According to the Washington Post, little known or never-heard-of writers are now experiencing incredible publishing success, thanks to self-publishing on the digital market. In the winter of 2010, romance novelist Nyree Belleville’s (pen name of Bella Andre) publisher dropped her. Only one of her twelve books had made her as much as $21,000. At thirty-six, with a husband and two children, no graphic arts, and no experience in self-publishing, she set out to place one of her books on the e-book market. She designed a cover, learned how to re-format her book for e-reader use, placed it on an online storefront for Amazon’s Kindle, and more or less forgot about it.

In a few weeks she had sold 161 copies. Then she figured out how to get her book on other e-readers, such as the iPad, Kobo, and Sony Reader, and nearly doubled her earnings. In a few months she was making a couple thousand each month; in one year’s time, almost $20,000 a month. And now, in just the first quarter of 2011, she reportedly earned over $100,000 selling both new and old e-book editions of her romance novels, that’s over 56,000 books.

Neely Tucker, of the Post, writes, “[aspiring authors] can write, publish, advertise, create covers, set and change prices—and haul in up to 70% of the sale price. Writers marketing a $4.99 self-published e-book can make more per copy than authors with a $24.95 hardcover. It’s gold-rush crazy, and it has exploded in the past twelve months.”

Twenty-six-year-old Amanda Hocking has made over $1 million from her self-published fantasy books. In March she signed a $2million multi-book deal with St. Martin’s. Joe Konrath, forty-one, made $700 from his e-books in 2009, $4,000 in 2010, and over $78,000 in a six-week period from March to April this year. Barry Eisler, a former CIA agent and thriller writer, recently turned down a $500,000 offer from St. Martin’s in order to self-publish instead.

Beware, however, that these success stories come with warnings: “We have less than fifty people who are making more than $50,000 per year. We have a lot who don’t sell a single book,” says Mark Coker, found of Smashwords.com, a website that helped launch and inspire independent publishing and is now considered one of the main centers for the self-publishing boom. Writers like Hocking opted to sign with a publisher after her self-publishing success because, “I do not want to spend forty hours a week handling e-mails, formatting covers, finding editors, etc.”

Of course, for those willing to put in the hours, spending night after night editing, designing, and marketing their own books, e-reader owners are ready to buy more and more e-books than ever before.