Monday 25 January 2016

Amazon Publishing acquires GIRL NUMBER ONE

I'm utterly thrilled to announce the sale of my self-published debut thriller GIRL NUMBER ONE to Amazon Publishing's crime and thriller imprint, Thomas & Mercer.

GIRL NUMBER ONE: a No. 1 Bestselling Thriller

Some of you will recall the convoluted history of this book, which was rejected last year by well over a dozen publishers. I believed in the book, and wanted to find it a readership, so decided to put the book on the market myself. I did everything on my own: editing, cover, blurb, marketing, and published the book in September 2015 at 99p, under my maiden name Jane Holland.

After a slow start, GIRL NUMBER ONE entered the UK Kindle Top 100, and reached Number 1 in the UK on December 10th.

It stayed in the Number 1 position for five days, when I cannily put the price up to £1.99. It began to drop, but thankfully slowly, and remained in the Top 100 for 84 days. The book has sold coming up to 44,000 paid downloads to date, plus over 4 million reads via Kindle Unlimited.

I was called by an editor from Amazon Publishing back in November, who had read GIRL NUMBER ONE and was very excited about it. Although I had already made some super sales on my own, she felt that teaming up with Amazon would open up new territories for the book, and after some research and discussion with other authors, I had to agree. I was particularly pleased that she wanted to acquire a second thriller from me as well.

I took the offer to my agent, and finally signed the contract last week. GIRL NUMBER ONE will be re-edited and republished with a new cover by Thomas & Mercer later in 2016, keeping all its current reviews. Meanwhile, I will be working on a second psychological thriller for them, which we are currently discussing.

This whole experience has been a real vindication for me of my personal belief in this novel. So if you're out there now, with a rejected novel, and you're unsure whether or not to self-publish, I would say, don't wait for someone else's permission to believe in your book, just go for it. If you go down the same route I did as a self-publisher, you will have little to lose and a great deal to gain.

I've also used this opportunity to make my first-ever podcast, to announce this publishing deal and also discuss my screenplay entry in the Red Planet Prize. Why not check it out? It's only 5 mins long - and I'll be starting a whole series of writing podcasts soon, so you might want to subscribe.

My other novels like MIRANDA are selling well too, on the back of GN1's success

10 comments:

  1. Great news and great advice, Jane. Best of luck with the relaunch and I'll look forward to thriller number two. Oh, and once I finish edits on the next romance novella I am considering a self publishing project, so thanks for the nudge!

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  2. Thanks, Stephanie! I heartily recommend self-publishing - it's a particularly good way to earn a side-income while waiting for a big break, or in-between contracted deals. What's not to like?

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  3. That's fantastic news, Jane, and you absolutely deserve the success after taking matters into your own hands. I've almost finished reading Girl Number One and really enjoying it - will have to get to the end tonight or I won't sleep!

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  4. Isn't this fantastic? Total vindication. xxx

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  5. Thanks so much, Rosemary! I'm glad it's grabbed you!

    And thank you so much, Lesley - you, more than anyone else really, have been in on GIRL NUMBER ONE's progress from the start. It truly is a vindication to see this acquisition - and hopefully this is only the start!

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  6. Mega congratulations, Jane and so well deserved. I found Girl Number One a gripping read and thank you for that.

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  7. So pleased for you Jane - well done!!!

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  8. Jane, how completely brilliant! Massive congratulations! xx

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  9. Thanks so much, everyone! I'm thrilled, it's the best thing that's happened to me in several years! Jx

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Many thanks, Jane Holland