He opened up his Silo Saga to other authors, formalizing that effort when he signed with Kindle Worlds. Howey became closely tied to both Amazon/ Kindle Direct Publishing and self-publishing as a leader of the new paradigm of publishing. 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. He notably turned down seven figure offers in favor of a mid-six figure sum, in return for maintaining e-book rights. The deal allowed Howey to continue to sell the book online exclusively. In 2012, Howey signed a deal with Simon & Schuster to distribute Wool to book retailers across the US and Canada. Film rights to the series were sold to 20th Century Fox Lionsgate also expressed interest. Howey began soliciting international rights in 2012, including signing a deal for Brazil.
After the series grew in popularity, he began to write more entries for it. After that, he decided to publish through 's Kindle Direct Publishing system, because of the freedom of self-publishing. His first book was initially published with a small press. He began the series in 2011, initially writing Wool as a stand-alone short story.
