Little more than a year ago, Howey was just another sci-fi author trying
to maneuver his way through the world of self-publishing after a
not-so-successful experience with a small publishing house. Today, his
book Wool is a smashing success with more than 300,000 copies
sold in the U.S. alone and a film optioned by 20th Century Fox and
Ridley Scott. He's the face of a new era in publishing, and he's just as
surprised as anyone.
"The funny thing was, Howey didn't need a publisher. He was doing just
fine on his own. "You do so well self-published, it's hard for
publishers to compete with what you can do on your own," he says. "I
make 70 percent royalty rates on sales here in the U.S., and if I went
with a publisher, that would be cut to almost one-sixth. And so, you
know, we sat down with them, and they had some nice offers, but I'm
handing them a bestseller with a film contract attached and all of these
other things attached and what they're offering is just not as good as
what I'm doing currently. I showed them what I'm earning now, and they
kind of said, I don't know if we can compete with that."
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