As a writer, you are bound to have a favorite author, whom you admire, look up to, draw inspiration from and most importantly, enjoy reading. But in most cases, writers tend to miss out on gaining motivation, and even if they don't, it is mostly short-lived. Best-selling authors may be inspiring, but they have a 'larger-than-life' aura that can intimidate even the best of literary geniuses.

What one needs is an example that one can relate to, an example of someone who started out like any other aspiring writer sipping coffee in a secluded corner of a nearby cafe. The world is well-aware that the eBooks business is in full throttle, and whether you like it or not, it has given opportunities and a platform to many writers out there; irrespective of their writing skills.

But, today we would like to share perfect examples of authors who have made it big in the writing business - all on their own. Not only are they good writers, but also creative publishers. A potent combination in the digital world. Have a look at these inspiring authors, who will also motivate you to reach out to your rightful audience.

Tim Ferriss

His debut book "The 4-Hour Workweek" was an instant success, a book that makes you wanna quit your job and abandon the 'rat race' to become a self made entrepreneur by working fewer hours and becoming the 'new rich'. According to Wikipedia "He marketed his book heavily through bloggers with whom he created personal relationships."

Tim Ferriss, holds a world record in Guinness Book of World Records for tango, he's a National Chinese Kick-boxing champion and has had his show 'Trial by Fire' aired on History Channel. He is only 32 years of age and speaks 5 languages.

"I ran a Google Adwords compaign, where your ad appears based on keywords that people were searching for. I ran a dozen different ads with a dozen different potential titles as the advertising headline, with the potential subtitles as the ad text. The click-through page was nothing, but I wasn't concerned with the conversion or cost per acquisition. I was only concerned with the click through rate-which of those dozen headlines was most popular. So for less than $150 in one week using keywords as a fixed variable, I was able to identify "The 4-Hour Workweek, Escape 9-to-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich" as the most successful title so far."

Learn more about Tim Ferriss and his fascinating book.


John Locke























John Locke is the first self-published writer who has sold more than 1 million eBooks through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing Platform and is the eighth author to become a member of Amazon's “Kindle Million Club.”

Locke has authored 7 international best-sellers (crime fiction), out f which three of his books made it to top 3 in Amazon/Kindle Best Seller's List; all of his seven books have made it to this list. Other than his sensational writing, what makes Locke an outstanding author is that he follows a strict $0.99 pricing model. According to his website, “Every 7 seconds, 24 hours a day, a John Locke novel is downloaded somewhere in the world!”.

He has recently published a non-fiction book called, “How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months” where he shares his experience of becoming a successful eBook author without any agents or literary publishers in the picture.

"These days the buying public looks at a $9.99 eBook and pauses. It's not an automatic sale. And the reason it's not is because the buyer knows when an eBook is priced ten times higher than it has to be. And so the buyer pauses. And it is in this pause – this golden, sweet-scented pause – that we independent authors gain the advantage, because we offer incredible value.”

"I'm passionate about sharing everything I learn along the way in order to help you save time, money and heartache.

I always wanted to write fiction but I thought I had to be a Booker prize winning literary fiction author and that was just too daunting so I didn’t even try. Then after venturing into digital publishing, blogging and networking with other authors, I gained the confidence to try writing fiction again. I looked at my bookcase and realized I read action-adventure thrillers and I love archaeological, religious and psychological themes. So then I decided to write a book I’d love to read and Pentecost was born! It’s the first in a series so now the floodgates are open."

There is so much that one can learn from her, her journey to becoming an author and transcending herself from a business consultant is truly inspiring. She herself draws inspiration from the first author in the list: Tim Ferris.

Read our exclusive interview with Joanna Penn.


Amanda Hocking





























Amanda was hardly 7 years of age, when she started her love affair with books, by the age of 12 she realized that she is meant to do just one thing with her life: write. By the end of her high school, she'd already written about 50 short stories, and numerous novels. Her first novel was "Dreams I Can't Remember", and she finished writing it when she was 17. Now let's fast forward few years, by 2010, Amanda had written about 17 novels...all unpublished.

Like every aspiring author, she submitted her novels to numerous publishers, but only got rejection letters in return. She received so many rejections, that it became a part of her life. Finally (and thankfully), she decided to sell her books on Amazon. On 15th April 2010 she made her first book available for Kindle readers on Amazon.

To her, and everyone's surprise, by January 2011, she'd sold over 185,000 ebooks, with majority of sales coming from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. One could say that it was her pricing policy that gave her that initial push in the self-publishing world. She charged only $0.99 for her first book, a price that most readers won't even give a second thought before buying.

"Everything I'd heard about self-publishing is that it was impossible to make a living, reach readers, or produce a quality product. But last year, I heard about how some other authors like Joe Konrath and Karen McQuestion are doing well with ebooks. So I thought that I had nothing to lose. I'd written about 12 books when I decided to self-publish, and I thought it would be better than them sitting on my computer. Worst case scenario, nobody would read them, and that's what was happening anyway."

Read Hocking's inspiring story in detail.

These are some of the most inspiring self-published authors who every aspiring writer must gain motivation from, for it is such examples who restore our faith in dreams becoming a reality. They are no super humans, they are like you and me, the only difference is that instead of waiting for an opportunity to knock on their doors, they went ahead knocking opportunities' door .

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