The author who put his fantasy novel online because he thought ‘no one would print it’ reveals his shock as it becomes a best-seller – after fans’ six-figure bidding war on TikTok
- Olivi Blake, 33, became a TikTok literary sensation after self-publishing the novel
- The author of the California Atlas Six. Waging a bidding war for a publication
- The novel, the first in a trilogy, is now available in hardback in the UK – and has reached the top of the fiction best-seller chart.
An author reveals how she shied away from self-publishing a book she felt didn’t have mainstream appeal at the top of a best seller list — after TIC Toc Users liked her novel so much that it was cut by publishers.
Olivi Blake, Joe. lives in californiasays she still doesn’t understand the success of her book, The Atlas Six, which rose to success after a bidding war between publishers.
The fantasy novel has garnered over 20 million views among book lovers on TikTok and currently tops The Sunday Times bestseller fiction list just a week after publication as hardback in the UK.
He said The Sunday Times: ‘It’s pretty much impossible for me to wrap my mind around any of this.’
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Olivi Blake, 33, of California (pictured) waged a publication bidding war when she posted her fantasy novel online
Olivi Blake is the pen name of California-born author Alexine Farol Folmuth, who said she could not have predicted the reaction to her novel.
The author, who self-published the book two years ago, says he didn’t know his book would appeal to a wider readership and hadn’t even thought of approaching a publisher with it.
Thanks to social media she didn’t need—as seven major publishing houses approached her to bid for the book last September—she was finally paid a six-figure sum by Pan Macmillan.
British publishers named Olivi’s novel the ‘Runway TikTok Must-Read Fantasy Novel of the Year’.
The UK-based publishing house published the novel on 3 March under its ‘Tor Imprint for Fantasy and Science Fiction’ label.
TikTok has been credited with shedding light on unpublished authors – thanks to a cornerstone of the platform called ‘Buktok’, which has attracted 43 billion hits since it first became popular.
The novel The Atlas Six was won by UK-based publishing house Pan Macmillan for the six-figure Some Hand, which was published on 3 March for Fantasy & Science under the Tor imprint.
The Atlas Six Plot features a group of ambitious wizards competing for places in a secret London society that is guarding the knowledge of ancient civilizations.
The 33-year-old author – real name Alexine Farol Folmuth – contributed to fan fiction websites, wrote new stories about characters from other authors’ books, and self-published several other novels that were largely ignored. went.
Alexine took her pen name from a random name, which was misspelled Olivia; But she loved Olivi’s voice.
Amazon has acquired the film rights to the series and is developing it with Brightstar, a production company founded by The Crown creator Tanya Seghchian and Cold War producer John Woodward.
Atlas Six quickly garnered millions of TikTok views and Olivi said it was a “really strange experience” that she “didn’t fully understand.”
The book is the first in an intended trilogy, with the next volume, The Atlas Paradox, due out in October.
Moving from force to power, Amazon has acquired the film rights to the series and is developing it with Brightstar, a production company founded by The Crown creator Tanya Segachian and Cold War creator John Woodward.
Tor UK Publications Director Bella Pagan described the story of The Atlas Six as ‘one of those classic tales’ where people compete for a place and there is a Lord of the Fly element, in which people form alliances against each other.
Reviews posted on the Waterstones and Goodreads websites are primarily complimentary.
One reader said the book was ‘incredibly entertaining and insatiably complex’.
However others complained that the book was ‘over-hyped’ and that the characters were annoying.
atlas six by Olivi Blake (Pan Macmillan) £15.29