Becoming a successful author takes more than simply signing your contract and waiting for book sales. Just as you have worked tirelessly to produce excellent writing, it takes similar focus to promote your work’s success. It is up to you as an author to build and maintain your own audience. An engaged audience is the single most important indicator of a book’s long-term success. With millions of books printed each year in the United States, our mutual goal is to get our books noticed by the people who will love them most.

Depending on your genre and category, there are different steps you can take to stand out. We will share well-tested strategies with you, but then it’s up to you to try those and other methods to give your book its best chance. As your publisher, we partner with you in these efforts by providing you with not only a published book, but also by pitching your book to our marketplace resources; namely bookstores, distributors, and e-commerce platforms. Despite these activities on our end, a publisher cannot engage your audience as personally as you can, and that’s why building your audience is so important. Getting your book on-shelf in bookstores makes it available to people you wouldn’t have otherwise reached, but keeping a book on shelves often comes from the word-of-mouth reviews that your fans share with their friends and acquaintances. You will need to engage your audience and keep that audience apprised of new book releases, collaborations, sales, and opportunities to become and remain a fan. We have many resources for you that are outlined throughout this manual.