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Okay, this story is every author's dream x4...

1. Publish your book
2. Have readers buy AND read it
3. Receive glowing critical acclaim
4. Make beaucoup bucks.

The twist to this story is fairly obvious: The author self-published her novel before getting a minor deal (paperback rights, and only in her adopted home country), which allowed her novel to win over readers and critics alike with her story and story-telling ability. All that, before making the real money... Well, let the news speak for itself...

Self-publishing was one of the big topics at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, and at least one self-publishing book caught the eye, and wallet, of a major publisher. In what is rumored to be a deal worth $500,000, Jennifer Brehl at HarperCollins’s William Morrow imprint bought North American rights to Tina Seskis’s novel, One Step Too Far.

The debut, which was originally published in April as a Kindle e-book, went on to hit #1 on Amazon. Seskis, who grew up in New Hampshire and now lives in London, followed the e-book publication with a paperback release, and that print edition went on to hit the bestseller list of the British bookstore chain, W.H. Smith.

One Step Too Far follows a lawyer named Emily Coleman who inexplicably abandons her life. Despite what appears to be an idyllic existence—a beautiful two-year-old son, a lovely home, an adoring husband—Emily wakes up one summer morning, grabs her passport, and hops on a train bound from London to Manchester. Determined to leave her old life behind, Emily meets a croupier named Angel who becomes her only new friend, and who also leads her into a dangerous new existence.

[Good old Jennifer] Brehl said that Seskis likes to refer to the book as a “whydunit,” because it leaves a host of questions about its heroine’s actions unanswered. The novel, which works up to a final secret-reveal, was something Brehl said she picked up one night and “didn’t put down until I finished it the next morning.”

John Elek, with the British firm United Agents, represents Seskis.

And there you have it. Fame, fortune, and love, and all in one fell swoop. Good for Tina.

Now how about you? What are you working on there, on your laptop or iPad...? (btw, be certain to check out this link before you go.)
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