: What are examples of fiction books picked up by publishers after being self-published? I've seen some references to commercial publishers picking up a self-published novel if it's been selling

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Depending on what you are meaning by being self-published I believe that Scott Sigler, Mur Lafferty and Nathan Lowell are examples as well.

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Michael Wallace has just signed a five book publishing deal with Thomas & Mercer, the new publishing imprint from Amazon. He writes mystery/suspense and has been solely self-published until now.

Michael Sullivan has signed a five book deal with Orbit Books. He writes fantasy novels and has been solely self-published until now.

J. Carson Black just signed a book publishing deal with Thomas & Mercer. I don't recall how many books were in the deal, but I believe it was three. I believe she had been previously published but got dropped and then went into self-publishing. Now she's back in traditional publishing.

Of course, everyone has no doubt heard about Amanda Hocking's multi-million dollar deal to publish three new contemporary or urban fantasy novels. In addition, a couple of publishers tried to convince John Locke to sign with them, but he declined. Having sold over a million e-books on his own, I guess he didn't really feel the need to change anything.

There are several others that have done this recently, but these were the ones that immediately came to mind. I may add a couple more later.

Update: Scott Nicholson, another indie author, has just signed a two book deal with Thomas & Mercer. Scott writes primarily thrillers, and he does have a background in traditional publishing. However, he went indie and found success with a couple of his self-published books, and now he is back with a publisher.

Louise Voss shot to the top of the Kindle charts by self-publishing her book after being rejected by literary agents. It attracted the attention of publishers HarperFiction, which offered her a six-figure, four-book deal. As a result, her ebook Catch Your Death will also be printed and stocked in bookshops by a traditional publisher.

Jessica Meigs self-published two zombie novellas and was picked up by Permuted Press for a three book deal.

Last edit, I promise!
JA Konrath has been an openly outspoken proponent of self-publishing for some time. I knew that he had compiled a list at one time of self-published authors with no previous experience or exposure to traditional publishing. I'll let his list serve as a much better compilation of success stories.

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Amanda Hocking's the big name on this one, I'd say. YA supernatural, as I understand it, but I haven't read her work myself.

There's also Eragon, although I recall hearing some debate about just how 'self' published the book was. (I can't remember the details of the debate... anybody?)

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Contest by Matthew Reilly:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contest_(novel)
Once, long ago, I read that Dan Brown's Digital Fortress was originally self-published... but if this is true it has since been excised from the record...

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