Day signed a seven-figure deal with Harlequin; the first ebook, Afterburn, will be released on August 15, and the second, Aftershock, on November 15. Each will be about 30,000 words long and will cost $3.99 as ebooks. They’ll also be released as a “two-in-one trade paperback” in November, according to the release. Overall, Cosmo and Harlequin plan to release two Red Hot Reads a month starting in August, and all the books will ”feature strong narratives centering on modern young women living the free-spirited and outgoing lifestyle espoused by the international magazine.”

In October, Publishing Perspectives editor-in-chief Ed Nawotka wrote a story that’s stuck with me. “What Author Could Possibly Need a Publisher?” appeared in Publishing Perspectives’ Frankfurt Book Fair daily (PDF). The story was about 50 Shades of Grey, the erotic trilogy by E.L. James that began its life as Twilight fan fiction and was then published by a small Australian publisher before being snapped up by Random House’s Vintage in a seven-figure deal and widely distributed. Nawotka wrote:

“Simply put, amid the continuing economic recession, the publishing industry needed Fifty Shades of Grey. James didn’t need a publisher as such, but once she turned to the pros, her relatively modest success was turned into a maelstrom of money. And, for 2012 at least, put bestsellers — and one might argue, the publishing industry itself — back in the black.”

Four of the authors on Amazon’s 2012 adult top-ten list — which counts Kindle and print copies together — either originally self-published their books or published through very small publishers. Here they are, including the traditional publishers they signed with:

1. Fifty Shades Freed: Book Three of the Fifty Shades Trilogy by E. L. James (first released in January 2012 by The Writer’s Coffee Shop; acquired by Random House in March 2012)

3. Fifty Shades Trilogy: Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, Fifty Shades Freed 3-volume Boxed Set by E. L. James (Random House)

4. Bared to You: A Crossfire Novel by Sylvia Day (ebook self-published on April 3, 2012; acquired by Penguin in May 2012)

6. The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst (ebook first released by Entangled Publishing on February 14, 2012; acquired by Simon & Schuster in August 2012)

7. Reflected in You: A Crossfire Novel by Sylvia Day (the second book in the trilogy, published by Penguin on October 3, 2012)

In a statement, Sara Nelson, Amazon’s director of books and Kindle, said it’s “interesting to note that four of the five contemporary romance titles in the top 10 list, including the Fifty Shades trilogy, were originally independently published and went on to become huge best sellers.” That’s true but leaves out what happened between the books being independently published and becoming huge bestsellers: A traditional publisher entered the scene.

I don’t want to downplay the success of these titles before they were traditionally published and distributed in print. 50 Shades, Bared to You and The Marriage Bargain all hit the New York Times ebook bestseller list before being acquired by big publishers. The 50 Shades trilogy had sold 250,000 copies, mostly as ebooks, before it was bought by Random House; The Marriage Bargain sold over 150,000 copies as an ebook in its first three months of publication, before it was bought by Simon & Schuster. But the books either weren’t in print or were only available via print-on-demand. In June, Sylvia Day told BookPage:

The biggest and most obvious advantage to traditional publishing is the print run and distribution for Bared to You. There’s no way I would’ve come anywhere near 500,000 print copies, nor would Bared have ever been found in Walmart, Target, Costco, BJs, Kroger, etc. as a self-published book.

The remaining five books on Amazon’s list were traditionally published. There are no solely self-published titles on the list.

Ganxy already lets authors and publishers create ebook “showcases” that can be tweeted and embedded on sites like Facebook, or can stand alone as websites. With the new bundling feature, authors and publishers can create “box sets” of ebooks and sell the bundles directly to their audience through the showcase. They can also quickly adjust pricing and offer flash sales.

Ganxy’s showcases for single titles let users either sell ebooks directly through the showcase or link through to retailers. But the bundling option is only for users who want to sell directly through Ganxy. The company’s fee is 10 percent of all the sales made directly through its platform.

Some of Ganxy’s current users include Diversion Books (publisher of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and the Washington Post ebooks, among others), romance authors Barbara Freethy and Sylvia Day, and New York Times columnist Mark Oppenheimer. The company is self-funded.

Separately, StoryBundle, the startup founded by former Gizmodo and Lifehacker editor Jason Chen, announced its new “Holiday Gift Bundle.” StoryBundle packages together a group of ebooks by self-published authors and lets users pay what they want. The holiday bundle includes six ebooks in a variety of genres; users who pay at least $8 get two bonus ebooks. The company also added gift cards.

Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park

Here’s a good way for a book to become a New York Times bestseller: Have Jeff Bezos mention it on Amazon’s homepage. That’s what happened to self-published author Jessica Park, whose YA novel Flat-Out Love got a shout-out from Bezos on June 18. This week, it hits the NYT ebook bestseller list for the first time at #25.

Park co-writes the “Gourmet Girl” mystery series with her mom, Susan Conant. That series is traditionally published by Penguin. But Park self-published her first YA novel, Relatively Famous, as well as some e-singles. She tried to sell Flat-Out Love to a traditional publisher “because I had it in my head that I needed that big-time validation,” but when it didn’t work she self-published instead.

Flat-Out Love is $3.99 on … Amazon Kindle | Barnes & Noble Nook | Apple  iBookstore | Smashwords | Kobo | Sony | Diesel

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Another self-pubbed book, Jamie McGuire‘s Beautiful Disaster, is #9 on the NYT ebook list this week and #24 on the USA Today list. Beautiful Disaster, a romance about college students Abby Abernathy and Travis Maddox, is McGuire’s fourth self-published book. It’s told from the point of view of Abby, but now McGuire is working on a version from Travis’s point of view. The Oklahoma mom is also expecting her third child in the fall, so after that she’ll take some time off and then start working on another book, Red Hill, about a mother’s survival of the zombie apocalypse. “It’s going to be fun, I love zombies, and I can’t wait to write it,” she says.

Beautiful Disaster is $2.99 on … Amazon Kindle | Barnes & Noble Nook | Kobo

And don’t miss…

• Sylvia Day’s Bared to You, the first book in an erotic self-published trilogy snapped up by Penguin in May, hits the NYT print paperback list this week at #4. It’s #6 on the ebook list.
• Dean Koontz has written a series of e-singles to build excitement for his upcoming Odd Apocalypse, to be released by Random House on July 31. The first teaser single, “Odd Interlude #1,” was released June 11 and is #15 on the NYT ebook list this week. The second, “Odd Interlude #2,” was released June 18 and is #11 on the NYT ebook list and #27 on the USA Today list. “Odd Interlude #3″ was released on June 25.
• Tracey Garvis-Graves, whose self-published romance “On the Island” was featured in this column in April, is the subject of a Wall Street Journal article this week. Penguin bought On the Island this month in a seven-figure, two-book deal; a paperback edition is due July 10. In the interlude, On the Island dropped off the NYT bestseller list this week.

New York Times bestseller list, week of 7/8/12

Here are the titles in the top-35 that appear on the e-book bestseller list, but not on the print bestseller list (click the link to expand the chart).

USA Today bestseller list, week of 6/28/12

USA Today includes all formats and genres in one list and notes which format of a book sold best. Here are the titles in the top-35 where e-books outsold print (click the link to expand the chart).

This week’s featured title: ”Bared to You” by Sylvia Day. It’s #20 on the New York Times e-book bestsellers list this week and

What it’s about: The first in a trilogy, this erotic novel tells the story of a recent college grad, Eva, who meets billionaire businessman Gideon.

How it became a bestseller: Day self-published “Bared to You” on April 3, 2012. The book immediately invited comparisons to “50 Shades of Grey,” the originally self-published erotic trilogy that Random House’s Vintage acquired for seven figures in March and that has now sold over 10 million copies. Jane Litte, who runs the romance blog “Dear Author,” writes that “if I were to recommend any book today to readers who enjoyed 50 Shades and was looking for another book like it, this would be the first one I would offer. However, Bared to You is far better written with much hotter sex scenes.”

Like “Fifty Shades of Grey,” “Bared to You” has now found a traditional publisher: Penguin’s Berkley imprint snapped it up this month and has already released the e-book with a new, “50 Shades of Grey”-esque cover. (That’s Day’s original cover on the left and Penguin’s cover on the right.) Penguin will release a paperback edition on June 6. (Day writes a bit more about the Penguin acquisition here, and notes that Penguin’s ability to get the paperback into bricks-and-mortar bookstores was one of the main reasons she signed up with them.)

“Bared to You” is $5.99 on … Amazon  | Barnes & Noble  | Kobo

New York Times bestseller list, week of 6/3/12

Here are the titles in the top-35 that appear on the e-book bestseller list, but not on the print bestseller list (click the link to expand the chart).

USA Today bestseller list, week of 5/24/12

USA Today includes all formats and genres in one list and notes which format of a book sold best. Here are the titles in the top-35 where e-books outsold print (click the link to expand the chart).

This weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print.

This week’s featured title

The book: “Unintended Consequences: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About the Economy Is Wrong” by Edward Conard (Penguin/Portfolio, list price $14.99). “Unintended Consequences” is #24 on the New York Times nonfiction e-book bestseller list this week.

What it’s about: A former Bain exec explains how to grow the economy.

How it became a bestseller: “Unintended Consequences” was supposed to go on sale on June 28, but the New York Times Magazine decided to do a feature story on it in the May 6 money issue. Penguin was able to move up the e-book’s publication date to May 7, but the print book won’t be released until June 7.

“Unintended Consequences” on … Amazon | Apple | Barnes & Noble | Google | Kobo

New York Times bestseller list, week of 5/27/12

Here are the titles in the top-35 that appear on the e-book bestseller list, but not on the print bestseller list (click the link to expand the chart).

USA Today bestseller list, week of 5/10/12

USA Today includes all formats and genres in one list and notes which format of a book sold best. Here are the titles in the top-35 where e-books outsold print (click the link to expand the chart).

This week’s featured title

The book: “A Brewing Storm” by Richard Castle (Hyperion, list price $2.99). “A Brewing Storm,” an e-single, is #13 on the New York Times e-book bestseller list this week, and #39 on the USA Today list. As of this writing, it’s #30 on the Nook bestseller list and does not appear on the Kindle bestseller list.

What it’s about: To be clear, Richard Castle is not a real person — he’s a character on the ABC show “Castle,” where he’s played by actor Nathan Fillion. On the show, Castle is a mystery novelist and author of the “Heat Wave” series. Hyperion, which is owned by ABC, released the “Heat Wave” titles as actual books. “A Brewing Storm” is the first in Castle’s “Derrick Storm” CIA series, which he also writes on the show. (Um…get it?) ABC will release two more Derrick Storm e-singles this summer.

How it became a bestseller: “Castle” fans had requested Derrick Storm books, which are often mentioned on the show. Hyperion hopes the “Storm” series will serve as a bridge between seasons 4 and 5 of “Castle” — the season 4 finale aired on May 7.

Members of “Club Castle,” the fan community on ABC’s Castle website, got early access to “A Brewing Storm”‘s cover by completing a trivia challenge March 26-28. They saw the cover before retailers did. ABC.com also posted three free chapters of the book. And the full-length “Heat Wave” was chosen as an Amazon Kindle Daily Deal on May 8, which likely drove readers to the e-single as well.

“A Brewing Storm” on … Amazon ($1.99) | Apple ($2.99) | Barnes & Noble ($1.97) | Google ($2.51) | Kobo ($2.99)

New York Times bestseller list, week of 5/20/12

Here are the titles in the top-35 that appear on the e-book bestseller list, but not on the print bestseller list (click the link to expand the chart).

USA Today bestseller list, week of 5/3/12

USA Today includes all formats and genres in one list and notes which format of a book sold best. Here are the titles in the top-35 where e-books outsold print (click the link to expand the chart).

This week’s featured title

The book: “The Marriage Bargain” by Jennifer Probst (Entangled, $2.99). “The Marriage Bargain” is #11 on the New York Times e-book bestseller list this week, and #20 on the USA today list.

Copies of “The Marriage Bargain” sold: 152,668

What it’s about: A bookstore owner casts a love spell to save her home. When a billionaire offers her a marriage in name only, she accepts, but neither bargained for love.

How it hit the bestseller list: Probst, the author of several erotic and contemporary romance titles, built up her presence on social media months before the book was published in February. She did a 20-stop blog tour in early 2012 to promote the book. Entangled bought a Goodreads ad and “steady positive reviews began to trickle in from various outlets.”

A sequel, “The Marriage Trap,” comes out in June, with a third book in the series, “The Marriage Mistake,” due in the fall.

“The Marriage Bargain” on … Amazon |Barnes & Noble | Kobo

New York Times bestseller list, week of 5/13/12

Here are the titles in the top-35 that appear on the e-book bestseller list, but not on the print bestseller list (click the link to expand the chart).

USA Today bestseller list, week of 5/3/12

USA Today includes all formats and genres in one list and notes which format of a book sold best. Here are the titles in the top-35 where e-books outsold print (click the link to expand the chart).