Serial authors, Oprah fame, and film/TV adaptations
Finally, my long awaited Part 2 in my series on 10 successful self-published authors. Click here for Part 1 if you missed the first list!
This post was researched and co-written by Aïla Mroué.
1. Lisa Genova
Harvard-trained neuroscientist Lisa Genova specialized in brain aging and disorders before becoming an author and rising to prominence with her bestselling novel, Still Alice. Originally written as a screenplay, the book explores the challenges of early-onset Alzheimers, a story inspired by Genova’s grandmother’s battle with the disease. Genova later adapted Still Alice into a novel.
Agents and publishers initially rejected the book, deeming her topic too niche. Undaunted, she published Still Alice in 2007 through iUniverse, changing the trajectory of her life and others. Genova actively promoted her book, hand-selling copies and engaging with audiences at Alzheimers conferences. Her efforts paid off, and the book gained traction through word-of-mouth and support from the medical community.
Simon & Schuster acquired the rights and republished it in 2009, leading to over 40 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and a film adaptation starring Julianne Moore, who won an Oscar for her role.
Since then, Genova has published several more novels: Left Neglected, Love Anthony, Inside the O’Briens, and Every Note Played, solidifying her influence in neurological storytelling.
2. Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini wasn’t your average teenager. Homeschooled in rural Montana, he devoured fantasy and sci-fi classics, forged swords, built bows, and camped in the wilderness, all while daydreaming about far-off worlds. At 15, those daydreams turned into Eragon, a novel he wrote mostly for himself.
His parents ran a small publishing company and wanted to print it. Christopher spent the next year editing, drawing maps and cover art, and getting it ready for readers. Eragon was released in 2002. To get the word out, Paolini hit the road with his family, traveling to towns in a van packed with books. He spoke at schools, signed copies in libraries, and sat for hours at bookstore tables, sometimes in full medieval costume.
This slow, in-person approach worked, and along the way the book landed in the hands of Carl Hiaasen’s stepson, who passed it to Hiaasen, who shared it with his editor at Knopf. In 2003, Knopf re-released Eragon, and it quickly became a New York Times bestseller.
The book kicked off The Inheritance Cycle series, which has sold millions of copies and made Paolini a Guinness World Record holder as the youngest author of a bestselling series. He’s since moved into science fiction, but Eragon remains the story that took him from a small-town teen with a homemade book to a globally known author.
3. Hugh Howey
Hugh Howey worked in a Florida bookstore when he started uploading short fiction to Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). It was just a side project; in 2011 he posted a short novella called Wool, about people living in an underground silo after the surface of the Earth turned toxic. Readers found it, liked it, and began asking for more. Howey kept writing, releasing new chapters every few weeks until Wool grew into a novel.
The series sold tens of thousands of copies a month when literary agents started calling. Howey signed with Kristin Nelson, who negotiated a rare hybrid deal with Simon & Schuster in 2012. They handled the print editions, while Howey kept full control of the ebook rights and sales.
The Wool series, often referred to as the Silo series, sold millions worldwide. In 2023, the story was adapted into the Apple TV+ series Silo, starring Rebecca Ferguson. I’m just about to finish Season 2!
4. Robert Kiyosaki
Robert Kiyosaki is the author behind Rich Dad Poor Dad, one of the most influential personal finance books ever. In his late 40s, after a series of business ventures and a stint at Xerox, he developed the CASHFLOW board game in 1996 to teach practical financial skills. A year later, he self-published Rich Dad Poor Dad in 1997, printing 1000 copies through his company, Cashflow Technologies.
Facing rejection from traditional publishers, Kiyosaki relied on grassroots marketing. He sold the book at seminars, promoted it at workshops, and built a community of readers eager for real-world financial advice. The strategy worked, earning him a spot on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The boost in book sales ultimately led to a book deal with Warner Books. Kiyosaki continues to build his Rich Dad brand.
5. LJ Ross
When Louise “LJ” Ross finished her first crime novel, Holy Island, she didn’t want to wait years for a traditional publishing deal or give up control of her work. A former lawyer, she understood contracts and knew the trade-offs.
In 2015, she and her husband set up their own imprint, Dark Skies Publishing, and released Holy Island through Amazon KDP. The book took off on Amazon, quickly climbing the UK charts. Rather than slow down, Ross doubled down, following up with Sycamore Gap the same year and steadily building an audience that devoured each new DCI Ryan mystery.
Today, the DCI Ryan series has sold over ten million copies worldwide. Ross has been named one of the UK’s most-read authors of the past decade. She continues to run Dark Skies Publishing, releasing new titles on her own terms while staying closely connected to her readers.
6. John Locke
At almost 60 years old, John Locke was already running a successful insurance business in Kentucky when he decided to try his hand at fiction. In 2009, he uploaded his first Donovan Creed thriller, Lethal People, to Amazon KDP. With no publisher backing him, Locke priced his ebooks at 99 cents and built an audience one reader at a time through blogs, interviews, and word-of-mouth.
In 2011, Locke became the first self-published author to sell over a million ebooks with his Donovan Creed thrillers and Emmett Love western series, holding multiple spots on Amazon’s bestseller lists. Instead of chasing a traditional deal, he flipped the script. Simon & Schuster came to him, offering a rare arrangement: they distributed his paperbacks while he kept full control of his digital sales.
Today, Locke continues to release new titles in both the Donovan Creed and Emmett Love series. His books have been translated into more than two dozen languages.
7. Michael J. Sullivan
After years of struggling with rejection, Michael J. Sullivan had stopped writing—until he wanted to help his young dyslexic daughter fall in love with reading. He wrote stories she could enjoy and soon realized he had something readers beyond his family could connect with.
Aspirations Media Inc. initially signed the first book in 2008, but for several reasons—including AMI’s inability to print his second book, Sullivan reacquired his rights to self-publish The Crown Conspiracy. As the number of titles and popularity of ereaders grew, things got better. When book #4 in the series came out, he was selling 1000 copies per month. Initial sales jumped to over 2500 copies monthly after the release of book #5.
The Riyria Revelations series was published between 2008 and 2010 and includes The Crown Conspiracy, Avempartha, Nyphron Rising, The Emerald Storm, Wintertide, and Percepliquis.
Orbit Books (a fantasy imprint of Hachette Book Group) acquired the series in 2011, repackaging the six books into three volumes and giving Sullivan a global audience. It also purchased the rights to the Riyria Chronicles, an ongoing series that centers on the early adventures of the two main protagonists of the former series.
The Legends of the First Empire series was released by Del Rey Books (owned by Random House) and is a six-book epic fantasy series set in the same world as the Riyria books, but in the distant past.
Sullivan continues to write full time, balancing traditional and self-publishing avenues, reaching readers worldwide with multiple fantasy sagas.
8. Becky Chambers
Becky Chambers was always drawn to science fiction. In 2012, she launched a $2500 Kickstarter campaign to fund her debut novel, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, the first book in her 4-part Wayfarers series. She self-published on various digital platforms online and the paperback through Amazon KDP in 2014. The novel quickly caught attention, earning a Kitschies Golden Tentacle nomination for Best Debut.
That momentum led to a publishing deal with Hodder & Stoughton and Harper Voyager, who re-released the book in 2015 and helped her reach a wider audience.
Chambers writes full-time and published Monk & Robot this year. Her stories are celebrated for their warmth, inclusivity, and focus on human connection in imaginative worlds.
9. David Goggins
David Goggins spent years as a Navy SEAL, ultra-endurance athlete, and motivational figure before turning his life story into a book. In 2018, he teamed up with co-writer Adam Skolnick (who I heard talk about the book on The Rich Roll Podcast before I read it) to publish Can’t Hurt Me through Lioncrest Publishing, a division of hybrid publisher Scribe Media. Can’t Hurt Me is probably the best self-published memoir I’ve read so far.
The book tells the story of Goggins’ extraordinary journey from a challenging childhood to military and athletic feats, showing how he overcame obstacles and transformed his life. Unlike other indie authors, Goggins drew on his firsthand experiences and shaped the story himself while working with a co-author. He promoted it widely through podcasts, social media, and public appearances, helping the book climb bestseller lists.
Can’t Hurt Me has sold millions of copies worldwide, establishing Goggins as both a best-selling author and a figure whose life story inspires readers seeking resilience and personal growth.
10. Rachel Abbott
Sheila Rodgers, a former systems analyst and interactive media entrepreneur, transitioned into writing in her late 50s. After facing rejections from traditional publishers, she self-published Only the Innocent through Amazon KDP in November 2011 under her pen name, Rachel Abbott.
The book, which introduces Chief Inspector Tom Douglas, follows the detective as he investigates the murder of Sir Hugo Fletcher, a billionaire philanthropist found tied naked to his bed in his London home, uncovering dark secrets along the way.
Initially, book sales were slow, but Abbott’s hands-on marketing tactics, including building an email list and reaching out to readers directly, helped it climb to the #1 spot on Amazon UK’s Kindle chart within 12 weeks, where it stayed for four weeks.
She continued self-publishing subsequent novels in the Tom Douglas series, including The Back Road (2013), Sleep Tight (2014), and Stranger Child (2015), totalling 12. These books collectively sold over five million copies and remain bestsellers on Amazon.
Check out Part 3 in my successful self-published authors series!
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