Self-published book sells 10,000 copies

By Catherine Amos

Published by the Culpeper Star-Exponent: April 27, 2008

Local independent author Virginia Morton has sold more than 10,000 copies of her novel, “Marching Through Culpeper.”

To put that in context, the average book in America sells about 500 copies, according to “Publisher’s Weekly” magazine in 2006, and fiction is considered successful if it sells 5,000 copies.

In 2000, Morton self-published the first edition of her work of historical fiction, set in Culpeper during the Civil War. She credits her readers for spreading the praise about her book and broadening its reach in the last eight years.

“My readers are phenomenal,” Morton said. “I’ve really been blessed; word of mouth is really the best publicity. It’s hard to get attention that I’ve sold 10,000, which is an extremely rare achievement for an independent book from an unknown author.”

Her novel is not only getting attention from local history buffs, but has gained scholarly interest from universities in Arkansas and South Carolina. David Aiken, an English professor at the College of Charleston and The Citadel, is using “Marching” in two of his classes in conjunction with Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind.”

“In a way, her book does for Culpeper what ‘Gone With the Wind’ did for Atlanta,” Aiken said. “It gives us a chance to understand the point of view of Southerners.”

Morton said a friend of hers gave the book to Aiken, who assigned it to his students after reading it himself.

“I said, ‘my, this is good,’ ” Aiken said. “It’s very carefully researched; very historical. She’s trying very hard to see some kind of reconciliation between the North and the South.”

Aiken said his students were responding very well to “Marching.” His classes focus on southern literature and he said he had no idea Culpeper was so involved in the Civil War before reading Morton’s book.

“I was absolutely thrilled because they’re reading it along with ‘Gone With the Wind,” Morton said. “It’s all been great to get that kind of credibility. What author doesn’t dream to have their book used in a college literature class?”

Now a successful author, Morton said she was not sure about printing the first 500 copies in 2000, worried that she would not break even. Ten thousand copies later, she said she felt as if she had only touched the tip of the iceberg.

In addition to giving private tours of downtown Culpeper — she has led 4,500 people through its streets to date — Morton is working with two other writers to transform “Marching” into a two-hour miniseries. She said she hoped to pitch it to HBO.

“I would love to have the whole community praying for this,” she said. “I want to give back to the community and (a miniseries) would have an enormous impact on Culpeper.”