Hugh Howey

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 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 began the series in 2011, initially writing Wool 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.

Hugh C. Howey (born 1975) 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 book store clerk, yacht captain, roofer, and audio technician.