Hugh Howey

Hugh C. Howey is an American writer known best for the science fiction series Silo, part of which he published independently through Amazon.com's Kindle Direct Publishing system. Howey was raised in Monroe, North Carolina, and before publishing his books, he worked as a bookstore clerk, yacht captain, roofer, and audio technician.

He began Wool in 2011, initially writing it as a stand-alone short story. His first book was initially published with a small press. After that, he decided to publish through Amazon.com's Kindle Direct Publishing system because of the freedom of self-publishing. After the series grew in popularity, he began to write more entries for it. Howey began soliciting international rights in 2012, including signing a deal for Brazil. Film rights to the series were sold to 20th Century Fox; Lionsgate also expressed interest.

In 2012, Howey signed a deal with Simon & Schuster to distribute Wool to book retailers across the US and Canada. The deal allowed Howey to continue to sell the book online exclusively. He notably turned down seven-figure offers in favor of a mid-six-figure sum in return for maintaining e-book rights. He has also signed publishing contracts with Random House Century UK for UK distribution of both his Wool and Sand series, published as novels of the same names.

Howey became closely tied to both Amazon/Kindle Direct Publishing and self-publishing as a leader of the new publishing paradigm. He opened up his Silo Saga to other authors, formalizing that effort when he signed with Kindle Worlds. Though authors like Fredric Shernoff (Atlantic Island), Jason Gurley (Eleanor), and Michael Bunker (Pennsylvania) all experienced some degree of success that can be attributed to Howey, Wool, and the Kindle Worlds project, nobody was able to replicate Wool's success either through tie-in books or those authors' original stories.

In mid-2015, Howey gave up his home in Florida and moved to St Francis Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa. He commissioned the construction of a sailing catamaran, on which he plans to live and sail the world while he continues to write. In addition, Howey has been an avid disc golfer since 1993.