books
Self-published authors land major book deals proving romance is alive and well
Meredith Wild and Jasinda Wilder (pic) have both gone from the self-publishing realm to land significant book deals over the past week, following in the vaunted footsteps of E.L James.
Best-selling indie author Jasinda Wilder has signed a seven-figure deal for the contemporary romance trilogy "Madame X", which will begin with a book of the same name out November 3 this year and is expected to wrap up in early 2016.
The series is being called "a dark, sexy, and atmospheric modern-day fairy tale about a mysterious woman drawn to two very different men."
Michigan-based Wilder – in fact the husband-wife writing duo Jack and Jasinda Wilder, with Jasinda lending her face and name – has self-published more than 40 novels and novellas, including the popular "Falling Into You", "Alpha", "Stripped" and "Wounded" and sold more than two million e-books.
The same week as that news comes another indie success: New Hampshire-based author and former tech entrepreneur Meredith Wild (pic, below)has landed a deal that will see the first four books of her best-selling "Hacker" series, all self-published, released by a major publisher, with a fifth, forthcoming book also part of the deal.
The final novel in Wild's "Hacker" series, "Hard Love" will be out on September 15 in e-book and paperback editions, while "Hardwired", "Hardpressed", "Hardline" and "Hard Limit" have just been released as e-books and paperback versions are to follow in July and August.
The series – which has sold sold 1.2 million e-books and approximately 200,000 print-on-demand trade paperbacks – is about "young, savvy businesswoman Erica Hathaway and the intensely powerful relationship she develops with charismatic billionaire Blake Landon."
Sound familiar? Indeed, these romance novel success stories bring to mind E.L. James's "Fifty Shades of Grey" books, which started out as self-published volumes and have since gone from indie to ubiquitous, spearheading a romance novel boom that appears to be going strong. – AFP Relaxnews, April 12, 2015.
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