While the $4.2 million Simon & Schuster recently paid for Richard Paul Evans' first novel, The Christmas Box, and a prequel, may look like an early Christmas gift, Evans' success shows that it can help to give before you receive. The author joins the likes of James Redfield (The Celestine Prophecy), Marlo Morgan (Mutant Message Down Under), and others who self- publish, sell big, then sign with major publishers. The rewards can go beyond hefty advances. What convinced John Gray to sell Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus to HarperCollins after self-publishing two earlier books, says executive editor Rick Horgan, ''was having to mail out about 13,000 jiffy bags [containing books] himself.''
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