Podcast: How Hugh Howey's Wool became a self-published smash-hit (Paid Content) European Union Approves Random House Penguin Merger (Paid Content) Shift from E-Readers to Tablets Continues (DBW) Rogers offering Free Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 3G Promotion (Good E-Reader) Kindle Daily Deals: Third Shift by Hugh Howey (and 3 others)...

More than a few self-published authors, of course, have found serious success through various channels over the years—selling a vast amount of books on their own, for instance, or having their previously self-published book picked up by a big publishing concern. And yet, contrary to popular belief, not every self-published author actually wants to be picked up by a mainstream publishing house. Some are more than happy working independently, and pocketing as much money from their DIY publishing project as possible. This topic was brought up last Sunday, March 10, during the Self-Publishing in the Age of E panel at the SXSW in Austin, Texas. The...

By now, the success of indie author Hugh Howey has been widely publicized, including here on TeleRead. Howey wrote Wool, a book split into five novellas set in a dystopian future. Read Joanna Cabot’s review of the Wool Omnibus here. Howey recently did a radio interview with Orla Barry of The Green Room on Newstalk, during which he discussed his deal with movie director Ridley Scott (Prometheus, Black Hawk Down), who bought the movie rights to the book. Howey also discusses the rise in popularity of Wool. Howey didn’t expect Wool to take off the way it did, gaining steam without much marketing on...

The story of Joanna Cabot's DRM-free year continues with the dispatch below, from FEB 2013. JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC It's been a busy month for me, work-wise, so I haven't had that much reading time—I logged just five books this month, which is pathetic. But this doesn't reflect my daily reading. I have a few longer-term books I'm reading (a book of daily essays, some reference books) which should bump my total when they're done, but that won't be for some time. I...

We've all heard by now about the success of the latest e-book indie darling, Hugh Howey—when his self-published Kindle series became a Kindle best-seller, he made a deal with the big publishers—but in a ground-breaking twist, the deal included only the print rights, and Howey continues to sell the e-books himself. Howey is also notoriously anti-DRM and I dig that, so I finally picked up the Wool Omnibus to see if it was worth the hype. And for the most part? It is. The book is split into five novellas, each taking place in an apocalyptic future where the remains of humanity survive in an elaborate community...