How to Sell Millions with Self-Publishing — Hugh Howey, Bestselling Author of Wool

He described wanting readers to pause, react emotionally, and then receive an extra “nugget” afterward—so he used an author “interview” at the end to make it feel like the book was over and to reset the reader’s emotions before the final reveal.

He said he learned the most about writing by being an intense reader, and that reading/ reviewing a book a day created both constant exposure to plot/prose and a built-in daily writing habit via reviews.

He said he told himself he’d write two books a year for 10 years (about 20 books total) before judging whether he “had what it took,” which helped him stop obsessing over early marketing and focus on improvement and output.

He described standard publishing contracts as often grabbing all rights, worldwide, for extremely long periods, and emphasized that he now avoids lifetime rights grants; for Wool he negotiated a five-year, print-only deal so rights revert on a known date.

He said he priced Wool’s early e-book at $0.99 (accepting Amazon’s lower royalty tier) because he prioritized being read, avoiding backlash over perceived value, and fueling word-of-mouth; later he made the first serialized part free once possible.