Self-Published Title Hits No. 1 on Ebook Best-Seller List for First Time
For the first time ever, a self-published title has hit No. 1 on the Digital Book World Ebook Best-Seller list, occupying a position once held by Fifty Shades of Grey, Gone Girl and other mega best-selling titles.
The book, Wait for You, is authored and published by Jennifer L. Armentrout under the pen name J. Lynn, which she calls her “alter-ego.” Armentrout has published books with Hyperion, Harlequin and several others in addition to self-publishing; that is, she’s a hybrid author.
Wait for You went on sale Feb. 26 and immediately started inching up the best-seller list. While this week is the first time it’s in our top-25, it barely missed at No. 27 last week and was No. 9 on the $0.00 to $2.99 list. Propelling it to the No. 1 spot was a price promotion executed by Armentrout and without the aid of a retailer promotion like a Kindle Daily Deal. The book was $0.99 for three days last week. It’s now selling for $2.99.
Another astounding development on the list this week is The Hunger Games Trilogy at No. 5. The entire three-book set is now selling for $5.00 — the same price as just the first book and less than the other two. The trilogy had dropped off our radar and hadn’t even been in the Amazon top-100 since late Dec. Last week, the price was dropped from $18.99. If purchased alone, the first book in the trilogy is $5.00 and the other two are $5.99. If you haven’t yet read the category-breaking trilogy, now might be the time.
The one thing that was not surprising this week was that the average price of a best-selling ebook dropped again, to $7.61 from $7.86 last week. It’s flirting with the all-time low, achieved less than a month ago — $7.56.
See the rest of the the best-seller lists for the week ending March 10:
– Digital Book World Best-Selling Ebooks Priced $10.00 and Above
– Digital Book World Best-Selling Ebooks Priced $8.00 – $9.99
– Digital Book World Best-Selling Ebooks Priced $3.00 – $7.99
– Digital Book World Best-Selling Ebooks Priced $0.00 – $2.99
Read and comment on our methodology.
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| Rank* | Title | Author | Publisher | Price** | Change |
| 1 (n/a) | Wait for You | J. Lynn | Self-published | $ 0.99 | New |
| 2 (2) | Alex Cross, Run | James Patterson | Hachette | $ 11.99 | – |
| 3 (12) | Mirror Image | Sandra Brown | Hachette | $ 1.99 | +9 |
| 4 (1) | Safe Haven | Nicholas Sparks | Hachette | $ 5.22 | -3 |
| 5 (n/a) | The Hunger Games Trilogy | Suzanne Collins | Scholastic | $ 5.00 | New |
| 6 (6) | Gone Girl: A Novel | Gillian Flynn | Random House | $ 12.99 | – |
| 7 (8) | A Week in Winter | Maeve Binchy | Random House | $ 12.99 | +1 |
| 8 (4) | Calculated in Death | J. D. Robb | Penguin | $ 12.99 | -4 |
| 9 (5) | The Silver Linings Playbook: A Novel | Matthew Quick | Macmillan | $ 9.99 | -4 |
| 10 (9) | Rush (The Breathless Trilogy) | Maya Banks | Penguin | $ 7.99 | -1 |
| 11 (3) | Wait For Me | Elisabeth Naughton | Self-published | $ 2.99 | -8 |
| 12 (n/a) | Three Sisters (Blackberry Island) | Susan Mallery | Harlequin | $ 5.00 | New |
| 13 (14) | Into the Darkest Corner | Elizabeth Haynes | HarperCollins | $ 1.99 | +1 |
| 14 (n/a) | Firefly Lane: A Novel | Kristin Hannah | Macmillan | $ 2.99 | New |
| 15 (n/a) | Reckless | S.C. Stephens | Simon & Schuster | $ 7.35 | New |
| 16 (n/a) | The Storyteller | Jodi Picoult | Simon & Schuster | $ 12.59 | New |
| 17 (7) | Beautiful Creatures (Beautiful Creatures Series #1) | Kami Garcia; Margaret Stohl | Hachette | $ 4.75 | -10 |
| 18 (n/a) | Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson) | Patricia Briggs | Penguin | $ 12.99 | New |
| 19 (17) | Fifty Shades Freed: Book Three Of The Fifty Shades Trilogy | E. L. James | Random House | $ 9.99 | -2 |
| 20 (11) | Touch and Go | Lisa Gardner | Penguin | $ 12.99 | -9 |
| 21 (15) | Beautiful Darkness (Beautiful Creatures) | Kami Garcia; Margaret Stohl | Hachette | $ 7.59 | -4 |
| 22 (16) | Guilt: An Alex Delaware Novel | Jonathan Kellerman | Random House | $ 12.99 | -6 |
| 23 (n/a) | Defending Jacob: A Novel | William Landay | Random House | $ 7.99 | New |
| 24 (n/a) | Relentless | Cassia Leo | ORLY Press | $ 0.99 | New |
| 25 (n/a) | Always On My Mind: The Sullivans | Bella Andre | Self-published | $ 4.99 | New |
* Previous week’s list rank in parentheses.
** Price reflects minimum price across all retailers throughout the week. Price may vary between retailers and may change throughout the week. Contact Iobyte Solutions for more information on e-book pricing.
Methodology available here.
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