Jupiter Phaeton, the self-publishing powerhouse rewriting the rules of fantasy fiction

When Jupiter Phaeton quit her job in France with just six months’ savings, she faced a stark choice: make a living from writing or return to the nine-to-five grind. “Going back to traditional jobs was Plan B. But the most horrible Plan B for me. It was out of the question,” she says.

Today, that gamble looks prescient. Phaeton has published more than 60 fantasy novels on Amazon, selling over 190,000 eBooks and 55,000 print copies, with 645,000 reads via Kindle Select and 135,000 audiobook listeners. Her success is not just literary; it is entrepreneurial.

“It’s entrepreneurship,” she insists. “You’re not just selling your product or building your products; you have to learn about accounting, marketing, and how the publishing industry works.”

Building a loyal readership at speed

Phaeton’s books brim with magic, dragons and werewolves, but her real magic trick was speed. “Kindle readers are heavy readers,” she explains. “They read books like you’ve just published it, and five hours later, like, where is the next one?” To meet that demand, she published a book a month for a time. “That’s why we built such a great community first,” she says. “Now I can stop being chained to my keyboard.”

Her characters are often strong women – a deliberate choice. “I wanted to inspire women, to say to them, ‘Hey, it’s okay. You can have a strong character, and you can lead and do whatever you want in life.’”

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