The Latest E-book Sensations

Many writers work hard and long for a number of years before making a name for themselves, or even enough money to pay a few bills. Every once in a while, though, a new writer comes along, publishes an e-book and sells enough to attract the interest of a big six publisher. It’s happened again recently. I’m almost reluctant to share the info because I don’t want to readers to think it’s always this easy, however, the latest e-book star to sign a big contract is a seventeen-year-old high school student, named Beth Reeks.

She wrote a teen romance that didn’t involve vampires, werewolves, or fallen angels, and readers loved it. Not long after Reeks self-published The Kissing Booth she had 40 million hits, and an email from Random House UK, asking if she’d written a sequel. She had. Last October, she signed a 3-book deal and The Kissing Booth will come out in paperback later this year. The todaynews.com article says that she churns out novels while doing all the normal teen things like hanging out with friends and going to school. To read the piece, go to http://todaynews.today.com/_news/2013/03/19/17375313-teenager-lands-3-book-deal-with-record-breaking-romance?lite

The other new sensation is 32-year-old writer, Jennifer Armentrout, whose new adult romance, Wait For You, hit Digital Book World’s #1 e-book, bestseller list (the first self-published book to do so), which resulted in a 3-book, six-figure deal with Harper Collins. What’s amazing about this is that she started writing in 2007, has had thirteen books published with small indie presses, and wrote Wait For You in just twenty days, after getting an idea in the shower. She also has more books in the work.

These two ladies are clearly on the fast-track to success, and it’s good to see self-publishers doing well. But for most writers, it just isn’t that easy or simple. Armentrout, for example, had an agent to help her along the way. There’s an interview with her in Digital Book World, which you can read at http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/best-selling-self-published-author-jennifer-l-armentrout-signs-six-figure-three-book-deal-with-harpercollins-for-wait-for-you/