I’m a best selling author. No really!

I don’t normally write anything self-congratulatory but I awoke this morning to find that I am finally a best-selling author.  You might think that now I have hit the big time I may stop blogging but fear not as I am not yet a New York Times best-seller.  I am though a best-seller in the Amazon categories of Bed and Breakfast books for reference and travel both Kindle and all books as well as achieving a top 10 ranking in the Kindle section of Business Travel.

Number 1 best seller
How To Get Rich Using Airbnb – Number 1 in two charts and a top ten placement in another.

I would like to say it has all changed my life.  However royalties on a 99pence and 99cent ebook don’t get you very far… at least not in the cut-throat world of Bed and Breakfasts.

However, it has at least put a big smile on my face which hasn’t happened much this year.  The best bit about it all is that people are reading what I write and though Bed and Breakfast or even Business Travel are not anything like as big a sector as the mainstream fiction or history categories, my book How To Get Rich Using Airbnb has at least beaten hundreds and even thousands of others of which only a few were ever ranked number 1 themselves.

Number 1 best seller Bed and Breakfast Reference
Number 1 best seller Bed and Breakfast Reference

It’s by no means an overnight success, over the last 3 months it has gradually risen from unranked to the top 100 before loitering in the top 20 for a few weeks and now getting the number 1 spot.  Perhaps its slow and natural rise through the charts means it will stay near the top for a long time seeing as it got there without any advertising and next to know promotion, in fact I didn’t spend a single penny on it or the cover.

Number 1 best seller Bed and breakfast Travel Reference
Number 1 best seller Bed and breakfast Travel Reference

Hopefully it means I can vaguely write well and it is something to build on in the future.  It may not be a glamorous field like fiction or history and the sales numbers are no ay comparable but whatever happens I’ll be able to console myself that in a very small way, I’ll always be a best-selling author.

To everyone who reads my blog, thank-you.  For those who have ever bought anything I have written an even bigger thank-you and for those who are in the process of writing a book themselves, don’t give up.  Success may be just around the corner!

How To Get Rich Using Airbnb is available to buy from Amazon USA, Amazon UK and all other Amazon associates.

By Stephen Liddell

I am a writer and traveller with a penchant for history and getting off the beaten track. With several books to my name including several #1 sellers. I also write environmental, travel and history articles for magazines as well as freelance work. I run my private tours company with one tour stated by the leading travel website as being with the #1 authentic London Experience. Recently I've appeared on BBC Radio and Bloomberg TV and am waiting on the filming of a ghost story on British TV. I run my own private UK tours company (Ye Olde England Tours) with small, private and totally customisable guided tours run by myself!

33 comments

  8. Congratulations! You should never feel bad about be self-congratulatory. This is a big deal, and let’s face it, as writers who would probably prefer to sit in front of our computers in our bathrobes rather than have to look a real person in the face, we blog at least in part because we can graciously receive congratulations and no one has to see us blush.

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    1. Thanks Amy. Welcome to the party. I’ll get you a drink in a moment! You’re always very supportive and I appreciate it.

      Yes, keep at your writing, it can take for ever I know but it will be worthwhile in the end!

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  10. Congratulations! That is marvelous! I am so excited for you. You deserve tons of success. Plus, what a great item to entice people to take your tour. Genius!

    I am so behind in my correspondence. I am sorry. Every day, I think I must write Stephen, and then I lamely fall behind.

    In other news, Patrick Rothfuss is doing a signing in London on November 5th. I do not know if you read his books or how close you are to London, but I am so jealous of folks who are going!

    Congratulations again!

    Jenni

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    1. Hi Jenni, thanks so much. Yes it would be great if I can make a writing and tour career, it is a clever plan isn’t it? 🙂

      Don’t worry, the day I receive an email will be a big surprise, I totally understand.

      Yes I saw about Patrick Rothfuss, I have read some of his books. Unfortunately all his UK signings are in different parts of the UK and his London one is only in the evening and very hard for me to get to, especially on that night 😦

      I have been to a few sci-fi book signings in my time. Always happy memories. I remember once I stood in line from 7am – 2.30pm for a Leonard Nimoy signing on a very cold winters day. I was skipping a class at Uni and was a little worried as the book signing at Forbidden Planet was only 7 or 8 blocks from my classes. All went well and I got 2nd spot in what was said to be the longest queue of people in the stores history (it went for miles). I got my book signed, had a quick hello and photo with Mr. Nimoy and was just leaving the store and who did I see in line coming in to get a book signed? None other than my class professor.

      I think we were both equally mortified and neither of us ever mentioned it as he had obviously skipped his own class. I didn’t get in any trouble and as far as I know, all my classmates turned up for a lecture and the professor phoned in sick 🙂

      It’s Friday night, have a great weekend!

      Stephen

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  16. Stephen, you really write well. Your third person perspective is never interfered by yourself. Often I read your post because of the natural flow of language. Keep it up. Success and failure are just two words which may or may not affect bread and butter. Do not bother. Enjoy doing what you are doing.

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