They say everyone has a novel in them. However, those who have ever attempted it know that converting that idea in your head into a 50,000 word manuscript is no easy task. Imagine, then, the devastation of publishing house rejection. Now, rather than let their literature linger in the slush pile, more authors are going the self-published e-book route. Check out these three success stories.

Amanda Hocking: Amanda Hocking spent nearly a decade trying to get published. At one point, desperate to raise $300 for a trip, she uploaded one of her books to Amazon’s Kindle Store. Little did she know that she was about to make history. Within just a few months, she sold two million copies of her nine uploaded novels, earning her desired airfare, and then some, in the form of a record setting $2 million haul. Now, her fans are downloading 9,000 of her books a day, she’s inked a multimillion dollar contract with St. Martin’s Press, and her hit paranormal romance trilogy is headed for the big screen. Not bad.

While the popularity of tablets portends the future of publishing, the integration of social news apps demonstrates that readers often desire to share their literary interests with their online friends. In a manner similar to the interactive restyling of text books, the next evolution of e-books features a new rash of applications that support more inherently social reading experiences.

Subtext: Subtext is the first app to use gaming cues in an interactive online reading community. The app allows authors, experts and community members to embed notes directly into the pages of their e-books, and then rewards them with points based on their contributions. Created for the iPad and integrated with Google Books, Subtext positions itself as a ‘retailer agnostic’ platform for comments, quizzes, questions, polls, videos, and images to enrich the e-book experience. It’s akin to the special features section on a DVD, but with the added bonus of connecting its users to a network of likeminded bibliophiles.

Thanks to Apple’s Newsstand, digital magazine subscriptions may be entering boom times. Yet, the fall of printed periodicals—unless new titles like those featured in yesterday’s Trendcentral change that—has stolen the joy once found in unwrapping the postman’s latest delivery. Filling the gap (and, in some instances, spam email boxes) are several new curated programs that can still deliver periodic surprises to subscribers.

Quarterly Co.: A while back, a company called The Something Store was lauded for its unusual business model of sending people a surprise item for $10. New subscription service Quarterly Co. operates on a similar principle, but with the promise of parcels more desirable than the ‘white elephant gift exchange’-type items of its predecessor. The program gives people an extraordinary way to connect with their favorite tastemakers. Much in the way that they would select a magazine that appeals to their interests, subscribers sign up for remarkable people. They then receive “actual items that tell a compelling story crafted and narrated by the contributor.” It’s kind of like Show-and-Tell for the post-kindergarten set.

The issue of how the constant use of technology affects critical thinking skills continues to spur debate. However, the proliferation of online outlets for writers suggests that the digital realm actually may be fostering creative expression more than it is hindering it. These virtual platforms offer writers the means to both collaborate and connect with likeminded literary folk.

Figment: Though it sports an impressive literary pedigree—co-founded by Dana Goodyear, a staff writer at The New Yorker, and Jacob Lewis, former Managing Editor of the same magazine—Figment is an inclusive community that welcomes young writers of all backgrounds. Primarily a place for teens and authors of young adult fiction to share developing work, the Figment network embraces a diverse array of writing formats, from sonnets to cell phone novels. In its quest to provide a competitive platform for the next Amanda Hocking, Figment also runs an ongoing series of writing contests, the most recent of which is a screenwriting one inspired by Prom.

This past summer, technologist Nicholas Negroponte (Being Digital) declared that the physical book format will be dead in five years. While there may be some truth in that controversial opinion, Luddites and digital pioneers alike are setting aside their differences to ensure that design-driven, tangible publications don’t go the way of the 8-track.

Written Images: Kickstarter remains the premier incubator of tomorrow’s big ideas, so it’s only fitting that the innovative Written Images project is seeking funding through the trailblazing platform. The brainchild of post-industrial designers Martin Fuchs and Peter Bichsel, Written Images offers art book collectors tomes so limited in publication that not even the most highbrow of aesthete print emporiums is likely to stock them. Indeed, every book published is essentially a first edition. The collaboration between more than 70 international media artists and developers employs generative art apps to deliver the images that fill the pages. (No two copies are the same.) Offering consumers both a sampling of generative art and a meditation on the process doesn’t come cheaply. It’s $200 a copy.