At our Media App Summit, we shared five case studies of writers who have cracked our Self-Published Bestsellers List. Their stories will help aspiring writers explore this booming marketplace.

1. Self
Published
Bestsellers
Statistics & Case Studies

2. The Self Publishing
Marketplace
 Bowker counts more than 235,000 print
and digital self-published titles being
released annually in the United States.
 Compared to 2006 figures, this year
marked a 287 percent increase.
 Follow this link to read more about the
study.

3. How We Make the Self-
Published Bestsellers List
 We collect the list every Monday afternoon.
 None of these companies have released actual sales
figures for the individual books.
 Our Amazon list takes the highest ranked self-
published bestsellers in Amazon’s Top 100 Paid
Kindle Books list.
 Our Barnes & Noble list is drawn from the bestselling
PubIt! eBooks.
 Our Smashwords list is drawn from the bestselling
titles in the company’s fiction list.

4. Most Popular Genres
 Four genres clearly dominated our Self-
Published Bestsellers List this year.
They are, in order of influence:
 1. Romance
 2. Erotica
 3. New Adult
 4. Thrillers

5. New Adult Fiction Writer
Colleen Hoover

6. Colleen Hoover
 Hoover got permission from the Avett Brothers to use
their song lyrics in her book.
 Hoover signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster’s
Atria Books. Her work dominated our Self-Published
Bestsellers List for weeks this year.
 She is part of the new adult fiction genre.

7. What Is New Adult Fiction?

8.  St. Martin’s Press hosted a contest in 2009
looking for stories that could be marketed to
both YA readers and adult readers.
 The contest described for new adult fiction as
books “with protagonists who are slightly older
than YA and can appeal to an adult audience.”
 Self-published new adult fiction author Cora
Carmack landed a three-book deal, bringing
the term into a New York Times headline.
 See Carmack’s Self-Published Bestsellers List
appearances at this link.

9. Thriller Writer
C J Lyons

10.  Following a 99-cent Kindle Gold Box Daily
Deal sale, thriller novelist C J Lyons swept
five spots on our self-published bestsellers
list.
 She has both self-published and traditionally
published throughout her career.
 See all her Self-Published Bestsellers List
appearances at this link.

11. Science Fiction Writer
Hugh C. Howey

12.  Director Ridley Scott acquired the film rights to Wool, a
self-published science fiction novel about a dystopian future
by Hugh C. Howey .
 He also landed a book deal with Random House UK.
 He wrote last week: “This is not happening ... One year
ago, I was shelving books, arranging displays, dusting a
bookstore, and writing in the mornings and on my lunch
breaks. WOOL 5 hadn’t been written yet. I was just wrapping
up the rough draft of WOOL 4. Cut to a year later. Ridley
Scott and Steve Zaillian option the film rights. 20 foreign
countries pick up WOOL. Random House in the UK and
Australia. #1 on Amazon. #11 on the New York Times list.”

13. Romance Novelist
Barbara Freethy

14.  Barbara Freethy has sold one million digital books through
Barnes & Noble’s PubIt! Program.
 Freethy used the service to self-publish 17 of her backlist titles
and three new digital books for Nook readers.
 She has sold 2.7 million eBooks since January 2011 across six
digital marketplaces.
 See her Self-Published Bestseller list appearances at this link.

15. Technothriller Novelist
Ray Gorham

16.  Ray Gorham cracked our Self-Pub Bestsellers List with 77
Days in September, a $1.99 thriller about an electromagnetic
pulse attack (EMP) on the United States.
 “Gorham lives in the small, farming community of
Shepherd, Montana with his wife and five children. He runs his
log home business by day and writes in the evenings, on
weekends, and whenever the weather keeps him inside.”
 See all his Self-Published Bestsellers List appearances at this
link.