 15 small publisher standouts by Publishers Weekly. In hopes of getting another bestseller like those from the Delaney sisters, Warner Books paid 98-year-old Jessie Lee Brown Foveaux more than $1 million for the rights to her self-published reminiscences, Any Given Day. The book had been only a modest self-published success. Les and Sue Fox self-published The Beanie Baby Handbook in 1997. By July of 1998, they had gone back to press eight more times for an in-print total of 3 million copies while the book established itself in the #2 spot on the New York Times bestseller list (under advice, how-to, and miscellaneous). Later in 1998, they published the Beanie Baby Cookbook. At the age of 26, Ben Franklin, using the pen name of Richard Saunders, self-published his Poor Richard's Almanack in 1732 and continued to produce the almanac for another 26 years. Many of his famous sayings came from the Almanack. Because of the success of his printing and publishing business, Franklin was able to retire at the age of 42. He became one of the world's greatest scientists and inventors (inventing bifocals, the Franklin stove, and the lightning rod). He ended his life as a statesman and one of the key founders of the United States of America as a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Criswell Freemen has compiled and self-published more than 70 books of quotations, including such titles as The Book of Stock Car Wisdom, The Fisherman's Book of Wisdom, The Wisdom of Women's Golf as well as Friends Are Forever, Fathers Are Forever, Mothers Are Forever, etc. He published his first three quote books in 1994: The Book of Country Music Wisdom, Wisdom Made in America, and The Book of Southern Wisdom. Since then, he has sold more than 6 million copies of these gift books. In 2002, former journalist Mister Mann Frisby sold over 10,000 copies of his self-published urban thriller Blinking Red Light in Philadelphia alone. Then with the help of Los Bravos Management in the fall of 2003, he sold reprint rights to Riverhead for that book as well as a second novel. In 1985, Ron Fry began Career Press by publishing several career directories that he edited. He went on to publish his classic 101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions and his How to Study program (a series of six books that have sold more than 2 million copies). Sonia Pressman Fuentes was born in Berlin, Germany, of Polish parents, with whom she came to the U.S. in 1934 to escape the Holocaust. In March 2000, she was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame because of her work for women's rights. She was a founder of NOW and other nationwide women's rights organizations as well as the first woman attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. After she retired as an attorney with the federal government, she wrote a memoir, written with a light touch, called Eat First—You Don't Know What They'll Give You: The Adventures of an Immigrant Family and Their Feminist Daughter. The book became an Xlibris bestseller, received rave reviews, and has been used as a textbook at Cornell University and American University. Judith Galbraith started up Free Spirit Publishing by self-publishing her first book. Since then she has built up a company that has published 75 titles and also publishes a catalog that features books from other publishers (Free Spirit had 174,000 direct customers last year!). Because Italian scientist Galileo Galilei published his astronomical findings in his first book The Starry Messenger just ten days after his final observations, he got the major credit for studying the moon and planets with a telescope, even though English scientist Thomas Harriot had first used a telescope to look at the moon four months before Galieo. Twenty years ago, Margie Garrison self-published an initial print run of 1,000 copies of I Cured My Arthritis & You Can Too!. Since then, she's sold more than 240,000 copies through speaking engagements, media attention, and specialty stores. In 1977, Marc Allen and Shakti Gawain started New World Library in their Oakland, California kitchen by publishing a mimeographed edition of Gawain's Creative Visualization. The first $800 in sales from that edition helped to keep the company going. When they approached Bookpeople about selling the book, the wholesaler said “Get a spine and typeset the thing, and we'll sell it.” In 2002, New World released a 25th anniversary edition of that book. In 2001, Mike Gerber self-published Barry Trotter, a parody of the Harry Potter series. With the help of Michael Cader of Cader Books, he soon sold rights to Orion/Gollancz in England and Hodder Headline in Australia for several hundred thousand dollars. Years after self-publishing his fable The First Forest, John Gile discovered that the National Wildlife Federation had excerpted without his permission 96% of his story along with illustrations in the December 2002 issue of their children's magazine, Your Big Backyard. With the fable generating a largest portion of income for his small publishing company, he had to sue the federation. Michael and Marilyn Gilhuly always had a dream to be authors. They thought they had the excellent story, a historical fiction novel based on stories Marilyn had been told by her grandmother. Unable to get the book published, they self-published their manuscript, Call to Glory: The Life and Times of a Texas Ranger. Traveling across Texas, they sold over 4000 copies. One of the copies made it into the hands of the publisher of Longstreet Press, who made them an offer. John Gindick has sold more than 2 million copies of his self-published music instruction books on blues and country harmonica. Online bookstore After poet Nikki Giovanni sold 10,000 copies of her first self-published book, Black Feeling Black Talk, Morrow offered her a contract for future books. Since then, they've sold more than 500,000 copies of eight volumes of poetry and five books of essays. Collier published a paperback edition of Joshua, a parable originally self-published by Fr. Joseph Girzone, a retired priest. The book, which sold 45,000 hardcover copies in its self-published edition and 100,000 more copies in Collier's trade paperback edition, spawned an entire series of popular novels. Greg Godek sold more than 750,000 copies of his 1001 Ways to Be Romantic before selling the rights to Sourcebooks Trade. His book has sold more than 1.9 million copies thus far and has spawned a series of related titles. Author of a previous bestseller (Permission Marketing), Seth Godin self-published his book Unleashing the Ideavirus. First, though, he gave away the book on the Internet, including a tell-a-friend link. More than 200,000 people downloaded the book from his web site alone; another 300,000 were exposed to his book from other web sites. He then self-published a $40 hardcover. Within a week, his book was #5 on the Amazon.com bestseller list. Dan Goggin, a little-known actor and composer, wrote the first Nunsense play after some related greeting cards sold well. To date, Nunsense and four sequels have grossed $300 million in ticket sales and earned Goggin $7 million. Thaddeus Golas originally self-published his classic The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment in 1972. He has since sold the rights to Gibbs-Smith. In 2000, Good Books, a family-owned publisher of books on Amish and Mennonite cooking, published the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook by Phyllis Pellman Good and Dawn Ranck. Good is the wife of Merle Good, publisher of Good Books. The slo-cooker cookbook sold more than 300,000 copies in its first year and hit the New York Times bestseller list. English poet George Gordon, Lord Byron, sixth Baron Byron of Rochdale and author of such classics as Childe Harold, The Prisoner of Chillon, and Don Juan, paid for the publication of his first book. He died at the age of 36 while fighting for Greek independence from the Turks. Bill Goss, sef-publisher of Luckiest Unlucky Man Alive, wrote the just released There's a Flying Squirrel in My Coffee: Overcoming Cancer with the Help of My Pet from Simon & Schuster. Goss now hosts a regular 30-minute show on the Discovery Channel's Animal Planet called “Bill Goss & Rocky the Flying Squirrel” that airs in 120 million homes around the world twice a month every month. The show always promotes both of Bill's books. Since 1992, Kim Gosselin has sold more than 1.5 million copies of her self-published books, largely via premium sales. Having no money to publish her first book, Taking Diabetes to School, she sought out pharmaceutical companies that might want to use her book as a premium. Her first sale of 15,000 copies allowed her to cover all her costs of publishing as well as set up her publishing company, JayJo Books. As of the end of 2000, she had 16 titles in print. Lynn Grabhorn sold 18,000 copies in six months of her book, Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting, out of her garage — with no returns. Rather than go out and speak on the road, she sent letters to 400 metaphysical bookstores offering each 20 free copies of her book. Most took her up on her offer. Then, when they sold out, they had to reorder. After selling 18,000 coipies, Lynn sold the rights to Hampton Roads, who gave the book a national launch. John Graden, publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine and author/publisher of Black Belt Management: How to Open and Operate a Successful Martial Arts School and The Martial Arts Q & A Book, grew his business into $4 million annual sales in less than five years. In 1995, Michael Graham self-published his first book, Banned from Public Radio. Since then, he's self-published another book, Clinton & Me: How Eight years of a Pants-Free Presidency Changed My Nation, My Family and My Life, which Warner Books picked up as an ebook. Thomas Greanias originally published his adventure novel Raising Atlantis as a popular web series and then as a bestselling ebook on Amazon.com. In 2004, with the help of agent Simon Lipskar at Writers House, he sold the rights to that novel and one other for six figures to a major publisher. Greenleaf Book Group grew out of the success of Clinton Greenleaf III's self-published book, Attention to Detail: A Gentleman's Guide to Appearance and Conduct, which sold out two printings before being purchased by Adams Media. Since then, Clint has written several more books in the series for Adams, including A Gentleman's Guide to Etiquette. After other self-publishers approached him for advice, he founded Greenleaf Book Group in 1997. This distribution and marketing company now represents more than 150 presses. Zane Grey, the father of the adult western novel, originally self-published. His first successful novel, The Heritage of the Desert, earned enough money that he was able to move his family to California from Ohio. Grey wrote more than 60 westerns, nine fishing stories, three chronicles of his ancestors, and a biography of young George Washington as well as juvenile fiction and baseball stories. Susan Griffith self-published the leading book on work abroad, Work Your Way Around the World, before going on to publish a line of books about working, studying, and volunteering abroad under the imprint of Vacation Work Publications According to one source, John Grisham self-published his first novel, A Time to Kill. My understanding, though, was that the novel was published by a smaller publisher. Nonetheless, Grisham was actively involved in promoting his first novel, selling many copies out of the trunk of his car as he traveled around the South. After selling 5,000 copies of her self-published first novel Like Boogie On Tuesday in a single month, Linda Dominique Grosvenor sold reprint rights to Black Entertainment Television's African-American women's fiction imprint Sepia. Maia Hagg self-published her first children's book, My Very Own Name, created a business plan to sell it, and sold $338,000 worth of books in the first year. Gary Halbert, famous for his copywriting skills, self-published a number of books and was one of the first authors to encourage buyers of his books to sell his books to others (and give them a great deal in the bargain). In the 1920's, E. Haldeman-Julius, publisher of the Little Blue Books, sold more than 100 million copes of these little books primarily through newspaper and magazine display ads. Each book sold for 5 cents, but you had to buy at least 20 with any order. After selling the 100 million copies, Haldeman-Julius wrote and published The First Hundred Million to tell what he learned from the publishing venture. In 1995, Canadians Rosemary and Graham Haley self-published Haley's Hints with a printing of 5,000 copies. That edition went on to sell 191,000 copies. Its revised edition, published in 1999, has sold more than 685,000 copies and hit the bestseller lists in late March 2003. Dawn Hall sold 650,000 copies of her self-published cookbooks Down Home Cooking Without the Down Home Fat, Busy People's Low-Fat Cookbook, and 2nd Serving of Busy People's Low-Fat Cookbook. With the help of agent Coleen O'Shea, she sold the rights to all her titles plus a new book on crockery cooking to Rudledge Hill Press. British novelist Thomas Hardy, author of such classics as Far from the Madding Crowd, The Mayor of Casterbridge, and Tess of the d'Urbervilles, paid for the publication of his first book. John F. Harnish, using the pen name of John Franklin to honor his ancestor, Benjamin Franklin, self-published his illuminated essay, The Immortalization of F * * k, in 1972. This is the first time the “F” word was used in the title of a copyrighted work. The infamous one-page essay was printed as a colorful manuscript on parchment stock suitable for framing. Over a million copies were sold and millions more plagiarized using copy machines around the world that helped to spread the word that f * * k is just a useful word. The story about how this infamous essay came to be written and published is told as one of the stories in his first print-on-demand book, Enjoy Often!!!, published by Infinity Publishing in March of 1999. Harnish's third POD book, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about POD But Didn't Know Who to Ask, was published in April 2002 by Infinity Publishing. His popular 606-page epistle provides an insider's view into the publishing industry through the eyes of an author. Ken Harper sold nearly 9,000 copies of his self-published book, Give Me My Father's Body: The Story of Minik, the New York Eskimo, primarily through his general store on Baffin Island. In spring 2000, Steerforth Press brought out a new edition of the book for the U.S. market. Paperback rights were sold to Pocket books for six figures. John Harricharan originally self-published When You Can Walk on Water,Take the Boat in 1986. Sales spread by word-of-mouth and the first three printings sold out. The book was then picked up by Berkeley Books and HarperCollins (UK). Barbara Harris has sold more than 750,000 copies of her self-published cookbook, Let's Cook Microwave. Every time she goes back to press on the book, she has to order another 50,000 copies. In 1992, E. Lynn Harris self-published his novel, Invisible Life, and sold more than 10,000 copies through beauty salons and black-owned bookstores. He later sold rights to that novel as well as two others to Doubleday/Anchor. His novels have sold millions of copies thus far, made the New York Times bestseller list six times (and counting). In 1983, Paul Hartunian became the first person in history to sell the world-famous historic landmark, the Brooklyn Bridge (and do it legally). Since then, he has self-published nine successful books, become the guru of reprint rights, and makes five figures for a 90-minute talk. After self-publishing her novel Illegal Affairs, Shelia Dansby Harvey sold rights to that novel plus another to Kensington Books with help from agent Elaine Koster. Unable to find a publisher for Good Soldier Svejk in his native Czechoslovakia, Jaroslav Hasek published it himself and sold it primarily in the pubs he frequented. Eventually an international bestseller, it is consdiered by many a classic of 20th century literature. C.F. Hawthorne self-published her first novel, For Every Black Eye — Revenge: When Nothing Else Works. She's sold 6,000 copies of a self-published novel by lots of hands-on personal marketing. Novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The House of the Seven Gables, The Scarlet Letter, and other American classics, paid for the publication of his first book. Online bookstore Naura Hayden self-published How to Satisfy a Woman Every Time and Have Her Beg for More and made it a New York Times bestseller (63 weeks on the list!). She has sold more than 2.6 million copies. Australian Susan Hayward founded Hayward Books in 1983 to publisher her bestselling series of gift books, A Guide for the Advanced Soul, Begin It Now, and Bag of Jewels. Louise Hay originally self-published You Can Heal Your Life, then sold rights to another company, and finally went on to found her own publishing company, Hay House, Hugh Hefner self-published the first issue of Playboy magazine on December 1, 1953. Since then, his Playboy empire has grown to include TV shows, a mansion, many Playmates, calendars, videos, and more. In 2003, two Hollywood screenwriters, brothers Justin and Jason Heimberg, self-published The Official Movie Plot Generator, which contains 30 pages of 3 flaps that allow anyone to generate 27,000 different movie plots. Some potential plots include: A cop who doesn't play by the rules becomes a nanny for an aristocratic family in the feel-good comedy of the year. Or: Bigfoot fights crime shown in spectacular 3-D images. Or: The ultimate crime-fighting indestructible cyborg raises a baby and, in the process, learns the true meaning of Christmas. It allows you quickly to pitch your own bad movie. Nobel Prize-winning novelist Ernest Hemingway, author of such classics as The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man and the Sea, and For Whom the Bell Tolls, paid for the publication of his first book. Keith Herrell, one of the nation's top motivational speakers, self-published his first book, Attitude Is Everything, to excellent sales. He went on to sell his second title to HarperCollins for an upper-six-figure price. The British novelist Susan Hill has for many years been successfully publishing her own books out of a Cotswold barn. In 1958, Clifton Hillegass borrowed $4,000 to self-publish a guide for Shakespeare's Hamlet. He sold 58,000 copies of the first Cliff Notes in that year. He went on to publish hundreds of Cliff Notes booklets that high school and college students came to rely on for helping them to study and write reports. He eventually sold his company to John Wiley for millions of dollars. Michael Hoeye self-published his first children's book, Time Stops for No Mouse, and sold so many copies that he ended up selling rights to that book and two others for $1.8 million to Putnam/Puffin in a heated auction involving three other major publishers. In 1990, after selling his Bookstop bookstore chain to Barnes & Noble for $45 million, Gary Hoover founded Reference Press (latter renamed Hoover's Inc.) as a reference book publisher, beginning with a book called Hoover's. In 1995, the company moved into the online world with the launch of Hoover's Online. In December 2002, he sold Hoover's Inc. to Dun & Bradstreet for $117 million. In 1968, after taking eight years to write his novel about the Korean War and after getting more than a dozen rejection letters, Capt. Richard Hornberger chose to self-publish M*A*S*H under his pen name of Richard Hooker. In 1970, his novel was made into a movie, with a screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr. and directed by Robert Altman. The movie was the third highest-grossing film of 1970. Mr. and Mrs. Hockey, Colleen and Gordie Howe, self-published their sports autobiography and... Howe! in 1995 and have sold almost 135,000 hardcover copies since then, thus raising almost $1 million for charitable causes. Although their book is self-published, it is probably the bestselling hardcover hockey autobiography ever published. Chris Howell, a retired British schoolmaster from Somerset, produced No Thankful Village, a fascinating study of the Great War's impact on the home front that attracted newspaper attention and sold well. After his work first appeared in a science fiction magazine in June 1950, L. Ron Hubbard self-published his book, Dianetics, which founded a new church (Scientology) and sold more than 20 million copies in the past 45 years. In 1988, Cheryl Willis Hudson and her husband Wade Hudson began Just Us Books to publish books in their Afro-Bets series. Since then, they've built one of the best publishers of children's books for African Americans. John Hughes privately published his book on Family Wealth about keeping human, intellectual, and financial capital in the family for a hundred years or more. After the book became a word-of-mouth phenomenon among high net worth individuals and investment planners, he sold the rights to an revised expanded edition to Bloomberg Press for a nice sum of money. After self-publishing his novel, The Hearts of Men, Travis Hunter sold reprint rights to the Strivers Row imprint of Random House. His book, which made the Essence bestseller list, originated as material for discussion at a book group he ran for underprivileged children in Atlanta. In 1983, Dan Hurley began his career as The 60-Second Novelist when he carried his 1953 typewriter and a director's chair to a spot on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois and began writing 60-second novels “while you wait.” As of 2000, he had written more than 25,000 such novels! Gary Hustwit started Incommunicado Press in the early 1990s by self-publishing his book How to Release an Independent Record. Since then he's published many more books, created a store in New York City, and co-founded a multimedia Internet company which distributes downloadable digitized spoken word audio. Jennifer James, a Seattle talk radio personality and local columnist, sold 50,000 copies of her self-published book, Success Is the Quality of Your Journey, in the Pacific Northwest alone. Later, Newmarket Press brought out the book in an expanded paperback edition for national distribution. John Javna self-published 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth via Earthworks Books just in time to catch the environmental awareness wave of the 1980's — and months before the major publishers came out with other ecology titles. His book got all the press, hit the bestsellers lists for months, and sold over 4.5 million copies, two-thirds of those as premiums. John went on to write and publish the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series of books which sold more than three million copies by 2002. American poet Robinson Jeffers self-published his first book but for the longest time most of the copies sat in a box at his home. Over time, he did send out a few copies to friends. Someone who recognized the value of his poems finally discovered a copy of his book. That's all it took. Soon he was a a nationally recognized poet. He best-known collection is Tamar and Other Poems. Paul Joannides self-published The Guide to Getting It On! via his Goofy Foot Press. Within the first year, he sold 40,000 copies, won a Firecracker Award, sold translation rights to Germany, and received six-figure offers from major publishers (which he rejected). John H. Johnson self-published Negro Digest (now Ebony magazine) in 1942. From this meager beginning, he has built up a billion-dollar publishing empire. Danish researchers Ernst Mikael Jorgensen, Johnny Mikkelsen, and Erik Rasmussen dug deep to find out everything they could about rock singer Elvis Presley's early recordings. As they collected information, they began self-publishing pamphlets, which later formed the basis for Jorgensen's exhaustive reference guide, Elvis Presley: A Life in Music—The Complete Recording Sessions. Irish author James Joyce, author of Ulysses, Finnegans Wake, and many other novels, paid for the printing of Ulysses in 1922 with the help of some of his friends (this is called patronage publishing). Lloyd Kahn and friends started Shelter Publications in 1973 with the publication of their namesake book, Shelter. That book has sold more than 250,000 copies since that time. Their bestselling book, Stretching, has sold 3.5 million copies since 1980. Bernard Kamoroff built his one-person publishing company, Bell Springs Publishing, by selling well over half a million copies of one title, Small Time Operator. Benjamin Kaplan, author of How to Go to College Almost for Free, turned down several six-figure offers from major publishers before he went on to self-publish his book. By the time he sold 25,000 copies, he was featured in a major story in the Sunday New York Times business section. At the ripe old age of 23, he sold reprint rights for that book and The Scholarship Scouting Report to HarperCollins for seven figures. Joe Karbo self-published The Lazy Man's Way to Riches, which he sold primarily via mail order and full-page ads in newspapers and magazines. He sold millions of copies of this short book before he died. Online bookstore In 1981, John Katzman founded the Princeton Review by preparing 15 high school students for the SAT exam with an intensive six-week course offering a systematic approach to achieving higher test scores. The Princeton Review now helps millions of students every year to score better on standardized tests and navigate the college and graduate school admissions process through its courses, books, software, and web sites. As a 19-year-old Harvard student in 1968, Kent Keith self-published a book of aphorisms as a motivational booklet for high school student governments. Under the title of Anyway, his words were often attributed to others, including Mother Teresa, Bishop Abel Muzorewa of Zimbabwe, psychiatrist Karl Menninger, Milwaukee clergyman Guy Gurath, and Cleveland high school wrestling coach Howard Ferguson. Several years ago while attending a Rotary luncheon, Kent heard another speaker quote his words, only to discover that his words had made it around the world and back again. He then wrote a longer book and sold the rights to Inner Ocean Publishing, which in turn collected $250,000 in foreign rights sales to 12 countries and $300,000 in reprint rights to Penguin. His Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments was published with a national publicity and distribution push by Penguin. In 1918, to make it easier for him to buy used cars for his Kelley Kar Company in Los Angeles, California, Les Kelley began to circulate a list of automobiles he wished to buy and the prices he was willing to pay for them. The other dealers and banks which received his list began to trust his judgement as an accurate reflection of the current real values for the cars that they began asking for updated copies. In 1926, Kelley published the first Blue Book of Motor Car Values. The Kelley Blue Book is now the standard authoritative source for used car values. After winning the 1999 Writer's Digest National Self-Published Book Award for his book, Dad Was a Carpenter, Kenny Kemp got an agent and sold the reprint rights to the book to Harper San Francisco for a six-figure sale. Ken Keyes, Jr. self-published The Handbook of Higher Consciousness and many other titles, all of which sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Sisters Ursula Inga Kindred and Mirranda Guerin-William self-published their book Sister Gumbo, which employed first-person interviews to take a frank look at life and sexuality from the female perspective. After the book became an Essence bestseller, they sold rights to that book and a follow-up book, Mister Gumbo to St. Martin's. Stephen King became the first big name writer to self-publish a novel via serialized format on the Internet. He published the first installment of his novel The Plant on July 24, 2000 via his web site at He posted the second installment four weeks later on August 21st. More than a half a million people viewed the novel. Robert Kiyosaki sold more than a million copies of his self-published Rich Dad, Poor Dad in less than three years. He went on to have many other major bestsellers in the series. After graduating from college, Natasha Kogan published a 10-page booklet about her secrets of writing a great college thesis. Several years later, she revised and published her guide, Conquering Your Undergraduate Thesis. Nataly and her husband, Avi Spivak, have gone on to publish other college guides under the Students Helping Students series. Allan Kornblum, publisher of the nonprofit Coffee House Press, began by publishing his own books. He now publishes books by other poets and literary novelists. John Kremer, author and publisher of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books and developer of this hall of fame, is not above promoting himself, even in this hall of fame. He has helped thousands of authors and publishes to get their books on or near the bestseller lists. Indirectly, at the very least, he has inspired the sales of more than a billion books. 31-year-old Cambodian refugee Vuthy Kuon self-published his first book, Humpty Dumpty After the Fall, a sequel to the old nursery rhyme, as the first step to launching Providence Publishing, which has published seventeen books. In 1939, Louis L'Amour privately published his first book, a collection of poems known as Smoke from This Altar. More than ten years after his book of poetry was published, his first novel was published. His 100 westerns have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide. Through his SeaScape Press, Len Lamensdorf self-published his Will to Conquer Series featuring three young adult fantasy novels: The first book, The Crouching Dragon, won the Benjamin Franklin award. The second book, The Raging Dragon, was selected as a Children's Choice for 2003. 26-year-old Nathan Landers self-published A Walking Peace, where he told how he was fathered by a Boston policeman who raped his mother, a 14-year-old runaway working as a stripper. After appearing on Good Morning America, he sold film rights to his story to Marty Katz Productions for six figures. Vicky Lansky sold 300,000 copies of her self-published parenting title, Feed Me, I'm Yours, and then sold the rights to Bantam, which went on to sell 8 million copies of that title and millions of copies of many more books that Vicky wrote. That first book helped to establish Meadowbrook Press, now operated by her ex-husband, and The Book Peddlers . Bruce Lansky, now publisher of Meadowbrook Press, has written or edited many of the company's bestselling titles, including The Best Baby Name Book (3.5 million copies sold), 15,000+ Baby Names (1.5 million copies sold), The Very Best Baby Name Book (950,000 copies sold), and 35,000+ Baby Names (1 million copies sold). Phil Laut sold more than 200,000 copies of his self-published book, Money Is My Friend. He went on to sell mass-market rights to Ballantine Books and foreign rights to Germany, Serbia-Croatia, South Korea, Iceland, Spain, France, and the Netherlands. Deborah Lawrenson originally self-published her novel, The Art of Falling. This combination of wartime love story and contemporary heroine searching for the truth about her father was later sold to Arrow Books for publication in the summer of 2005. Medard Laz self-published the first 5,000 copies of Love Adds a Little Chocolate, a collection of 100 stories to brighten your day. He then sold the rights to Warner Books, which went on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies. Matthew Lesko has self-published some 60 titles, almost all having to do with getting free things from the government. His forté has been getting publicity via TV shows. In 1999, he began starring in a TV infomercial that continues to sell thousands of copies. Burt Levy published two novels, The Last Open Road and Montezuma's Ferrari, through his own publishing company, Think Fast Ink. He sold more copies of his first novel than a major publisher (St. Martin's) did when he sold them the rights. He has sold 58,000 copies of his novels, making close to $1,000,000 in gross sales. Without a literary agents, publicists, or any money spent on advertising, poet and philosopher Mike Levy has been published on many thousands of web sites throughout the world. In 2003, after only five years he reached an amazing milestone: If you were to search for his poetry today on Google, you'd find 16,000 web sites featuring his work. Levy is the author of four books, What Is the Point?, Minds of Blue, Souls of Gold, Enjoy Yourself: It's Later Than You Think, and Invest with a Genius. Kelly Link and her husband Gavin Grant began Small Beer Press to publish their twice-yearly fantasy zine, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, since 1996. Link's short story collection Stranger Things Happen was chosen by Salon, Village Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, and Locus as one of the year's best books. On October 10th, 2002 during National Get Organized Week, Jenny Lovins's The Neat Ideas Daybook was ranked at #614,000 on Amazon. In less than 12 hours it went all the way up the charts to #20. And stayed there for over 24 hours.
Joanna Lund self-published her Healthy Exchanges Cookbook after going from 300 lbs. and a size 28 to 170 lbs. and a size 14 using the low-fat recipes collected in the book. Starting out as an inexperienced speaker and promoter, she sold 150,000 copies through her promotional efforts, including 30,000 copies in the state of Iowa alone! She then sold the reprint rights to Putnam for a six-figure advance. Gloria Mallette self-published and sold 10,000 copies of her novel, Shades of Jade, within the first eight months. The book was then sold to Random House's Strivers Row imprint for reprint as a trade paperback. The book went on to become #2 on Essence magazine's paperback fiction bestseller list. Since 1979, Carole Marsh has self-published hundreds of titles under her Carole Marsh Books imprint as well as Gallopade International. Her publishing company has 12,000 titles in print, with her contributing to or writing many of those titles. Among her titles are The Mystery on the California Mission Trail, The Big California Activity Book, The Coolest California Coloring Book, and California History Projects. In 1948, Bill Martin Jr. and his brother Bernard Martin self-published children's picture books via their Tell-Well Press. To promote the books, they arranged their own author tours with lots of advance work, including working with bookstores to create effective posters, window displays, ads, and more. In a single day in Milwaukee, they sold more than 1,500 books. James Conroyd Martin started his novel Push Not the River in 1976. Martin self-published via POD in 2001 to wonderful reviews and great sales based on self-promotion and word-of-mouth. In April, 2002, St. Martin's bought the rights to publish the book in October of 2003. Jane M. Martin, author of Breathe Better, Live in Wellness: Winning Your Battle Over Shortness of Breath, is the first self-published author selected for Infinity Publishing's Authors Who Make A Difference program. This program “provides ongoing publishing support for chosen Infinity authors of meritorious books that have the proven ability to make a positive difference in improving the quality of life for a major segment of the population.” In 1976, Nancy J. Martin and her husband Dan founded That Patchwork Place to publish her quilting books. To date, the company—renamed Martingale & Company in 1997—has published over 400 titles and sold 12 million books worldwide. Martin herself has written more than 40 books on the art of quiltmaking. Her titles, including Make Room for Quilts, 101 Fabulous Rotary-Cut Quilts (with Judy Hopkins), and 365 Quilt Blocks a Year Perpetual Calendar have topped Martingale's bestseller lists. Mike Martineau self-published his own novel, The Strokers, about the rise to stardom of a British rock musician. He started out by distributing the novel only to bookstores in the Virgin Islands where he lived. Hallmark Press, a Miami publisher, then took over the publication of the book. Meanwhile, Martineau sold movie rights to Joseph E. Levine Presents for a $25,000 option against a final pickup price of $250,000. Sandra Haldeman Martz self-published When I Am an Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple, which went on to sell more than 4 million copies. In 2003, after being turned down by a half-dozen publishers, Jeffery Marx self-published Season of Life. Marx sold 14,000 copies of the book out of his car and his living room before he could convince his previous publisher, Simon & Schuster, to take on his new book. When the S&S edition came out, the book hit the New York Times bestseller list at #10. Brandon Massey, author of the supernatural thriller Thunderland, made the jump from self-publishing via iUniverse to self-publishing his own edition to being published by a major publisher (Kensington). Antoinette Matlins and her husband Stuart began Gemstone Press by publishing Jewelry & Gems, which has since sold more than 250,000 copies. Frances Mayes, author of the wildly popular Under the Tuscan Sun, self-published all of her early books of poetry under the name of Seven Woods Press. To avoid an undercurrent of criticism in the literary community, she began soliciting poet friends such as C.D. Wright to publish her collections. Wright's Lost Roads Press released Mayes's Ex Voto collection in 2000. Celebrity numerologist Glynis McCants sold 75,000 copies of her self-published book, Glynis Has Your Number. She then sold reprint rights to Hyperion for a major fee. When Nan McCarthy self-published her first romance novel Chat, she sold out the 2,500 copies she had printed and signed on with a computer book publisher to print another 20,000 copies. In October 1998, Pocket Books heavily promoted her series of three novels, Chat, Connect, and Crash. Canadian author Peggy McColl, the Diva of Destiny, made $25,000 in 48 hours following her own advice. McColl, self-publisher of On Being...The Creator of Your Destiny, teamed up with Marketability to take a slow-selling title and make it an instant bestseller. Todd McFarlane formed Image Comics with six fellow artists and proceeded to self-publish the Spawn comic book in 1992. The first issue sold 1.7 million copies! Linda Watanabe McFerrin and her travel writer friends from the Wild Writing Women group self-published a collection of their wilder stories — about voodoo and buss accidents and pants lost while climbing. The collection, Wild Writing Women: Stories of World Travel, sold out before the book was even printed. In 1966, poet and songwriter Rod McKuen self-published his first major book, Stanyon Street and Other Sorrows, via his company, Stanyan Music. He sold 40,000 copies before Random House picked it up. Mike McMillan has self-published more than 50 nonfiction how-to booklets and sold thousands and thousands of them through the biggest mail order catalogs in America as well as through many schools and libraries. Terry McMillan, bestselling author of Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, self-published her first novel, Mama. Many of her novels have been made into movies as well. Peter McWilliams self-published many of his New York Times bestselling books, including Life 101, Do It, Wealth 101, The Personal Computer Book, The Personal Computer in Business Book, and others. In 1851, Herman Melville wrote a letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne bemoaning his monetary problems. Nonethe-less, he still self-published his classic novel Moby Dick, the book many consider the greatest novel ever written by an American. In the summer of 2003, singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant abandoned the big record labels to begin producing and selling her own albums. Carolyn Michael self-published Enchanted Companions: Stories of Dolls in Our Lives and then entered and won the Writer's Digest National Self-Published Book Award for nonfiction. She sold reprint rights to Andrews McMeel. Gordon Miller, a Denver salesman who claims to have quadrupled his $40,000 salary by changing jobs four times in five years, self-published Quit Your Job Often and Get Big Raises and then went on to sell thousands of copies in his local area. He then sold rights to Doubleday in a two-book deal for a solid six-figure sale. John G. Miller sold more than 250,000 copies of QBQ! The Question Behind the Question. He then worked with agent Barret Neville to sell the rights to that book plus one other to Putnam/Perigee for a mid-six figure advance. Karen Quinones Miller set up Oshun Publishing to publish her first novel, Satin Doll. She sold 3,000 copies in six weeks and 24,000 in eight months. As a result, several major publishers bid in an auction for hardcover rights. Simon & Schuster made a winning low six-figure bid for the rights. In 1972, John Mitzel began publishing his own stories as well as other writers' work under the Manifest Destiny Press imprint. He later ran the New England-based gay books distributor Stonewall Distributors. In 2001, he founded a new small press, Calamus Books, to publish books by gay authors. Some years ago, British novelist Timothy Mo became so disaffected with his publishers, whom he regarded as little better than upper-class thieves, that he severed connections with his agent and publisher to launch his recent novels himself through his own imprint, the Paddleless Press. Online bookstore Marlo Morgan self-published Mutant Message Down Under, sold 370,000 copies, and, once it began to take off, sold the rights to HarperCollins for $1.7 million. Beginning her book career by self-publishing her first book of poetry, Justice: Just Us, Just Me, on August 23, 1999, Mary B. Morrison had been writing poetry since 1983. In 2000, after self-publishing and selling 10,000 copies of her novel, Soul Mates Dissipate, Mary B. Morrison sold rights to Kensington for a six-figure advance. Viggo Mortensen is not just an actor who starred in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but he is also a publishing entrepreneur with a direct-mail operation, Perceval Press, that he launched in 2002. He's been retailing his 20-title list both online (several of the books are by Mortensen) and via direct mail. John Muir founded the company that bears his name in order to self-publish his multi-million copy bestseller, How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive. The book still sells thousands of copies each year. Peter J. Murray, a former assistant headmaster in England, self-published his first children's book, Mokee Joe Is Coming. The book, inspired by stories he told his children, was published in autumn, 2003, and sold 12,000 copies after he promoted it in local book-shops and schools. Hodder Children's Books acquired the rights to Mokee Joe early in 2004 for £25,000 — following an auction that included two publishers that initially turned the book down. His agent, Curtis Brown, is now seeking a film deal. Victoria Christopher Murray, author of the novel Temptation, made the jump from self-publishing to being published by a major publisher. Bill Myers self-published many videos as well as several books and a newsletter on how to make and sell videos. He later sold the rights to many of these products, retired to New Zealand, and then returned to the U.S. to self-publish and market a line of software to make it easier to sell videos and other products via the Internet. Arthur Naiman originally self-published The Macintosh Bible, which has gone on to become the bestselling book about the Macintosh. Mildred Newman and Bernard Berkowitz self-published How to Be Your Own Best Friend. The book sold so well in their local area that Random House paid them a $60,000 advance for the rights to publish the book nationally. Ted Nicholas sold $200 million worth of his self-published books before selling rights to many of his titles and retiring to Switzerland. Bret Nicholaus and Paul Lowrie self-published the original edition of The Conversation Piece while students at Bethel College in Minnesota. When their self-published book began selling just behind In the Kitchen with Rosie in some stores, Ballantine bought the rights to the book and brought out a new edition in 1996. Richard Nixon, former president of the United States, self-published one of his books, Real Peace. Brook Noel wrote her first book and founded Champion Press in 1997. She has since published dozens of books as well as written many additional titles (including the Rush Hour Cook series, The Single Parent Resource, Back to Basics, I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye, Griefsteps, and Shadows of a Vagabond, a book of poetry). Laurie Notaro self-published her novel The Idiot Girl's Action-Adventure Club via iUniverse. After selling the rights to her novel to Villard, the book made it onto the New York Times paperback bestseller list. Starbuck O'Dwyer self-published his satiric novel Red Meat Cures Cancer after getting distribution through Biblio at BookExpo America 2002. Kirkus Reviews featured the book on its October cover, calling the book “deep-fried comic genius.” With the help of an agent, the novel was sold to Marty Asher, editor-in-chief at Vintage Books. Karen Okulicz has sold more than 151,000 copies of her valuable book, Try! A Survival Guide to Unemployment, most of them to state governments. She expects to double sales in the next year. Tim O'Reilly, president of O'Reilly & Associates, started out as a self-publisher of books on UNIX. He now runs the fourth largest trade computer book publisher, which grew out of his self-publishing efforts. . Tim, along with his brother James O'Reilly and his travel-writing partner Larry Habegger originally self-published Travelers' Tales Thailand, the first book published by their new company, Travelers Tales . Begun in 1993, the company has already won the SATW Lowell Thomas Award for best travel book of the year in three different years! Two and a half months after self-publishing their book, Conversations with Millionaires: What Millionaires Do to Get Rich, That You Never Learned about in School!, Jason Oman and Mike Litman used Loverage™ to jump their book to #1 at Amazon.com. Read more about how they did it by checking out this web page: http://www.bookmarket.com/jason.html. In 1776, Thomas Paine self-published Common Sense, a 46-page pamphlet that sold over 500,000 copies and helped to draw more people to fight for the American Revolution. Pati Palmer and Susan Pletsch Foster founded Palmer/Pletsch Associates in the early 1970s to write and publish sewing books. Their first book on how to sew a then-new fabric, ultrasuede, was sold primarily through fabric stores. One of their books has sold 900,000 copies. 18-year-old Christopher Paolini self-published the first book of his fantasy trilogy, Eragon, with the aid of his parents in February 2002. He spent a year hawking the book at various festivals, schools, and bookstores, often selling 100 or more copies. When the book began attracting a lot of attention, Paolini sold rights to the entire trilogy to Knopf Books for Young Readers in a major deal worth half a million dollars. George Pappadopoulos self-published two books on his favorite game: Blackjack's Hidden Secrets: Win Without Counting and Blackjack's Hidden Secrets II. The first book is the #1 blackjack book in America, with sales of $150,000 in 2002. Mark Pearson put together a successful program to create and launch his book Europe from a Backpack. Inspired by a class at the University of Washington Business School, he assembled stories from 400 people, raised capital, got an endorsement from travel guru Rick Steeves and a sponsorship from travel web site Orbitz.com, and lined up Independent Publishers Group for distribution. IPG CEO Curt Matthews told Pearson that he only makes two phone calls a year to new authors and one of them was to him. Cheryl Peck self-published a collection of essays about gay life in the Midwest, Fat Girls in Lawn Chairs. Warner Books bought the rights to republish the book in the spring of 2004. Eric E. Pete's first novel, Real for Me, was the featured selection of many book clubs and reached #1 bestseller status at various bookstores. His second released novel was the Dallas Morning News bestseller Someone's In the Kitchen. His next novel, Gets N.O. Love, was released by NAL. Business consultant Tom Peters self-published In Search of Excellence and sold more than 25,000 copies directly to consumers in the first year. He then sold the rights to Warner, whose edition has gone on to sell more than 10 million copies. Jo Petty paid a vanity press to publish the first printing of Apples of Gold. A few years later, in 1965, she sold the rights to C.R. Gibson Company, a gift and stationery company. In the next 20 years, 3.7 million copies were sold. Diane Pfeifer has self-published a number of titles. Her bestseller, Gone With the Grits cookbook, has sold more than 400,000 copies. Bill Phillips used his savings to self-publish a nutrition guide in 1987. That guide gave rise to a nutritional supplements empire that made him more than $150 million in 1998. Mary Ellen Pinkham self-published her bestseller, Mary Ellen's Best of Helpful Hints, and then sold the rights to Warner Books, which continues to sell the book. Turk Pipkin sold many copies of his self-published novel, Fast Greens, via reviews in golf magazines and word of mouth. A literary agent then contacted him and sold the movie rights for the book to Warner Bros. and reprint rights to Dial. Recipe sleuth Gloria Pitzer has spent three decades cracking the recipes behind well-known fast foods. Her latest breakthrough is cracking the Original Pancake House's Dutch pancake recipe, after 10 tries. She self-published nine recipe detective books before selling rights to the tenth to a major publisher. Sisters Greta and Janet Podleski self-published (with the help of Dave Chilton) their Looneyspoons low-fat cookbook and sold 750,000 copies in the first two years. It was one of the fastest-selling cookbooks in Canadian history. American poet and short story writer Edgar Allen Poe, author of the poem “The Raven” and short stories such as “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” self-published some of his writings. Brenda Ponichtera has done a wonderful job of promoting her Quick & Healthy cookbooks, which have sold more than half a million copies. British poet Alexander Pope, author of the satirical mock-epic poems The Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad, paid for the publication of his first book. When publisher Frederick Warne rejected The Tale of Peter Rabbit because of the costs of printing the illustrations, Beatrix Potter self-published a limited edition of 250 copies in 1901. When Warne saw the finished book, he finally saw the commercial possibilities and brought out a commercial edition of the book with color illustration in 1902. The book has now sold more than 40 million copies. Melvin Powers, publisher of Wilshire Books, has self-published a number of his own titles on mail order marketing, self-publishing, and success. In addition, he has sold millions of copies of other authors' titles that his company publishes. Dan Poynter self-published his classic Self-Publishing Manual in 1979 and has gone on to sell more than 130,000 copies over eleven editions. He calls it “the book that launched a thousand books.” Roger Price and Leonard Stern self-published an entire series of Mad Libs books that have sold almost 150 million copies and helped establish their publishing company, Price Stern Sloan (which they later sold to Penguin Putnam). French author Marcel Proust paid to publish the first 1,500 pages of Remembrance of Things Past, a seven-part novel published between 1913 and 1927. His work is considered of the greatest works of modern literature. Mary Randolph, 72, self-published The Virginia House-wife, the first regional American cookbook in 1824. Randolph was such an accomplished cook that Gabriel Prosser, the leader of an unsuccessful uprising of slaves, said that had he been successful he would have spared Mary's life and made her his queen — and cook. Since that time, Mary's friends referred to her as Queen Mary. James Redfield sold over 80,000 copies of his self-published book, The Celestine Prophecy, from the trunk of his Honda and then sold the reprint rights to Warner Books for $800,000! The book, the #1 bestseller in 1996, has gone on to sell 5.5 million copies. While recovering from brain tumor surgery, Marianne Richmond began painting and writing thank-you cards for her friends and family. Out of that effort, she created Marianne Richmond Studios to sell her greeting cards and gift books. The company currently offers 400 of her designs on cards, notes, and invitations as well as in three gift books (The Gift of an Angel, The Gift of a Memory, and Hooray for You!). Robert J. Ringer originally self-published the bestselling books, Winning Through Intimidation and Looking Out for #1, and then sold rights to Fawcett. In 1981, Lawrence G. Ritt self-published Innovations in Clinical Practice: A Source Book, which has gone on to become a series, now up to Volume 18. His company, Professional Resource Press ), has now published more than 120 titles. Vincent Roazzi and his daughter Daria Walsh self-published his book, The Spirituality of Success: Getting Rich with Integrity, in January, 2002. The book landed on a bestseller list within four months and went through three printings by fall. .
After commercial publishers rejected his book in the late 1880s, Henry Martyn Robert published it himself and sold more than 1.5 million copies of various editions of his Robert's Rules of Order. Chris Roberts self-published Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: Reasons Behind the Rhyme, which featured the quirky stories behind popular nursery rhymes and placed them in the context of British history. With the help of an agent, he sold U.S rights to Gotham and U.K. rights to Granta. Wess Roberts paid for and promoted four printings of his book, Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun, and sold more than 485,000 copies. After getting a strong endorsement for the book from H. Ross Perot, Roberts decided to approach New York publishers once again. As a result, Warner Books featured the book as their hardcover lead title for March, 1989, and the book went on to become a bestseller. In 1997, Kim Robey self-published her novel, Behind Closed Doors. Within ten months, she had sold 10,000 copies and then sold the rights to Black Classics Press, which sold 30,000 more copies within a year. Irma Rombauer used $3,000 from her husband's estate to self-publish The Joy of Cooking in 1931. Since then, this cookbook has sold millions of copies. Cynthia Rose self-published The Kempner Story, a Texas novel, and then sold the movie rights to Hollywood producer Robert Watts. M.J. Rose self-published an erotic thriller called Lip Service. Within three months, it became Amazon.com's highest ranked self-published novel. In 1999, it became the first self-published novel acquired by the Literary Guild book club. A few weeks later, after a heated auction, the hardcover rights were bought by Simon & Schuster for its Pocket Books imprint. Davy Rothbart, a contributor to National Public Radio's This American Life and creator of Found magazine, self-published a collection of short stories called The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas. In 2004, he sold the rights to this collection, along with three new stories, to Touchstone. Frederick Ruffner self-published the original edition of The Encyclopedia of Associations. This led to the establishment of Gale Research Company, which now has over 500 employees and is one of the largest reference book publishers. Douglas Rushkoff is one of the contemporary well-known authors who have experimented with self-publishing. In 1827, Freedom's Journal, the first black newspaper in the United States, was self-published in New York City by John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish. March 16th, the date of their first issue, is now celebrated as Black Press Day. David Saltzman’s parents self-published his book, The Jester Has Lost His Jingle. It made the bestseller lists. Victor Salupo, self-published The BS Syndrome, a nonfiction work on BS. Salupo was interviewed by Oprah, Phil Donahue, Tom Snyder, Joan Rivers, and over 1000 radio shows. As a result, he sold over 50,000 copies. Carl R. Sams II self-published his children's book Stranger in the Woods to great acclaim. They won the 2000 Benjamin Franklin Award for children's picture book, the 2001 Children's Crown Gallery Classic Award, finalist for the 2001 Book Sense Book of the Year, 2001 International Reading Association, and the 2002 Early Childhood News Director's Choice and Judges Awards. Their video Stranger in the Woods: The Movie has won many awards as well, including the 2002 Videographer Award for humor, children's, voice-over talent, and original music; the 2002 Award of Excellence from the Film Advisory Board of Hollywood; the 2002 Kids First! Endorsement, the 2002 Dove Family Seal of Approval, the 2002 Telly Award Finalist (children's and nature categories), and finalist for the 2002 Wildscreen Panda Awards. The book made the New York Times bestseler list for 12 weeks. Online bookstore
In 2000, Penny Sansevieri published her first novel The Cliffhanger via iUniverse.com. By sending out a few postcards to the right people, she got her book at the top of Amazon.com. In 1980, John Saxon self-published his Algebra 1 textbook for high school students. Working from his dining room table alongside a sixteen-year-old student, he built his company into the largest family-owned publisher of math, phonics, spelling, and early childhood development programs. The company has 250 employees and annual sales of $75 million. Since 1971, Susan Polis Schutz and her illustrator husband Stephen have sold 1.5 billion greeting cards and 20 million gift/trade books via their company Blue Mountain Arts. Diane Schwarzbein sold 6,000 copies of her self-published The Schwarzbein Principle weight loss book before selling a copy to literary agent Barbara Neighbors Deal. Deal, having lost 97 pounds in 10 months, sold a three-book package to Health Communications: the original book plus vegetarian and non-vegetarian cookbooks to help people stay on the diet. Ronnie Sellers launched his company, Ronnie Sellers Productions, by self-publishing the first edition of The Official Cat Codependents Calendar in 1991. Since then, he has built up a company that currently publishes fifty or more calendars every year. Canadian poet Robert Service self-published his first book of verse, Songs of a Sourdough, as a private print run for his family and friends. The book, however, began to sell right away. Even the pressmen at the printers were laughing and reciting his verse. Irish-born British playwright and author George Bernard Shaw started out as a jobbing printer who self-published some of his own work. He went on to write many famous plays, including Pygmalion and Saint Joan. In 1925, he won the Nobel Prize for literature. English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, author of “Ode to the West Wind,” “To a Skylark,” “Adonais,” and Prometheus Unbound, paid for the publication of his first book. Mary Shoman's self-published book, The Single Woman's Guide to the Available Men of Washington, earned a New York Times Book Review, was featured on MTV and CNN, was picked up in 300 newspapers nationwide (via an AP news story), and was featured on dozens local and regional media outlets. Susan Shumaker and Than Saffel sold so many copies of their self-published guide Vegetarian Walt Disney World that they could no longer handle production. So they sold the second edition to Globe Pequot. That edition featured a foreward by Paul McCartney. Cherry Simmonds originally self-published her memoir Nobody in Particular, combined with a radio series produced by Radio New Zealand. With the help of an agent, she sold reprint rights to Bantam in the U.S. In 1995, Jeff Smith formed Cartoon Books to publish his first Bone comic book. Since then, the Bone fantasy adventure series has been collected into eight volumes, which have sold more than 400,000 copies and earned the Eisner and Harvey awards. In 2004, former star running back Robert Smith of the Minnesota Vikings self-published his biography, The Rest of the Iceberg: An Insider's View on the World of Sport and Celebrity. Not able to find a traditional publisher, he self-published through Ink Water Books, a print-on-demand company. Smith turned down a $20 million contract to continue playing when he retired from professional football in 2001. Robert Smyth started Yellow Moon Press in 1978 by publishing a book of his poetry. Since then he has published 53 titles on the art of oral tradition and spoken word as it relates to storytelling, poetry, and music. He has published Robert Bly, Ruth Stone, Coleman Barks, Rafe Martin, Gioia Timpanelli and other storytellers. After Camika Spencer got her self-published novel, When All Hell Breaks Loose, on the Blackboard bestseller list, Villard contacted her and bought the rights. Heartland cook Jyl Steinback published her early cookbooks on her own. She has since gone on to become one of Perigee's bestselling cookbook authors with books such as Cook Once, Eat for a Week. Australian author Tony Stephens has sold almost 40,000 copies of his self-published book in Australia alone. He is now working to open the U.S. market for his books. H. Leighton Steward, Morrison Bethea, Samuel Andrews, and Luis Balart originally self-published and sold 165,000 copies of Sugar Busters! Cut Sugar to Cut Fat in 18 months. The book went on to become a national bestseller when published by Ballantine. Gregory Stock originally self-published his The Book of Questions. The book later became a #1 bestseller as a Workman edition, selling more than a million copies. Former cocaine dealer and federal prisoner for seven years Vickie Stringer self-published Let That Be the Reason. She began by hawking her book in beauty parlors and barbershops and to street book vendors. Soon she formed Triple Crown Publications to publish their titles as well. In 16 months, she published 14 additional titles and sold more than 300,000 copies. In 1918, William Strunk self-published The Elements of Style for his college classes at Cornell University. The book was later revised by his student E.B. White and continues to sell many thousands of copies every year as a standard reference source for writers. Albert Taylor self-published Soul Traveler, a guide to out-of-body experiences, in 1996. His publicity efforts sold many books, but also got major publishers interested in the rights. Dutton ended up paying “big bucks” for the rights. In 2002, British vicar Graham Taylor self-published his young adult novel Shadowmancer, a tale of Christianity and black magic set in the 17th century. The book went on to sell well in Waterstone's. Faber & Faber then published the book in paperback in the United Kingdom and sold 20,000 copies within a month. In the fall of 2003, Penguin Putnam bought US rights for $500,000. English poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson, author of In Memorium and “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” paid for the publication of his first book. The first edition of the Old Farmer's Almanac was published by Robert B. Thomas in 1792. He sold 3,000 copies of that first edition and 9,000 copies of the second edition. The almanac continues to thrive and now sells millions of copies every year. In 2003, elementary school principal Salome Thomas-El sold 30,000 copies of her hardcover book, I Choose to Stay. As she noted, “I have used many of your tips from 1001 Ways to Market Your Books and web site to sell 20,000 copies of I Choose to Stay in two months. . Wendy Thompson self-published her Back to Life novel via POD with Infinity Publishing as a way of getting the attention of a few major publishers. One of them bit. Her novel was published by Kensington Books in the fall of 2004. Henry David Thoreau originally self-published Walden on August 9, 1854. The book has become an American classic that sells many thousands of copies every year. Delores Thornton, author, publisher, columnist, book reviewer, and talk radio host, “started my company, Marguerite Press in 1996 to promote my self-published book, Ida Mae. In 2003, I offered services to other authors (), where I promote them as I travel and publicize my works. I published my second work, Babe, in 2000 and my third, Anybody Seen Junebug?, in 2003.” Russian count and novelist Leo Tolstoi paid 4500 rubles for the first printing of his major novel, War and Peace, which is considered by some as one of the greatest novels of world literature. His other major novel was Anna Karenina. Sylvia Tomlinson began Redbud Publishing to self-pubish her first two books on goat ranching and chicken plucking. Since then, she has graduated to publishing titles by other authors, including The Ice Box Murders by Hugh and Martha Gardenier. Jim Trelease expanded his self-published The Read-Aloud Handbook, which then became a bestseller when published by Penguin in 1982. Scientific visionary Edward Tufte has self-published many of his bestselling books through his own company, Graphics Press. He also conducts many seminars on presenting data and information. His work has been acclaimed for its revolutionary views by major media. Mark Twain paid for the publication of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when he got tired of the foolishness of his previous publishers. He then invested the money earned from the sale of that book to help develop one of the first working typewriters. In 1992, 22-year-old Omar Tyree formed MARS Productions to self-publish his first novel, Colored, on White Campus. In 1995, he signed a two-book, six-figure deal with Simon & Schuster. Patricia Tyrrell self-published her novel, The Reckoning, a meditation on the theme of nature versus nurture, narrated by a 15-year-old girl who was abducted from a campsite as an infant and raised by a homeless drifter. Shortlisted for the Encore Prize, the book and a second book were picked up at auction by Weidenfeld & Nicolson for UK rights. Asha Tyson self-published and got national media attention for her book on How I Retired at 26. She had to reprint eight times in seven months. In the fall of 2002, her book hit the Essense Bestseller List. She follows the rule of 10 (John Kremer's rule of 5 doubled), since she figured she had to work twice as hard to be successful. After selling 70,000 copies of his self-help book, Life's Greatest Lessons, Hal Urban and his agent sold rights to Fireside/Simon & Schuster in a good deal.
D. J. Vanas, with the help of agent Jimmy Vines, sold rights to her self-published book The Tiny Warrior to Andrews McMeel. Joe “Mr. Fire!” Vitale has done it all. After having several books published by mainstream publishers, he got fed up with their poor marketing efforts and self-published all his next books. Turbocharge Your Writing went though 13 editions and sold 25,000 copies. The Seven Lost Secrets of Success went through 9 editions. And Spiritual Marketing is his #1 bestselling book at Amazon. Kathryn Wall self-published the first two books in her Bay Tanner mystery series via iUniverse. Her books were picked up by a small local press. Soon, everyone in the low country of South Carolina were reading the novels. One of those people was the mother of Linda McFall, an editor of the Minotaur line of St. Martins. Linda read the books, fell in love with them, and offered a nice deal to Wall for Book 3 of the series. Ila Wallen self-published her book, The Moon in My Room, as the first in a series of Willowbe Woods Campfire Stories from Bent Willow Publishing. Her first book signing event at her local Borders drew 250 people and resulted in the sale of more than 100 copies. That book went on to sell thousands of copies and set the stage for additional books. Michael Werner and Thomas Warrner wrote their first computer training book in 1988, bundled it with a disk, and sold it via direct mail. Three million copies and 20 titles later, they hired other writers and then sold their company (InfoSource) to Blackwell Publishers (UK) in 1993. Top Shelf, one of the top independent publishers of graphic novels, was begun in 1995 when designer Brett Warnock self-published a comics anthology. Top Shelf has since sold more than a million copies of the books it has published. Joanne Watson originally self-published How to Help Your Husband Make More Money, So You Can Be a Stay-at-Home Mom and then sold the rights to Warner Books. Aliske Webb self-published her novel, Twelve Golden Threads: Lessons for Successful Living from Grama’s Quilt, and went on a two-and-a-half year tour of quilt shows to sell the book. Soon thereafter, HarperCollins signed her to a four-book contract for a healthy sum. Now as publisher of BookMice , she is helping other authors to get their books out to the public. Michael Webb began by publishing a small 8-page newsletter of romantic tips and ideas. From that small beginning, his relationship business has grown to include six bestselling books on romance, including The Romantic's Guide: Hundreds of Creative Tips for a Lifetime of Love. John E. Welshons sold 17,000 copies of his self-published book, Awakening from Grief, after working for 25 years as a counselor, teacher, and lecturer on grief. He then sold rights to the book to Inner Ocean Publishing, who gave it a fall 2003 national send-off via a 21-city tour, national print campaign, and national radio tour. For more about the author, see his web site at . In 1973, Tony and Maureen Wheeler self-published Asia on the Cheap. The company they founded, Lonely Planet, now publishes more than 650 titles covering all areas of the world, more than any other publisher.. American poet Walt Whitman self-published many editions of his collected poems, Leaves of Grass (first edition published on July 4, 1855). While Whitman didn't get wealthy from self-publishing, he did become known as America's poet. His Leaves of Grass continues to sell thousands of copies every year — 100 years after his death! Madeline Wikler and Judyth Saypol Groner began Kar-Ben Copies by self-publishing My Very Own Haggadah in 1974. By 2002, that first book had sold more than two million copies. After writing his first play, Vera: or the Nihilists, Oscar Wilde self-published a book of poems. Critics made little of his first play and his poetry; nonetheless, he went on to write several great plays and books, including The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest. Roy H. Williams self-published his The Wizard of Ads and later sold rights to Bard Press, which went on to sell 26,000 copies of the book. Several years later, Bard published his second book, Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads, which became a business bestseller. k.j.a. Wishnia self-published her first mystery novel, 23 Shades of Black, which was nominated for Edgar and Anthony awards. She sold the rights to her second novel, Soft Money, to Dutton. Stephen Wolfram shipped 50,000 copies of his first self-published book, A New Kind of Science, during its first week of publication. It hit #1 at Amazon.com even before Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times reviewed the book. By the end of one year, the book had sold more than 150,000 copies. Teri Wood self-published her first novel True to the Game in 1998 through her own Meow Meow Productions. She sold 70,000 copies from the trunk of her car. Caroline Woods was a junior in high school when she finished writing Haunted Delaware: Delightfully Dreadful Legends of the First State. She is the youngest author to self-publish with Infinity Publishing. Her book and academic standing helped her to win a full four-year college scholarship to the University of Virginia. British novelist Virginia Woolf self-published her first few books and survived to become a famous author. Her stream-of-consciousness style of fiction was featured in Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse. Christopher Wright, writing as Johnathan Rand, has self-published a series of eighteen children's books under the Michigan Chillers and American Chillers taglines. He and his wife drove around their part of the state selling books to gas stations, restaurants, gift shops, and hotels where tourists could buy the books. Doing this, they sold more than 5,000 copies in the first month and a half. By March of 2003, they had sold more than one million copies of the books in the series. Tim and Nina Zagat self-published their first Zagat Survey in 1979 as two mimeographed pages. By 1998, their Zagat New York Survey alone sold more than 600,000 copies. In 1997, Zane (one name only) began self-publishing her erotic stories online via her web site. She got 8,000 hits within three weeks for her first story. Later in 1999, publishing them in book form under the name of Strebor Books, she sold 60,000 copies of Addicted, 20,000 copies of Sex Chronicles, and 38,000 of Shame on It All. Pocket Books then bought rights to all three books in a lucrative contract. Online bookstore Canadian author Ernie Zelinsky self-published three books, including The Joy of Not Working, The Lazy Person's Guide to Success, and The Joy of Thinking Big. After selling thousands of copies, he sold the rights to Ten Speed Press. Ernie now works two to four hours a day. Online bookstore Craig Zirbell originally self-published The Texas Connection, a book about LBJ's role in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Through word of mouth, he was able to sell enough books for it to make it onto the bestseller lists. He then sold mass market reprint rights to Warner Books. Online bookstore Other self-publishers: William Blake, Stephen Crane, Rudyard Kipling, D.H. Lawrence, Anais Nin, Ezra Pound, Carl Sandburg, Upton Sinclair, and Gertrude Stein.
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