Congratulations! You’ve written the Great American Novel, or a cookbook that’s sure to revolutionize the way we think about food, or penned a family history, or a How To book for beginning knitters. You’ve proofread and revised, maybe shown your manuscript to some writer friends or paid for the services of a professional editor. It’s ready to go. Now what?

You may have heard about self-publishing. This is a very viable option for many writers who do not want to go the route of traditional book publishing, where it can take years (if ever) for your manuscript to be transformed into a real live book. If you are curious about self publishing, consider the exciting stories of the following authors who, with hard work and self-promotion, met with staggering success through self publishing.

In 1993, Richard Paul Evans, encouraged by the demands of his friends, decided to self-publish his holiday story The Christmas Box. After producing 8,000 copies, his sales skyrocketed. When a handful of book publishers caught wind of the story, Evans found himself in the middle of a two-day bidding war for rights to publish the book. At the end of the auction, Evans signed with Simon & Schuster for a staggering $4.2 million advance for the story and its prequel. To date, The Christmas Box has sold over 7 million copies and has been reprinted in 17 different languages!

If you have a non-fiction manuscript, consider the story of Clifton Hillegass, an author who in 1958 self-published a guide to Hamlet. During the first year of publication, Hillegass sold 58,000 copies of this first Cliff Notes to readers seeking a deeper understanding of Shakespeare’s famous work. Familiar to students everywhere, the yellow and black jackets of Cliff Notes guides now number in the hundreds. Hillegass eventually sold his publishing company for millions of dollars – quite a return on the original $4,000 investment!

If you have been submitting your manuscripts to book publishers, think about these two inspiring stories. Making it in the self publishing market has everything to do with your drive and determination to sell your book – but it is attainable, and great success could follow.

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