the secret to a bestseller
The Dream: You get your book published and become an overnight sensation, selling thousands of copies in a matter of days without any effort whatsoever to promote the masterpiece because the content is just so damn good on its own. The book sells itself and is bound for bestsellerdom!
The Reality: You sell a handful of books to your friends and family members and nobody recognizes you in public. But we as writers do have that (pipe) dream. Even celebrities or people who are household names need to put some effort into selling their book wares and flexing their marketing muscle.
The truth is it takes a lot to sell a lot of books—much more than gripping material. And the word “bestseller” has no official, universally accepted definition. Sure, if you land on some list (the New York Times, USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly), you can call yourself a bestseller. But so can people who rank high on Amazon or sell thousands of copies but are never anointed by a coveted list. The #1 essential ingredient to making a bestseller: platform, which is another way of saying you need to have a way to reach your potential readers—and bona fide book buyers.
An author platform is typically comprised of multiple elements that work in combination to power your ability to attract your core audience of loyal readers. Here are some of the most common elements to a platform that can help boost your (and your book’s) visibility or public presence:
book-centric website
publications of your writings or expert advice in newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc.
email-newsletter list, Substack, or personal blog
social media presence
traditional media such as TV and radio
podcasting (your own or being a guest on other podcasters)
maintaining a YouTube channel
tapping personal and professional contacts who can help promote you and your book
A platform must reinforce your brand and authority, perpetually expanding your network and readership.
Every author will have unique strengths and weaknesses in building and maintaining a platform. The key is to lean into the areas where you can have the most reach and make the biggest splash in the pool where your target audience is waiting. If you’re a practicing professional, for example, you might not have a strong following on social media (if you even do social media), but you may have a dazzling list of contacts and access to social media influencers through your own connections that will go a long way to support your platform and help spread the word. I’ve known plenty of authors who have never been on TikTok or Instagram and who find a way to land in bestsellerdom through other means, such as capitalizing on their relationships with those who have larger platforms. These authors may be under the proverbial radar in the public eye, but once they gain high-profile testimonials, shout-outs, and invitations to events that can turn into encounters with their audience and potential book buyers, they can succeed. And so can you.