Amanda Hocking didn't go with Amazon, highest bidder

FutureBook caught up with Amanda Hocking recently and talked about going from a self-publishing platform to a traditional publishing house.

Hocking has become a poster child for many indie authors, selling 1.5 million self-published eBooks. Although she has been successful in that realm, Hocking wanted to see her books in a traditional bookstore. She wanted to be in print.

Hocking felt St. Martins Press was the best outlet for that – but it was not the highest bidder for her work.
"Amazon actually was [the highest bidder] but I did not necessarily think they could get the books into the stores," Hocking told FutureBook. "I knew they could do good promotions for e-books, but what I really wanted was a publisher who could get the paperbacks into stores, and I didn't think they quite had the influence."
One of the more interesting notes in the Hocking article was the different between freelance editors and those working in a publishing house.
"There were things I didn't feel confident about doing before my editor got involved," she says. The freelance editors she'd employed previously had been "more cautious" in their approach, she adds.
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Amanda Hocking on Amazonand Smashwords

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