Best-selling Author, Hugh Howey, Shares Thoughts on Success of Books

In a recent interview with the Huntington Post, Best-selling author, Hugh C. Howey shared his thoughts on life, books, and success.

He says, "Once I wrote my first novel, MOLLY FYDE AND THE PARSONA RESCUE, the feeling of accomplishment and release really carried me for a while. I was so excited to have gotten this bucket list item out of the way, and so impatient to start the next book, that I didn't really worry about sales. It wasn't until HALF WAY HOME came out that I felt like a real novelist, and that I knew I was writing stories at least as good as the books we sold at my bookstore. That's the first time I wondered if I could make it as a writer, and I felt the frustration of not being able to reach the audience that I knew would love my books. At this time, I was getting invited to speak at a nearby middle school, and the class was full of fans, and I tried to imagine my books really getting out there."

On his latest book, BEACON, he says, "BEACON 23 is about a very damaged individual living in isolation in this space lighthouse. He's messed up from serving in battle. He thinks he can get better alone, but he finds out that this only makes things worse. And that the solution is not to run from his problems. He finds this as his problems begin coming back to haunt him."

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Hugh C. Howey is known best for the science fiction series Silo, part of which he published independently through Amazon.com's Kindle Direct Publishing system. Howey was raised inMonroe, North Carolina and before publishing his books, he worked as a yacht captain, roofer, and audio technician.

He began the series in 2011, initially writing Wool as a stand-alone short story.[4] His first book was initially published with a small press. After that, he decided to publish through Amazon.com's Kindle Direct Publishing system, because of the freedom of self-publishing. After the series grew in popularity, he began to write more entries for it. Howey began soliciting international rights in 2012, including signing a deal for Brazil. Film rights to the series were sold to 20th Century Fox; Lionsgate also expressed interest.

In 2012, Howey signed a deal with Simon & Schuster to distribute Wool to book retailers across the US and Canada. The deal allowed Howey to continue to sell the book online exclusively. He notably turned down seven figure offers in favor of a mid-six figure sum, in return for maintaining e-book rights.

He has also signed publishing contracts with Random House Century UK for UK distribution of both his Wool and Sand series, published as novels of the same names.

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