Want to be a Kindle millionaire?

From The Independent:

This week, an unknown American author called Amanda Hocking joins an elite literary club alongside just 11 others – including Stieg Larsson, James Patterson and Nora Roberts – by racking up her millionth Kindle sale. Unknown is of course a relative term in this case – no one can shift that many books by remaining anonymous – but Hocking is unusual because she has sold all her books on Kindle. Entirely self-published, her first physical book doesn't reach traditional bookshops until January 2012.

A 27-year-old Star Wars fan from Minnesota, Hocking writes so-called “paranormal romances” for young adults, and is being hailed as the new Stephenie Meyer. Since March 2010, she has uploaded no fewer than 10 books onto Kindle, all of them about vampires and trolls and zombies, all playing out like sagas that mandatorily require multiple sequels. Why trolls? “They kind of freaked me out at first,” she admits, “but I didn't want to write about fairies. I don't really like fairies.” It was when she discovered, during her research, that they could sometimes be attractive, that she had her lightbulb moment. “They're not so common, and I thought, no one else is doing this. Let's go for it.” Each book takes between two and four weeks to write, and she sells them for between 99 cents and $2.99. In the past 18 months, she has grossed approximately $2 million.

More here.