Rags to riches author tales?

Are there any actual rags to riches tales of authors, particularly indie authors? I keep hearing that J.K. Rowling was, but deliberately quitting a job and getting an Arts Council grant to promote her book seems less like rags to riches, than solid middle-class to billionaire. With inidie published easier now than ever before, surely there must be some. The only one I can think of in Amanda Hocking, but there must be others.

 

I don't think that an Arts Council grant qualifies J.K. Rowling as middle-class. From what I've read, the job she had didn't give her enough to pay for childcare. Either way, she got the grant because of her writing. I think that's perfectly acceptable for a rags-to-riches story. I'm having a really hard time finding a super successful indie author that wasn't middle-class, aside from your one example.

 

To be fair about this, J. K. Rowling's had to shut down the rags-to-riches media story herself several times: her house was not unheated, she got benefit, she had family in the area supporting her and she chose not to work to have more time to write. Those options aren't available to the genuinely poor. For example, she had enough money to go to cafes daily to write. There are people I know and club members on here who don't have that much.

Kimberley Kinrade lost her house, marriage, and health, was left with three children to raise in a camper van and managed to build an income of $8,000 a month through indie publishing, doing it all herself with her writing partner. She also grabbed jobs when she could, to get through to a point where writing could support her.

 

It's easier to be rags-to-riches in the mainstream, but that's because once a manuscript sells there's money immediately available to the author and a large company putting resources behind it (so no paying for marketing or cover design, which an indie author has to pay before they make money).

Amanda Hocking is the prime example, from flat-broke to millionaire. There's a piece in the Guardian that details it: Amanda Hocking made Millions by self-publishing online. There's a lot more who've gone from pvoerty to making a decent living.

 

One other issue is how sustainable success is. Everyone has one good book in them, but how many have a successful follow up? It takes a sustained level of income from writing over time to make a career, which requires more capital to achieve initially than many on the true Rags end of the scale can manage.

Debbie Mack has written a piece on her blog about her experiences that is worth reading: one New York Times bestseller does not equal sustainable success.

 

I was reading this article on author earnings which makes a good point. Mainstream rags-to-riches cases are easier to find as they write under one or two names, and their pennames are known. Indie authors have a much higher output and often multiple pennames or write for multiple imprints making it harder to track down the writer behind the pennames who is making seven figures without ever appearing on bestseller lists.