Just read a NY Times Magazine profile on Amanda Hocking, author of the popular Trylle Trilogy book series – which I will not read, but might have to bring my children to see in the theatre one day.
Amanda’s story is similar to those of many authors – she wrote several books, kept submitting, and kept on getting rejected over the course of seven years (she completed her first novel when she was 17). Her breakthrough, however, did not come from a book agent’s discovery. She got her break because of the e-books self-publishing platform by the likes of Amazon. In just over one year, she has published 9 e-books and sold over a million copies, grossing over $2 million.
It sounds simple to write a young-adult “paranormal” romance novel. Simple as in, if I just put my mind to it – read a couple of popular ones, get the formula down, lock myself in a cabin for a few months – I can crank one out just as good as any. Well, self-publishing is as easy as ever, and many have tried to publish their young-adult romance novels on Amazon, but there is just one Amanda Hocking.
It might seem easy, but writing is hard, and telling a good, compelling story is even harder. And for those who can write and tell a good story, it’s really difficult to have the persistence to keep on writing, day after day, like a job, even after years of rejection, and then to have enough energy and courage to self publish. None of that is easy.
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