Can Self-Published Books Be New York Best Sellers?

As someone who’s been following the publishing industry for years, I can confidently say that there’s no truth to the claim that self-published books cannot become New York bestsellers. Take Andy Weir’s The Martian for example. Self-published as a serial, it went on to become a huge hit and was even turned into a film. Of course, there’s a lot of marketing and word-of-mouth involved, but many self-published authors have started to build large audiences of fans on social media platforms such as TikTok. Whilst it’s difficult to break into the lists, if an author has a solid strategy of creating viral campaigns, a good cover and lots of engagement online, then yes, it’s possible for a self-published book to become a New York Times bestseller. In fact, The New York Times have had to alter their criteria for the lists over the years in order to include more indie successes.

I’ve read lots of self-published books, many of which are as good or even better than books published by big publishing houses. The New York Times bestseller list is simply a measure of a book’s sales velocity and distribution. ‘Still Alice’ by Lisa Genova is a good example of a book that was self-published before becoming a huge success and making the list. E-books and audiobooks have also opened up the self-publishing route to many authors.

The indie publishing scene is often highly community-driven and very grassroots. This means that often self-published books get a lot of love from readers who ‘discover’ them, and the book gets lots of buzz on platforms like Goodreads, even without the author having a huge corporate marketing budget. But what’s needed to make a self-published book a success is professionalism: great editing, a fabulous blurb and pricing right. The odds are against you, but the possibility is so great that it’s really exciting for writers.

My own experience of the “traditional” publishing world and the self-publishing world has given me plenty of insight into how great it is that self-published books can now smash through the glass ceiling and top the New York Times bestseller list – just as E.L. James did with her Fifty Shades of Grey book, published online herself, before it became a huge traditional publishing success. Now digital technology has enabled authors to reach millions of readers worldwide via online stores such as Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.

Note that getting on the list is not easy and takes into account all of the sales channels for books, including indie bookstores, and online retailers. The quality of the book, along with an effective marketing strategy are critical. Getting “lucky” and capitalizing on something trending on BookTok (or another platform) can get an unknown author published fast, and headline news almost overnight. While many still perceive self-publishing as having little value, the quality of many independently published books is high, and it is up to the author to play many roles including that of an editor.

Indie success stories abound, and many reach massive reader audiences while landing on the bestseller lists for years, such as The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield. Ultimately, as with anything, success is tied to a well-written, deeply resonating story that is put into market with proper execution.