Aspiring UK author shoots up bestseller lists after viral social media post
An aspiring author who went viral after selling two books at an event has described seeing her novel climb up Amazon’s bestseller charts as “amazing” and “unbelievable”.
Vicky Ball, a 48-year-old from Colchester, showcased her two novels, one titled Powerless and the other Abandoned, at an authors’ event on Tuesday at Galleywood Heritage Centre in Chelmsford.
“Sold 2 books 😁😁,” she wrote on X afterwards, which she described as positive because: “I’ve done some events where I haven’t sold any.”
Ball’s X post has now had more than 24m views and 745,000 likes. Her novel Powerless, a thriller with “lots of twists”, shot up the Amazon bestsellers charts in subsequent days – and is now No 3 in its “teen and young adult fiction on sexual abuse” list.
Speaking to the Guardian about her newfound success, she said: “I’ve been getting messages on Instagram of people saying: ‘I’m in Colombia and just bought your book’; ‘I’m in Salt Lake City’; ‘I’m in Belgium.’ It’s amazing really – it’s just unbelievable.”
Ball, who works at the University of Essex and is also studying for a masters in creative writing, said she wrote Powerless during the Covid lockdown in 2020. She wrote mostly at weekends – because she was then working as a teacher – in her lounge, with the laptop on her knees, in the home she shares with her husband and two daughters.
“It was so helpful having a purpose and something to keep my mind off the stress and worry” of the pandemic, Ball said, with the writing helping fill a need at a time she was yearning for connection with friends and family.
Virality has catapulted other undiscovered authors to public attention in recent years, with posts on platforms such as TikTok and X wielding the power to boost sales and interest. In 2023, a struggling YA (young adult) author Shawn Warner topped the Amazon bestseller list after a TikTok video of the Texas-based writer at a quiet event went viral.
Ball’s simple advice to other aspiring authors was: “Just write!” She doesn’t wait until her novels are completely plotted before putting words on the page. “I just go with it. It’s like a journey, and I really enjoy the process,” she said. “You never know where it’s going to go.”
Powerless is about two sisters, with one returning home after going missing, while Abandoned is about a daughter with an alcoholic mother.
Ball’s novels were published by Burton Mayers Books. Richard Mayers, the director of the small publisher in Dundee, said: “She just messaged me saying: ‘I’ve gone viral! I’ve had 25 million views,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s crazy.’
“Like a lot of indie authors, they do these events … and maybe you sell one or two books. So to be propelled into the limelight like this, it’s a real positive,” Mayers said. “I say to all the authors, you must be prepared to slog it out. It’s a marathon not a sprint – the message is: persevere.”
Ball wrote thanking her supporters later on X: “I am amazed and so grateful for all your likes, comments and purchases 🥰.”
