Timeline of Self-Publishing in 2011

2011 was an essential year for self-publishing and it’s good to have all major events collected in one place.

I prepared a timeline, which works very well with a detailed report on top self-published Kindle ebooks of 2011 and will be a part of the infographic about self-publishing I’m going to post at Ebook Friendly by the end of January.

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January

Amazon extends the 70% royalty option from their self-publishing platform, KDP, to include books sold to customers in Canada.

February

Amanda Hocking in top news as a first author to earn millions of dollars from selling only self-published Kindle ebooks.

March

Amanda Hocking sells a four-book series to St. Martin’s Press. The new fantasy series will be called Watersong. The first book is scheduled for release in fall 2012.

It’s calculated that “every 7 seconds, 24 hours a day, a John Locke novel is downloaded somewhere in the world.”

The New York Times bestseller list for ebooks is letting self-published books in.

March is the best month for self-published books in Kindle Store. 27 are listed in Top 100, four of them in Top 10.

Barry Eisler turns down a $500,000 offer from a mainstream publisher in favor of self-publishing his own book.

April

According to Haydn Shaughnessy from The Forbes over one million people wrote an ebook in the past 12 months. “What are they trying to tell us?” asks Shaughnessy.

May

IndieReader introduces the list of bestselling self-published books.

June

John Locke is a first self-publisher sells more than one million Kindle ebooks and joins seven big-name writers in Amazon’s Kindle Million Club.

Locke releases a self-help book How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months! where he reveals the marketing system behind his bestselling, self-published books.

The article from Reuters starts an online discussion about spam in Kindle Store coming from Amazon’s self-publishing platform.

July

IndieReader launches Discovery Awards for self-published authors. Entries are being accepted till February 29th, 2012.

August

Amazon launches Kindle Indie Bookstore, a special section of Kindle Store, featuring books published via Amazon’s self-publishing platform, KDP.

Books from Amanda Hocking’s Trylle series, Switched, Torn and Ascend are being removed from distribution. The series will be republished by St. Martin’s in early 2012, both in print and digital form.

The Book Designer introduces monthly Ebook Cover Design Awards.

John Locke signs a deal with Simon & Schuster, but only for the sales and distribution of print editions of his novels. First books will be available in February 2012.

September

Smashwords, the most popular site with ebooks from indie authors and publishers, reaches three billion words published.

Lulu releases the Lulu Epub Converter. This highly advanced tool not only converts files but also automatically fixes many formatting errors including accepted fonts and extra spacing.

October

Bookwire signs a partnership deal with Apple as a first European ebook aggregator. Authors and publishers from Europe can now use the service to publish their books in iBookstore, which has been recently launched in 26 more countries.

November

Amanda Hocking joins Kindle Million Club.

Amazon don’t pay a self-published author James Crawford for his self-published zombie novel, Blood Soaked and Contagious, which was mistakenly given away.

December

Amazon introduces KDP Select – an offer for authors and publishers using Kindle Direct Publishing platform. In exchange for the exclusive distribution to Amazon, the books will be distributed via Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and their authors can earn a share from monthly funds of $500,000.

The Mill River Recluse, a debut novel by Darcie Chan is the top-selling Kindle book of 2011. Two other self-published books, The Abbey by Chris Culver
Caribbean Moon by Rick Murcer, are in Top 10.

December is the worst month for self-published books in Kindle Store. Only 13 titles entered the list of top 100 bestsellers – the level from before self-publishing exploded in February.