RALEIGH -- Elisa Lorello of Raleigh had no literary agent, no publisher and nothing to lose when she decided to self-publish her first novel, "Faking It," as an e-book for Amazon's Kindle.
At first, Lorello got only a modest response. But when she dropped her price from $1.99 to 99 cents, sales began to soar. Early last year, "Faking It" hit No. 6 on Kindle's bestseller list, beating out big-name authors and giant publishing houses.
Today, digital sales of "Faking It" and its sequel, "Ordinary World," have topped 52,000, a figure many established authors would envy.
Lorello, who teaches at N.C. State University, counts herself part of a self-publishing revolution that's upending the book business - giving authors more power and bigger profits while boosting the low-rent reputation of the self-published book.
Until about a decade ago, authors usually needed traditional publishers to ensure wide distribution and a shot at significant sales. If publishers rejected a book, the most common way to get into print was to pay a vanity press. That process often ended with hundreds of copies stacked in the author's garage.
Now, digital books and print-on-demand technology let authors self-publish with little or no upfront costs. Self-publishing companies, such as Raleigh-based Lulu Enterprises and Smashwords, and Amazon's CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing, don't print the books or take a cut until they sell.
E-books are a big part of this trend, with genre titles, such as romance, fantasy and science fiction, selling particularly well. Amazon now sells more e-books than paperbacks. In 2010, electronic books accounted for 9 percent of new books - up from 3 percent the year before. Today, if you can use a computer, you can publish your book.
Lorello was a Massachusetts graduate student when she got an idea for a story about a sexually uptight young woman who becomes friends with an uninhibited guy. Lorello was working on a master's degree in writing with an eye toward teaching composition. She wasn't aspiring to be a novelist.
But the idea wouldn't go away. Finally, she says, "I was like, I have to get this stupid thing on the page."
Early sales
By 2006, Lorello was teaching in NCSU's first-year writing program. After receiving multiple rejections from literary agents, she decided to self-publish her novel through Lulu. The Raleigh company, started nine years ago by billionaire Bob Young, Red Hat Software co-founder, lets authors e-publish or print copies as they need them.
Lorello worked at marketing, placing "Faking It" in two bookstores and publicizing it with a website and blog. Sales were slim until mid-2009, when she put the book in the Kindle bookstore as a $1.99 e-book.
"The first month, I sold 70 copies," she said. "Of course, I was ecstatic. That was more than I'd sold of the print."
The next month, sales dropped to 10. Once she cut her price to 99 cents, sales began climbing. By late December 2009, "I was watching it go up and up and up in the ranking," she says. By late January 2010, "Faking It" was sixth among Kindle bestsellers.
What's fascinating about Lorello's success is that it wasn't her promotional efforts that sold the book. She believes her sales were propelled by several factors - readers who received Kindles as holiday gifts, a low-risk price, and online reviews.
"It's a beach book with a brain," one Amazon review says. "It is one of my top 5 best book surprises," another says.
For every 99-cent e-book that Lorello sold on Amazon, she pocketed about 35 cents. Last year, she upped her prices to $2.99. For books priced at $2.99 and up, Amazon gives authors a 70 percent cut.
Last summer, her hefty sales caught the attention of AmazonEncore. The imprint, aimed at showcasing overlooked books, has published more than 40 titles.
AmazonEncore has now given Lorello's books new, nicer covers. They've been copyedited and redesigned. "Faking It" is now available for $2.99 as an e-book and $9.49 in paperback. This time, Lorello is not the publisher.
