Self-Published Titles Shoot up E-Book Best-Seller List

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Think it takes a big publishing house or an established author to make a best-seller? Think again.

Two of the top ten best-selling e-books last week were self-published, On Dublin Street by Samantha Young and Down to You by M. Leighton. While these books have sold well for some time, this is their first appearance on the top 25 overall e-book best-seller list.

What ties these titles together — aside from their best-seller status and that they were self-published — is that they’re both “adult contemporary romance” books, meaning that they are romance books not intended for young audiences and contain plenty of sex. So are four other books in the top ten, including all three Fifty Shades of Grey titles (Random House) and Sylvia Day’s Reflected in You: A Crossfire Novel (Penguin).

If there ever was a prescription for how to build a best-seller, it might be publish an erotically charged romance novel in 2012.

Also of note is that both of these titles are priced at $3.99, bucking the notion that self-published best-sellers are priced in the $2.99-or-less range.

See the rest of the the best-seller lists for the week ending Oct. 6:

Digital Book World Best-Selling E-Books Priced $10.00 and Above
Digital Book World Best-Selling E-Books Priced $8.00 – $9.99
Digital Book World Best-Selling E-Books Priced $3.00 – $7.99
Digital Book World Best-Selling E-Books Priced $0.00 – $2.99

Read and comment on our methodology.

Top 25 E-Book Best-Sellers
Week Ending 10/6/12
Rank* Title Author Publisher  Price** Change
1 (17) Reflected in You: A Crossfire Novel Sylvia Day Penguin        9.99 +16
2 (23) The Casual Vacancy J.K. Rowling Hachette      17.99 +21
3 (1) Gone Girl: A Novel Gillian Flynn Random House      12.99 -2
4 (n/a) The Mark of Athena (The Heroes of Olympus, Book Three) Rick Riordan Hyperion        9.99 New
5 (n/a) On Dublin Street Samantha Young Self-published        3.99 New
(4) Fifty Shades Freed: Book Three of the Fifty Shades Trilogy E L James Random House        9.99 -2
7 (3) Fifty Shades Darker: Book Two of the Fifty Shades Trilogy E L James Random House        9.99 -4
8 (2) Fifty Shades Of Grey: Book One Of The Fifty Shades Trilogy E L James Random House        9.99 -6
9 (n/a) Down to You M. Leighton Self-published        3.99 New
10 (8) Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) Suzanne Collins Scholastic        5.99 -2
11 (n/a) Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot Bill O’Reilly; Martin Dugard Macmillan      12.99 New
12 (10) Bared to You: A Crossfire Novel Sylvia Day Penguin        7.99 -2
13 (5) A Wanted Man: A Jack Reacher Novel Lee Child Random House      12.99 -8
14 (9) Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) Suzanne Collins Scholastic        5.99 -5
15 (6) No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden Mark Owen; Kevin Maurer Penguin      12.99 -9
16 (11) The Hunger Games (Hunger Games Series #1) Suzanne Collins Scholastic        5.00 -5
17 (n/a) Mad River John Sandford Penguin      14.99 New
18 (n/a) Death On A High Floor: A Legal Thriller Charles Rosenberg Sliding Hill Press        1.99 New
19 (7) Winter of the World: Book Two of the Century Trilogy Ken Follett Penguin      19.99 -12
20 (19) The Time Keeper Mitch Albom Hyperion        9.50 -1
21 (13) Zoo James Patterson; Michael Ledwidge Hachette      12.99 -8
22 (12) Low Pressure Sandra Brown Hachette      12.99 -10
23 (24) Fifty Shades Trilogy Bundle: Fifty Shades of Grey; Fifty Shades Darker; Fifty Shades Freed E L James Random House      29.99 +1
24 (15) Delusion in Death J. D. Robb Penguin      12.99 -9
25 (n/a) Severe Clear (Stone Barrington Series #24) Stuart Woods Penguin      12.99 New

* Previous week’s list rank in parentheses.
** Price reflects minimum price across all retailers throughout the week. Price may vary between retailers and may change throughout the week. Contact Iobyte Solutions for more information on e-book pricing.
Methodology available here.

See the rest of the the best-seller lists for the week ending Oct. 6:

Digital Book World Best-Selling E-Books Priced $10.00 and Above
Digital Book World Best-Selling E-Books Priced $8.00 – $9.99
Digital Book World Best-Selling E-Books Priced $3.00 – $7.99
Digital Book World Best-Selling E-Books Priced $0.00 – $2.99

Read and comment on our methodology.

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2 thoughts on “Self-Published Titles Shoot up E-Book Best-Seller List

  1. What is the meaning of the phrase, “while these books have sold well for some time”? Down to You was released on September 22, 2012. That means it was one sale for a single one-week time period before making the list. There is probably something interesting to say about the differing sales trajectories of non-traditionally published ebooks vs. Big Six books, but that’s not it.

    Btw, adding a column for publication date to this table would making it more interesting.

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