Darcie Chan is a case study in publishing’s changing rules, said Alexandra Alter in The Wall Street Journal. Chan, a 37-year-old environmental lawyer, has sold more than 413,000 copies of her first novel after self-publishing it exclusively as an e-book this spring. Sales of The Mill River Recluse, about a wealthy Vermont woman who leaves her fortune to the residents of her small town, haven’t made Chan rich: The novel costs only 99 cents as a download from either of the leading online booksellers. But the $130,000 that Chan has already made, before taxes, is far more than she’d likely have pocketed as an advance from any traditional publisher, including the dozen that rejected the work. And the success of the book now has film studios knocking on her door.
Chan’s story offers plenty of lessons for other do-it-yourself authors, said Jason Boog in Mediabistro.com. Cutting the retail price to 99 cents from an initial $2.99 was critical. “I did that to encourage people to give it a chance,” she says. “I saw it as an investment in my future as a writer.” She also spent $1,000 for ads on websites aimed at e-readers, and then another $575 to get the book reviewed by the established journal Kirkus Reviews. Sales took off in August, leaving only one real downside. “I would still love to have a book traditionally published,” Chan says. “I have people writing me begging me for a hard copy, book clubs and libraries calling me, and I don’t have a hard copy to provide for them.”
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