As you’re trying to figure out how to get your romance book self-published online, friends and loved ones aren’t always as supportive as you might have hoped. Though the situation has improved since the early days of self-publishing, many still think that publishing your own book is a route mainly for authors whose work isn’t good enough for traditional publishing. Even more people believe that there is very little financial success to be found on this path.
I know from experience how dubious those closest to you can be about your chances of self-publishing success. The first book I published on Amazon KDP was a dystopian romance book, and many of my friends and family encouraged me to hold out for a traditional publishing deal. Feeling discouraged, I began to research self-published romance authors who managed to make a profit off their work. Not only did I find what I was looking for, but I realized that there are tons of romance authors who have become bestsellers and make six-figure incomes. Their success helped to give me the courage to move forward on my own self-publishing journey.
If you are starting to feel worried about whether you’ll be able to make it out there as a self-published romance author, here are 8 romance authors who achieved huge success by self-publishing their books online.
All Deborah Bladon received when she sent out a proposal for a romance novel to Harlequin Desire was a polite rejection. On New Year’s Eve of 2013, she resolved to self-publish—and in February 2014, she released her first book. Her book sold 107 copies in just the first week, and a year later Bladon was a bestselling author with 21 self-published novellas under her belt. Now she has sold over 3.5 million books internationally and has appeared on various bestsellers lists over 70 times. The books in her character-driven Ruin series became New York Times and USA Today bestsellers.
2) Ines Johnson
In her recent guest post on the BookBub Partners Blog, Ines Johnson outlines how she is able to make six figures a year as a self-published author. She writes paranormal romance, as well as western romances under the pen name Shanae Johnson. She explains how she learned through trial and error and managed to find audiences in the romance genres she enjoyed writing. One popular book of hers is the urban fantasy romance, Dragon Bones, which is the first book in her Nia Rivers Adventures series.
3) Alisha Rai
Alisha Rai is the author of many emotionally complex romance novels. Her contemporary interracial romance Serving Pleasure was the first book by an indie author to be included on the Washington Post’s Best Books list. She specializes in contemporary, paranormal, and erotic romances and is an advocate for diversity in the romance genre. When she first started out, she submitted to several traditional publishers but was told that love stories featuring non-white characters wouldn’t sell. She’s now published by Avon Books, but her early self-publishing success helped to show that diverse romances can indeed sell, and launch a thriving career.
4) Tara Sivec
USA Today bestselling author Tara Sivec has released dozens of novels over the past 10 years, most of which are self-published. She worked in the brokerage business for 14 years before she decided to take a stab at writing a book. Now she writes romances in a wide range of genres including romantic comedy, romantic suspense, and contemporary romance. One well-loved title of hers is the steamy romantic comedy Seduction and Snacks, which is the first book in the Chocolate Lovers series.
Courtney Milan is the pseudonym for Heidi Bond and is the bestselling author of several historical and contemporary romance novels. She began writing her first historical romance while working as a law clerk. She published Proof by Seduction with Harlequin and the book received acclaim. Eventually, she grew frustrated by the lack of financial and creative freedom she found with a traditional publisher and decided to switch to self-publishing. She went from making an “average household income” with her books to making nearly $1 million publishing two books a year. She recently self-published the popular Victorian historical romance The Devil Comes Courting, which is the third book in the Worth Saga.
6) Kennedy Ryan
Kennedy Ryan is a USA Today and Amazon Top 12 bestseller of mostly self-published romance books. She doesn’t write fluffy love stories—instead, her novels grapple with heavy issues like domestic violence, Native American rights, and child custody. She won the prominent RITA Award in 2019 for the basketball romance Long Shot (the first black person to ever do so). Like Courtney Milan, Ryan started out in traditional publishing. Hers was a four-book deal with Hachette. But afterward, she opted for self-publishing instead and has never regretted it.
Victoria Ashley has found great success in the self-publishing sphere. She is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling romance author, and published almost all of her books herself. One of her most popular books is Slade, the first title in her steamy Walk of Shame series. Like Deborah Bladon and Ines Johnson, Ashley shows that you don’t need prior experience as a traditionally published author to achieve success—you can get there all on your own.
8) E.L. James
Unless you live under a rock, you have definitely heard of author Erika Mitchell, best known under her pseudonym of E.L. James. She wrote the megahit Fifty Shades series, which have since been adapted into blockbuster films and are some of the bestselling books of all time. What many people don’t know is that the series began as a Twilight fanfiction story entitled Master of the Universe. After the story found success online, James developed the idea into an original trilogy. James then partnered with a small e-publishing company, Writer’s Coffee Shop, to publish her books. Her novels have since been snatched up by Vintage Books, but her experience shows the truly massive amount of success a writer can achieve by posting a book online.