This Self-Published Writer Sold 10 Million Books in the Last 10 Years
Let's take a look at how she did it.
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LJ Ross is the kind of writer so many of us aspire to be.
She’s an internationally bestselling author with more than 10 million book sales under her belt, making her very much the epitome of someone who writes entirely for a living.
It’s the dream, right?
And what makes her meteoric rise to writing success even more striking? She’s achieved it by self-publishing.
Who is LJ Ross?
Louise Ross (LJ Ross is her pen name) hails from Northumberland, England. She studied undergraduate and postgraduate Law at King’s College (where she met her husband) and continued her education in Paris and Florence before working for several years as a financial services lawyer in London.
However, as it does for so many of us, the Writer’s Life came calling and Louise found herself penning her debut novel, Holy Island, during a sabbatical. The story was inspired by a favourite childhood location of hers called Lindisfarne.
“I had never written a full book before – I didn’t know I could. I thought, ‘I’ll just see if I can write a chapter’ and then, ‘I’ll see if I can write two’. Suddenly I had a book.”1
Louise spent 18 months on Holy Island before approaching agents and publishers, a process she admits tackling with “breath-taking naivety”.
"I sent it to 12 or 14 agents and publishers thinking that would be enough. I only later learnt JK Rowling sent Harry Potter to hundreds.
"I did have one offer from what I would call a midsize publishing house which was exciting, but when the contract came through and I was supposed to feel elated, I just didn't.
"I thought, 'I'm handing over an awful lot here, my intellectual property in perpetuity'. It just left me feeling very anti-climatic."2
Instead, she chose to publish Holy Island on Amazon KDP. It went live as an ebook on January 1, 2015. She explained:
“The KDP platform allows authors to see their sales in real time, so it was exciting to see around 25 sales on release day. I was grateful that most of my family and friends must have bought a copy and didn’t expect many more!
“However, over the next few weeks, the sales gradually increased until the book eventually made it to #1 on the Amazon UK chart in May 2015, knocking The Girl on the Train off the top spot!
“It was around this time I first appreciated that a good number of people enjoy reading my stories just as much as I enjoy writing them.”
Louise describes her choice to self-publish her books through KDP as a “fantastic decision” because “it would be difficult for a traditional publisher to know which shelf in a bookstore to put them on, but that problem doesn’t arise on Amazon because it has unlimited virtual shelf space.”
How does Louise make money?
Very short answer: she sells a ton of books.
I can’t say exactly how many Louise has sold (10 million seems to be the closest figure) or how much she’s made from them, but when you’ve written 30 books in 10 years and possibly get up to 70% royalties from KDP, you can be sure of a tidy return.
How does Louise promote her work?
Louise doesn’t seem to do an enormous amount of promotion. I think it’d be fair to say most other success has come as a result of word-of-mouth (the best kind).
For instance, Holy Island has over 48,000 reviews on Amazon, with an average rating of 4.2 stars out of 5. That’s pretty impressive given how many people have read the book since it was released.
Similarly, it has a 4.1 out of 5 rating on Goodreads from just under 33,000 reviewers.
In fact, it seems only 4 of her books have under 20,000 reviews, with most being closer to (or well above) 30,000.
Like I said, impressive!
In terms of social media, Louise has over 10,000 followers on Instagram, over 36,000 on Facebook, and over 12,000 on X/Twitter. She posts sporadically on Instagram but seems to maintain a more consistent presence on Facebook and X/Twitter, though none of her posting is indicative of a concerted promotion effort. Again, she probably has no need of one since word-of-mouth and positive reviews drive the bulk of her sales.
A quick Google search shows her website ranking second only behind her Wikipedia entry. The site itself is well-structured and informative, and a popup invites you to join the LJ Ross Book Club when you visit. I’m not sure how many people are on her mailing list, but I’d hazard a guess and say lots.
Louise has also been featured in plenty of newspaper and website articles over the years, all of which have been linked on her website. She also seems to participate in regular book events and is a keen philanthropist.
It should also be noted that once her self-publishing journey really got underway, Louise and her husband established their own imprint called Dark Skies Publishing, through which they produce printed copies of her books for mainstream and independent bookshops.
Louise is now represented by Millie Hoskins of United Agents.
What is Louise’s process?
According to Louise herself, she does all her story planning in her head and doesn’t start putting pen to paper until the entire plot is in place.
She edits as she goes and does most of her writing while her son is at school.
She explains: "Some people stick to a very formal routine, I am not that person. I'm fairly no-nonsense though so I can get on with it. I approach every new book as if it's the first book just to remind myself what it was like.”
It obviously works for her, given how many novels she’s been able to write throughout the last decade.
What can we take from this?
First and foremost, self-publishing is more than just a legitimate route for authors to explore. It’s a potential launchpad for a skyrocketing career. And through platforms like Amazon KDP, anyone can get their books out into the world and receive very reasonable returns per sale.
Secondly, if you can produce a good number of books on a consistent basis (especially when they’re part of a series), you’ll give yourself a better chance of success. I would imagine many readers come across books Louise has written more recently and go back to read the earlier novels in each of her series.
Obviously not everyone has the time or capacity to write as prolifically as Louise, but there’s definitely a replicable model there.
And she did offer this word of caution for anyone considering the self-publishing route: "Independent publishing is not for everyone, it does depend on what your support network is like.”
If you do have that support network and don’t mind doing a bit more of the grunt work yourself, self-publishing could be a great way to go.
Who knows? You could very well be the next LJ Ross!
If you found this “Deep Dive” post helpful, please let me know in the comments below!
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https://publishnation.co.uk/articles/do-it-yourself-is-the-verdict-from-former-lawyer-l-j-ross/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-58305836
Having just made the decision to self-publish my non-fiction book, reading this story has given me butterflies so thank you for sharing. I definitely felt the draw to have a "proper" publisher at the start of my process (probably a bit of misdirected ego) but after a couple of rejection emails and mainly no response to my submissions led me to explore my options, I know I'm taking the right route, working with a tam who not only proof and edit the book, design the cover, manage the publishing etc also provide support and guidance around marketing and PR and give me access to a ready-made audience of other female writers and business owners. For me, it was essential that anyone supporting my book had to have first hand understanding of the problem it solves.. the idea of handing it over to a publishing house that didn't, sent all the wrong vibes to me. It's great to have options.
This is definitely inpsiring...but not going to lie, it sounded like Louise just uploaded her book to KDP and somehow got 20,000 reviews on Amazon. What I'm curious to know is the timeline for which she uploaded, first started promoting, which promotional strategies worked and didn't work, what the bones of her book club are built on, etc. I know she probably doesn't share much of that, but those details would be most helpful!