The massive scale of the self-publishing world can easily overwhelm readers, writers and publishing professionals.
To help GalleyCat readers discover self-published authors, we have compiled lists of the top eBooks in three major marketplaces for self-published digital books: Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.
We will update these lists every week, tracking how writers perform inside these booming marketplaces. You can read all the lists below, complete with links to each book.
Amazon Self-Published Bestsellers for Week of June 11, 2012
1. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire: “Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend America, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.”
2. Easy by Tammara Webber: “A girl who believes trust can be misplaced, promises are made to be broken, and loyalty is an illusion. A boy who believes truth is relative, lies can mask unbearable pain, and guilt is eternal. Will what they find in each other validate their conclusions, or disprove them all?”
3. Weekends Required by Sydney Landon: “Claire Walters has worked for Jason Danvers as his assistant at Danvers International for three years, and he has never thought of her as a woman until the day she jumps out of a cake at his friend’s bachelor party.”
4. Whispers from the Ashes by Patricia Hester: “Whispers from the Ashes is based on true events in Pennsylvania history. Underground mine fires have become a fact of life for many mining regions. The one highlighted in this book is the Red Ash fire, located in the borough of Laurel Run. It continues to burn to this day.”
5. Not Planning on You by Sydney Landon: “Suzy Denton seems to have it all together. She loves her job as an event’s planner for Danvers International, and she loves her high school sweetheart and fiance Jeff. Fast forward a month and it’s all gone to hell in a hand-basket.”
6. Big Girls Don’t Cry by Taylor Lee: “A girl abandoned to the streets. A brother brutally murdered. Can she find the killer before he finds her?”
7. Trial Junkies by Robert Gregory Browne: “Ethan “Hutch” Hutchinson hasn’t seen his old college pals in nearly ten years. Now fate has brought them together again as one of the gang is put on trial for a brutal, senseless murder.”
8. Lord of Vengeance by Lara Adrian: “Taken captive by Gunnar Rutledge, a dark knight sworn to destroy her father, Raina d’Bussy must teach forgiveness to a man who knows no mercy and lives only to exact revenge on his enemy.”
9. Wool Omnibus Edition by Hugh Howey: “The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.”
10. The Lion, the Lamb, the Hunted by Andrew E. Kaufman: “a minute was all it took to turn Jean Kingsley’s world upside down–a minute she’d regret for the rest of her life … Because when she returned, she found an open bedroom window and her three-year-old son, Nathan, gone.”
Barnes & Noble Self-Published eBook Bestsellers for Week of June 11, 2012
1. Summer Secrets by Barbara Freethy
2. Take Me by Locklyn Marx
3. A Month at the Shore by Antoinette Stockenberg
4. Awakening by Karice Bolton
5. All She Ever Wanted by Barbara Freethy
6. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
7. Five Days in Summer by Katia Lief
8. Easy by Tammara Webber
9. Season for Love by Marie Force
10. A Charmed Place Antoinette Stockenberg
Smashwords eBook Bestsellers for Week of June 11, 2012
1. Motorcycle Man by Kristen Ashley
2. The Fifth Man by Randy Ingermanson
3. Wisdom by Amanda Hocking
4. Oxygen by Randy Ingermanson
5. Endless Magic by Rachel Higginson
6. On Demon Wings by Karina Halle
7. Settling the Account by Shayne Parkinson
8. The Wetherby Brides Bundle by Jerrica Knight-Catania
9. Perfect Day by Josh Lanyon
10. Conspiracy by Lindsay Buroker
These three eBook lists were recorded on Monday, June 11, 2012.
For the Amazon list, we found the highest ranked self-published bestsellers in Amazon’s Top 100 Paid Kindle Books list. For the Barnes & Noble list, we highlighted the bestselling PubIt! eBooks from self-published authors. Finally, the Smashwords list was drawn from the bestselling titles in the company’s fiction list. None of these companies have released actual sales figures for the individual books.
If you believe your book should (or should not) be included in our rankings, feel free to email GalleyCat with your concerns. Our list will not include writers attempting to game the system by using the names of famous authors.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this post included two PubIt! eBooks that were released by digital publishing companies. (Image via Horia Varlan)