If you are buying the book anyway, what difference does it actually make whether you place your order three months in advance, or pick it up in store three months post-pub?

Unfortunately, quite a bit of difference.

Today, we’re diving into the nitty-gritty of why preorders act as a signal, not just a sale. And, if you make it to the very bottom, I’ll share some tips to help boost your preorder numbers.

PREORDERS (noun): purchases of a book placed before publication day.

Yes, “preorders” and “pre-orders” are both valid spellings. No, the publishing industry can’t seem to pick one. I give you permission to use whichever sparks joy.

How preorders affect different retailers

Amazon

As a data-first company, Amazon’s purchasing choices are much less informed by things like publicity and word of mouth. Instead, the more preorders your book receives, the larger Amazon’s order of your book becomes. Simple as that.

Whether we like it or not, Amazon is often a huge driver of sales for publishers, and if their original order of a book is low, it’s unlikely that they will place larger orders later down the line. Strong preorder numbers help prevent that.

Secondly, the more preorders you get, the higher your book will rank in Amazon’s internal categories. First, there’s the overall “Books” category, where your book will rank against every other book sold on Amazon’s platform. Depending on the week, breaking into the top 100 of this list could take thousands of sales.

After that, each book is shelved under categories of increasing specificity. For example, a cookbook will be ranked under “Cookbooks, Food & Wine,” but more specifically under “Cookbooks, Food & Wine/Comfort Food.”

Now, when your book jumps in Amazon’s rankings, it automatically increases your book’s exposure in Amazon’s algorithm. Meaning, when someone searches for a book within your book’s category, yours is more likely to pop up as a suggestion.

Perhaps more crucially, though, is that other large retailers, such as Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million, (allegedly) pay attention to Amazon rankings. To the broader industry, that “Amazon Bestseller” badge is a vote of confidence. Even if a retailer initially placed a modest order, they can go back and place a larger one—all before publication day rolls around the corner.

Indie bookstores

Getting your book into an indie shop—where small square footage demands that every book must be carefully deemed worthy of shelf space—is a battle. When you preorder at an indie store, you are proving that demand exists.

Book buyers are pitched thousands of books every season (I promise you, it’s way more than you think), and publisher sales reps often have only 45-60 seconds over Zoom to pitch each book before moving on to the next one. That is not a lot of time for bookstores to figure out whether a book is worth placing an order for.

But, if the local community starts placing preorders, suddenly there’s a very compelling reason for that bookstore to pay attention.

Then there are the infamous bestseller lists

Preorders generally count toward a book’s first week sales, meaning they concentrate multiple weeks of sales into a single reported number. That’s why the first week of publication is often a book’s greatest opportunity to appear on a bestseller list.

You might gripe that these lists arguably mean nothing, and you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. A book that sells 1,000 copies a week for 10 weeks straight might never appear on a bestseller list, while one that sells 5,000 copies in the first week and then drops off completely could. These lists are designed to reward short-term velocity over long-term popularity.

But, unfortunately, they can make a big difference.

That little New York Times Bestseller sticker on a book cover can dramatically persuade a reader to stop, pick it up, and read the description on the back. It functions as a form of social proof, and basically says a LOT of other people bought this book.

Even if the book turns out to be not that good, at least you’ll have thousands of people to commiserate over it with.

The important thing is, bestseller status never really goes away. A book only needs to hit the list for one week to ride that wave for the rest of its life. Even your subsequent books will probably have “NYT Bestselling Author” proudly broadcast across their covers. Bestseller lists can also influence how big retailers and indie bookstores place book orders. The snowball effect is real.

But—and this is a big but—the bestseller lists are not something you can completely control.

The algorithm behind the New York Times bestseller list is notoriously opaque. The same goes for the USA TODAY bestseller list. All evidence seems to point to the fact that the number of sales does not directly correlate with whether a book makes a list. Sometimes, they seem to choose on ~vibe~

So if your book doesn’t make a bestseller list, please don’t take it personally. It’s a bonus, but certainly not the definition of a successful preorder campaign.

And then there’s your publisher

Here’s some blunt news: when a book preorders well (aka much higher than forecasted), your publisher may reconsider the resources it puts behind it.

It sounds harsh to say, but publishing is a business. If a title that a publisher initially thought might be a modest seller suddenly receives thousands of preorders, they’re going to take notice.

Not only will they likely reassess their current stock (and potentially send your book back for reprints early), but they might also open conversations about other ways they can capitalize on the momentum.

On the publicity side, that could mean putting more resources and manpower behind media outreach. It could also mean putting a budget towards events and travel, or sending out more copies for review. On the marketing side, they might increase paid advertising or run additional retailer promotions.

Preorders don’t guarantee investment, but they can certainly make a stronger case for it.

How do you get people to preorder your book?

This is where you need to get creative.

Preorder incentives

One of the most common strategies is a preorder incentive: AKA, something the reader receives if they preorder the book. This could be an entry to a giveaway, a downloadable bonus, a signed bookplate, or a free-with-purchase item.

Bookstore partnerships

You can also partner with a local bookstore to offer a discount on preorders, such as 20% off. Yes, by offering a discount, the bookstore is taking a cut of the potential earnings, but if that partnership brings in 50, 100, or 200 additional book sales that the store otherwise would not have gotten, that’s a pretty compelling trade-off. This can be particularly effective if you’re an author with a strong local connection.

Events

Events can help, too. Say you’re doing an event at a bookstore in the first few weeks after publication, but the event requires a ticket, and that ticket includes a copy of your book.

If the bookstore makes the ticket link live several weeks pre-publication, every person who buys a ticket is essentially preordering your book. And if you’re doing multiple events, those sales can start to add up.

For more preorder tips, check out this past post:

How to support authors without preordering

If you want to support an author but can’t financially swing a $30 hardcover, you still have a great option: your local library. Most public libraries allow patrons to request books that aren’t available yet. If your library orders the book, that’s another signal of demand that ultimately helps support authors.

You can also tell your friends about the book, shelve it on Goodreads/your preferred tracker app, or reshare the author’s announcement on social media to help.

So there we have it

Preorder enthusiasm can go a long way. If you’re a reader eyeing an upcoming book launch, consider doing that author a favor and adding their book to cart before pub day.

As always, I love to hear your own product recommendations!

Job Board

Institutional Sales & Subscriptions Manager - Berghahn Books
Content Marketer/Merchandiser - Bookbub
Senior Editor - Getty
Publicity Manager, Hachette Nashville - Hachette Book Group
Designer & Senior Designer, RHCB - Penguin Random House LLC
Marketing & Publicity Assistant - Spiegel & Grau LLC
Contracts Manager - Trident Media Group

Have a job opening to add to the list? Shoot me a DM.

Current Read

Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan
This is the epitome of a beach read. She’s a kindergarten teacher and single mom, he’s a millionaire who needs a fake girlfriend, and it’s set in a small Rhode Island beach town. What more do I need to say? I’m about a third of the way through and thoroughly enjoying myself.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization. This post contains an affiliate link.

Doesn’t have as much of a ring to it.

The point is, the start of fall never stops feeling like a transitory period, but I remember how jarring that first fall post-college was. No matter how glamorous movies and TV shows like 13 Going on 30 and Sex and the City make working in the big city seem, switching from school to forty hours behind a desk is hard.

But don’t get me wrong: starting a new job—especially in a creative industry—is exciting. You get to reinvent yourself a little. You have a new daily routine, likely a new apartment, new coworkers, and, if you’re lucky, a paycheck that makes you feel like a Real Adult for the first time.

But you also don’t actually need that much stuff.

If I were starting my first creative-industry job in NYC again, I’d focus on a few things that make working life easier and a few things that make entering the workforce just a little more romantic.

And if you’re a parent, grandparent, guardian, or just someone who knows a young person who recently moved to the city for their first job: consider this your care-package shopping list.

Necessities

1. A work bag

Let’s start with the most important: something to schlep your work supplies back and forth in each day.

As far as I can tell, there’s no standard choice. I see an equal number of Gen Z commuters carrying purses, tote bags, and backpacks each morning. Personally, I carry a large purse, as it holds more than a tote and feels less cumbersome on the subway.

Unless you work some high-brow, client-facing job, your work bag doesn’t need to come with a $400 price tag. Mine is a hand-me-down, and thrift stores are great places to find cool old bags. In my office at least, no one would even bat an eye if I pulled my laptop out of a $2.99 Trader Joe’s tote.

Then again, your work bag is something you’re going to look at and carry every single day, so this isn’t the time for a hasty choice. In fact, “do I love it?” is a perfectly reasonable purchasing criterion.

I will automatically think you are super cool if your work bag is a tote from your local indie bookstore, like this one from Books Are Magic. What could possibly be more chic?

You can even take the whimsy up a notch by adding beads, charms, or other cute accessories. If you’re a DIY fan, Haricot Vert is the ultimate place to source vintage and quirky charms.

2. A notebook you like

While taking notes on your computer is totally normal in college seminars, it can sometimes feel a little awkward (or even rude) in in-person meetings.

Taking notes by hand assures the people around you that you’re actually writing important things down, instead of replying to an email you forgot about. And if you’re unsure of what to actually take notes on, names, new acronyms, things your boss explains once, and questions to ask later, are a great place to start.

You don’t need a $60 leather journal, or a pack of twelve. A single nice hardcover notebook in the $15–25 range will do the trick. I’m a die-hard Moleskine fan, but Rifle Paper Co. has recently been catching my eye with their adorable designs.

If you’re looking for an easy gift, a nice notebook and a pack of pens is a no-brainer.

3. Comfortable shoes

In the same vein as bags, prioritize practical shoes over pretty ones. But! That doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice the fun of getting dressed. Pick a pair that is comfortable enough to walk around in and that you genuinely love looking at.

That said, wearing comfortable shoes to the office will also encourage you to leave the office. If you can, try to get outside for a walk at least once per workday. Your legs (and brain) will thank you. And if you happen to look cute while doing it? Even better.

Around my office (and on the subway), the most common work shoes I see are ballet flats, loafers, and sneakers. Pro tip: don’t make the same mistake I did and wear new shoes on your first day. Break those in a few weeks early to avoid limping around the office.

My current rotation is between my Puma Palermos and Timberland Platform Boat Shoes. I am in the market for comfy ballet flats—any recommendations are extremely welcome.

4. A desk cardigan

It doesn’t matter where you work or who you work for—I promise you your office will be cold. Save yourself the shivering and keep a spare sweater or cardigan in your desk.

The important thing here is to not just pick a mangy old sweater that’s ordinarily shoved in the back of your closet, but something cute and comfortable you’re going to enjoy slipping on each day.

I was gifted a Quince sweater last fall, and it’s perfect for this.

5. A reusable water bottle

Not every office has a kitchen stocked with cups, but even if yours does, a big water bottle will save you from needing to refill your 8 oz glass every thirty minutes.

If you have a dedicated desk, I recommend leaving your water bottle there overnight. Not only does that help prevent your workbag from getting egregiously heavy, but it also makes sure you never forget it.

I’m a ride-or-die Hydroflask fan, but any reusable bottle will do. But because the name of the game is romanticizing your life, don’t just stop there. Choose a color that will make you smile, get some cute stickers, or clip on a fun keychain.

6. Reusable Tupperware

The easiest way to save money as a new grad is to always pack a lunch. That’s $10-20 per day, easy.

Usually, I pack whatever I made for dinner the night before. Pyrex is my forever love. To be uber prepared, you can purchase a set of travel silverware to keep in your desk or work bag, too.

And just because you’re saving money doesn’t mean lunch has to be sad. Pack something you actually like, take it outside, eat it in a park when the weather is nice. Your lunch break is still a break.

I personally shove my tupperware straight into my purse, but if you prefer a lunch bag, by all means, get something cute that actually makes you excited to pack a meal. These from Baggu are just adorable.

7. An umbrella

Unless you work in sunny California (don’t rub it in), you’ll arguably need an umbrella. Maybe you could get away with showing up to your college lecture half-damp, but it’s not the most professional look.

It doesn’t need to be fancy, but you do need one that won’t turn inside out the first time it rains. I recently bought this compact one from Target, and am obsessed with the strawberry design. Who said practicality had to be boring?

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Little Luxuries

1. Desk accessories

Personally, I’m of the mind that a happy desk space makes for a happy headspace. If you have a dedicated desk at work and the ability to decorate it, by all means, decorate.

Some of my favorite decor is DIY, such as my air-dry clay penguin calendar. You can also pin up photos, reminders of big professional wins, calendars, and other memorabilia. Fun mousepads, laptop sleeves, coasters, and keyboard covers are also easy ways to brighten up a beige cubicle.

I wouldn’t recommend buying plants (unless they can survive with very minimal maintenance), candles (out of respect to your deskmates), or desk lamps (the LED overheads never turn off, so it’s unlikely you’ll ever use it).

2. A magazine subscription

This is just me trying to convince everyone I know to invest in print media.

No, but seriously. No matter what industry you work in, it’s important to stay curious about what’s going on inside it. Social media and podcasts can only teach you so much, and there’s something particularly nice about having a physical magazine show up every month that has absolutely nothing to do with your inbox.

Plus, it’s way more chic to say, “I was just reading an article…” instead of, “I saw this TikTok...”

For example, because I work predominantly in lifestyle publishing, I subscribe to an array of food, fashion, and home magazines. Not only does this help me stay on top of trends and familiarize myself with the kind of content each magazine publishes (which, as a publicist, is a huge plus), but it keeps me connected to the things that made me want to work in this industry in the first place. And, they double as great desk decor.

Also, pssst, magazine subscriptions make for great gifts. A few favorites are: Vanity Fair, Food & Wine, Better Homes & Gardens, ELLE, The New Yorker, and TIME.

3. Survival sweet treats

In my opinion, keeping an in-case-of-emergency bar of chocolate or a bag of candy hidden away in a desk drawer is a necessity. You never know when you might need to destress after receiving a totally passive-aggressive email or just beat the usual 3 pm slump.

Personally, you’ll always find a bar of semidark chocolate in my desk.

4. Hand lotion

I don’t know what they pump into office AC vents, but I swear they dry your skin out like a refrigerator. I keep a travel-size lotion on me for this very reason.

Treat yourself to a brand you love. I adore L’Occitane’s mini hand creams. They’re teeny tiny, smell amazing, and last a long time.

5. A fun mug

Life is too serious to drink from a serious mug. In my opinion, the kitschier your office mug is, the better. Naturally, all my work ones have books on them.

I’m not an interior designer, but I also think coffee mugs are way cuter than pencil cups. Two birds, one stone.

If you’re looking for inspiration, Anthropologie’s mugs have my heart.

6. A signature work scent

This might seem frivolous, but hear me out. Not only does wearing the same perfume or diffusing the same essential oil bring a little romance to your daily work routine, but eventually your brain will start to associate that scent with focus. It’s an efficient way to condition your brain into transitioning into work mode.

One caveat: when working in a shared office, be mindful of those around you. Perfume and essential oils can be intense for other people, so err on the side of subtlety. Even a scented chapstick, lip gloss, or gum could be as effective.

When I work from home, I reach for peppermint essential oil.

In the end

Romanticizing your work life isn’t just convincing yourself that responding to emails is fun (though, it’s not not fun). The important thing is to find little details that bring a smile to your face each day, and make sure they’re a part of your daily routine.

What’s an item you swear by to make the workday a little more special? I’d love to hear.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization. None of the above links are affiliate or sponsored links.

I’m sharing what my workload looks like as an in-house publicist, how those campaigns get divided up, and what authors should know before assuming their publicist has unlimited time (or hiring someone else to fill in the gaps).

Job Board

Editorial Assistant - Beacon Press
Subsidiary Rights Assistant - Columbia University Press
Marketing & Content Development Manager, Grace Corner - Hay House Publishing
Administrator, Rights Management - Penguin Random House
Reprints Design Manager, Children’s Publishing - Simon & Schuster
Freelance Managing Director - Stardust Arts
Royalty Processing & Operations Coordinator - Writers House
Publicist - Yen Press

Have a job opening to add to the list? Shoot me a DM.

Current Read

Into the Blue by Emma Brodie
This book is marketed as a love story, but a better term, I think, would be a “love saga.” Spanning a turbulent (to say the least) thirteen years, Into the Blue follows two young improvisers whose lives and careers intersect—predominantly after they are both cast in a prequel of a cult classic sci-fi show (ala Star Trek).

It was fascinating to have a look into the world of improv (which, as someone who is terrible at lying on the spot, I have always found profoundly impressive) and sketch comedy. If you’re a fan of SNL or Who’s Line Is It Anyway?, there’s much to love in Into the Blue.

But if you love a straight-forward romcom, this one might be more than you bargained for. Around page 240, after the protagonists finished filming the show, there was a very natural spot where Brodie could have wrapped things up nicely and ended things on a hopeful note. Instead, she powered through another 190 pages of emotional agony. In a way, I admire her for not backing down from the challenge.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization. This post contains an affiliate link.

It’s not necessarily the fault of publishing houses. Profit margins of books are notoriously slim, and on top of that, the price of books hasn’t kept up with the rate of inflation. (If you think a $30 hardback is expensive, it might be a shock to realize that the $1 hardbacks sold in 1900 should cost about $39 in today’s money).

Really, it’s no wonder the industry has increased its output.

The choice, obviously, hasn’t come without consequences. Publishing more titles per year means less attention per title, often with budget cuts being made in “nonessential” areas.

You can find plenty of first-hand accounts on Substack and other social platforms from authors whose publishers didn’t do much to support their book post-release, or who had a publicity contact assigned to them who was little more than an intern. Unsurprisingly, freelance book publicists have surged in popularity as authors look to fill gaps that overtaxed publishing teams can’t manage.

As someone who has worked (albeit briefly) at both a freelance book PR agency and a Big Five publisher, I’ve had the opportunity to see benefits and limitations on both sides. In the interest of transparency, today we’re talking about what my workload actually looks like as an in-house publicist.

Before we get into specifics, I want to emphasize that there is no “standard” workload. As an associate publicist, my workload won’t necessarily match that of another publicist at a different level.

And there’s a lot of variation beyond that. Every imprint within PRH (and every publisher within the Big Five) has its own publishing schedule, output, and team structure. Even publicists with the same job title at the same imprint may have very different workloads depending on the types of books and campaigns they work on. So, consider this a look at my personal experience, rather than a universal picture of in-house publicity.

A little about my imprint

At Quadrille (a lifestyle nonfic imprint at PRH), we have about ten full-time publicists on staff, and generally publish around 80 titles per season, with two seasons a year.

When those titles were acquired—typically eighteen months to two years ago—our team already assigned them a campaign style. Of course, circumstances can change during the time before bringing a book to market, and so can campaign styles, but we generally already know how much work and what kind of work we will need to put in for each book far in advance.

At surface level, some campaigns are more marketing-focused, some are more publicity-focused, and some might be event-focused. Others are a mixture of all three. And some titles are considered “trend-led,” meaning our sales team is confident that the subject matter itself is strong enough to sell without a large push from the PR and marketing team.

If you’d like to learn more about how we make these sorts of decisions, these posts are a great place to start:

All of this to say, what kind of work—and the amount of work—I put into one book’s campaign might differ greatly from another.

Okay, so how many books do I work on?

In one season, I’ll likely have 8–10 core titles, plus a few others that I’ll support on a more limited basis.

At any given point, those books are going to be at completely different stages of their publishing timeline. One might be six months pre-pub, when I’m pitching long lead media and building out the overall campaign strategy. Another might be two months out, when short lead pitching and event planning are in full swing. Another might be launching that week, leaving me fielding last-minute media requests and event logistics. Even the books I worked on last season never fully drop off my radar—when an opportunity comes to pitch a title eight months post-pub, I’m going to jump on it.

For handful of those campaigns, I’ll tag-team with another in-house US publicist so that we share the workload while also tapping into both our brains for creative ideas.

On top of that, I’ll also be paired with a UK publicist on most titles. Even though we run two separate campaigns in each territory (due to legal, cultural, and often practical reasons), we can still bounce ideas off each other and share resources (like press materials) that will help us both save time.

In the event that a book might only appeal to a US market and we don’t have enough hands on deck to double up, I’ll be working on my own.

That number might sound surprisingly small compared to the number of books my imprint publishes per season, but it’s important to remember that not every book requires (or benefits) from the same amount of publicity support. Different books call for different strategies, and when you’re already weighed down with plenty of daily administrative work on top of your campaigns, prioritization is a must.

Publishing, whether we like to admit it or not, is still a profit-driven industry. The amount of time and resources a book receives is ultimately connected to what the publisher believes will have the greatest impact.

The freelance publicist equation

This is also where the difference between in-house and freelance publicity becomes most obvious.

When I was working at a freelance book PR agency, my workload capped out at about six titles a season. Because that number was much smaller, I was able to devote significantly more time to each campaign.

But, I also didn’t have any of the benefits of working at an in-house team. I couldn’t regularly communicate with our sales team to see the impact of different initatives, or have a large group of colleagues to bounce ideas off of. Neither model exists in a vacuum, and neither is inherently better than the other.

If you’re a trad-published author considering hiring a freelance publicist, I’d recommend first asking your publisher what they will specifically be doing for your book. Adding a freelancer on top of an in-house publicist won’t necessarily get you twice the results. You may be better off asking where there are actual gaps in the campaign (like event planning or podcast pitching) and hiring someone to fill those specific gaps.

What this means for authors

If you’re an author reading this and wondering why your in-house publicist sometimes takes three business days to get back to you, I hope this gives you a little more context. It doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t care about your book or aren’t doing anything behind the scenes, they might just be bogged down and trying to figure out where their limited time will have the greatest impact.

It’s also important to note that much of publicity comes down to “invisible” work. I spend most of my time pitching, following up, checking in, sending materials, and planting seeds that may not turn into anything for weeks or months (or ever). You may not wake up every morning with a new podcast invitation in your inbox, but that doesn’t mean your publicist isn’t working hard.

That said, I also don’t think authors should feel like they have to simply accept feeling ignored. One of the benefits of understanding how a publicist’s workload works is that you can become a better partner to them, such as by being more proactive about sending contacts you may have, flagging opportunities that you assume they’ll see on their own (but might actually miss), or asking specific questions, rather than waiting for them to anticipate everything you might need.

A successful campaign—whether it’s run in-house or by a freelancer—is always a collaborative one.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization.

So if you’ve ever wondered what makes a book a publicist’s dream, this one is for you:

Job Board

Book Publicity Associate/Campaign Coordinator - Coriolis Company
Associate Audio Publisher - Echo Point Books & Media, LLC
Senior Publicist / Publicity Manager - Globe Pequot Publishing Group
Associate Art Director, Union Square & Co. - Hachette Book Group
Americanization Editor - Nosy Crow
Editor/Senior Editor, Random House Children’s Books - Penguin Random House
Senior Director, Art - Penguin Random House LLC
Publicity & Editorial Assistant - Penzler Publishers
Sales Assistant - Sourcebooks
Marketing & Publicity intern - Spiegel & Grau LLC
Literary Agent - Stonesong
Art Director, Children’s - W.W. Norton & Company
College Publishing Sales Representative, Boston - W.W. Norton & Company

Have a job opening to add to the list? Shoot me a DM.

Current Read

Bad Words by Ríoghnach Robinson (Oh, look! It’s an unsolicited book review!)

I received an advance copy of this book in the mail without asking for it, and thank goodness for that. I will be genuinely surprised if this book doesn’t make huge waves this fall, and I’m grateful that I got to read it and have my own thoughts before the discourse begins.

Why might there be discourse, you ask? Because that is the actual topic of the book: Parker is an author, and Selina is a book critic who has publicly eviscerated not one, but two of his books. A fight between them goes viral, and thus ensues a social media battle over whether critics have the right to rip authors’ work to shreds, and what we might lose if we start censoring them (though, over the course of nearly 400 pages, the fight spirals into racism, sexism, mental health stigma, and the value of print media, among other topics).

Judging solely by the cover, you might assume this is a rom-com. Something playful and tenderhearted and enjoyably mind-numbing. It is not. Selina and Parker are complex characters, far from fuzzy archetypes whose only flaws are being too selfless and bad communicators. They’re truly enemies.

Don’t expect some fluffy disagreement under snow flurries that ends in an accidental compliment and an impromptu makeout session. Expect heated, cruel exchanges that actually make you flinch in real life. The first fifty pages were hard to read—not because Ríoghnach is in any way a poor or dragging writer, but because the characters’ frustrations and fury are so visceral that the reader can’t help but take some of the punches.

And yet, romance is a major part of the story.

There’s a quote on the back of the ARC by Emily Henry saying it’s “the rare kind of book I can’t believe doesn’t already exist.” To that I say, thank God no one else wrote this. Thank God Emily Henry didn’t write this! I loved a few of her books, and yet I can instantly envision the light-hearted, “looks like they could kill you but are actually cinnamon rolls” versions of these characters she would write, instead of the legitimately morally grey characters Selina and Parker are, and how it would have been the shadow of the book it is now. I am desperately convinced that absolutely no one else could have written this book the way Ríoghnach has, the way it should be, in the way it does not care for genre expectations or celebrity book club glory or shock factor or escapism.

It is sharp. It is tender. It’s about cancel culture and the fall of true literary criticism and the financial squeeze of journalism and the pressure to write what audiences want to read and imposter syndrome and the loneliness of adulthood and the tragic visibility that modern authorship requires. The slow-burn romance was so slow I wondered if the heat was even on, and once it was, it was excruciatingly delicious.

The writing itself was upmarket—accessible, yet littered with alternating highbrow banter and the most simplistic yet poignant metaphors that gut-punched me every time in their sincerity. Like, just read this:

I didn’t want to be his friend, although, yes, of course I did, because nobody had ever managed to make me laugh so often, alone in my apartment, pausing at the cutting board, wiping slivers of carrot from the tips of my thumbs over and over again so I could answer him, rendering my life slower and more inconvenient and, undeniably, happier.

I mean, COME ON!

Asking if I enjoyed this book is like asking if I like getting my heart ripped out and tossed into the washing machine every ten minutes. I didn’t relax reading this. I yearned and I ached and I flinched. And, damn, is that not the whole point?

ANYWAY, it’s out October 6, go preorder your copy ASAP.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization.

What makes a publisher decide to really push one book over another?
Why was that book more supported/successful/publicized than mine?
Why doesn’t my publisher’s PR team see the potential I see?

It’s all too easy to respond to these with something vague like, it’s complicated. Because, well, it is complicated. But today, we’re going to spend some time (and 2,000 words) hopefully making things a little clearer.

To start off, it’s important to understand that every book campaign is shaped by dozens of factors, many of which have nothing to do with the quality of the writing itself.

And the honest truth is, some authors and books are easier to publicize than others. That’s not to say they are automatically better or more deserving of attention, but because they naturally give a publicity team more opportunities to connect them with readers.

Let’s jump into the specifics of why that is.

Part One: Publicity-Friendly Books

Book publicists often approach campaigns from two sides: the author and the book. A strong author can open doors, but the book itself can determine which doors are available in the first place.

Books with a clear hook

The first thing that makes a book publicity-friendly is a way to explain it quickly.

This is not because journalists and other media professionals don’t appreciate complexity, but because they’re busy, and every pitch needs to very quickly make them stop and think, Wait, tell me more.

There are a lot of great resources out there to help you distill your book idea into a concise hook (and your editor will also help you do this). In the industry, we often call books with a strong hook or premise “high-concept,” so you can give that a Google, too.

My quickest shortcut to identify a hook is by asking myself: Why this book, and why now?

Books that naturally fit certain publicity formats

Publicists will also take genre and format into account when pitching because different books naturally lend themselves to different publicity opportunities.

For example, books with strong standalone sections (like cookbooks, memoirs, poetry and short story collections, and narrative nonfiction) often work well for excerpts because they have chapters that can easily exist on their own while still making readers want to buy the full book.

Podcasts, TV segments, and other interviews work particularly well for authority-driven authors.

Lifestyle titles like garden, craft, cooking, and self-help are often well-suited for in-person events, workshops, and presentations.

And lastly, some books (like fiction, children’s, gift, novelty, and seasonal titles) often thrive through discovery-based coverage, such as in “best new books” lists, holiday gift guides, summer reading roundups, and themed listicles.

Books with multiple audiences

Every book has a core audience: a group of people who immediately understand why this book was written and why they need to read it.

But audiences are finite. That’s why publicists are always asking: Who else might care about this? Who might enjoy or use this book, even if they are not the obvious reader?

These secondary audiences create additional pathways for discovery by tapping into new communities and facilitating new events and partnerships.

For example:

• A Japanese cookbook might appeal to travelers interested in visiting Japan or recreating what they ate there

• A Scottish history book might appeal to fans of Outlander

• A romance novel might connect with readers interested in a broader conversation about relationships and modern dating

Books that tap into ongoing conversations

Some books are naturally part of a larger cultural conversation.

This does not mean every book needs to chase a trend or comment on whatever is currently viral; in fact, many successful books are successful because they introduce an idea before everyone else is talking about it.

But publicity works best when a book gives people extra food for thought for something they are already thinking about.

Of course, cultural conversations can all come down to one factor that neither the publicist nor author can control: timing.

When everything lines up, it can feel like magic. But sometimes the opposite happens. Schedules can shift, trends can cool down, too-similar books can publish at the same time, or breaking news can take over every outlet…

As unfortunate as it is, publishing is a business built on prediction, which means there will always be an element of uncertainty.

So while it’s way easier said than done, this is one of the big reasons why authors shouldn’t put too much pressure on themselves when a book does not receive the attention they hoped for.

A “quieter” publicity campaign does not necessarily mean that the book was not strong enough or the publicity team did not work hard enough. Sometimes a publicist can spend months pitching, brainstorming, building relationships, and finding every possible angle for a book, and the timing just does not quite cooperate.

The good news is, cultural conversations are changing all the time. What might not be hugely relevant one moment could explode the next. Social media is particularly amazing at bringing backlist books back into the conversation at the exact right moment.

For a related rant on all this:

Part Two: Publicity-Friendly Authors

Of course, your book is only one piece of the puzzle. Let’s move on to what makes the person behind the page stand out to PR teams.

Authors with authority

Some authors are publicity-friendly because the author’s expertise is part of the story.

This is especially true for nonfiction. For example, a doctor can explain a specific health trend, a historian can provide context for a current event, or a chef can speak to the uses of specific ingredients.

Their publicist can then pitch them for:

• podcast interviews

• expert commentary

• op-eds

• speaking engagements

• conference appearances

• media interviews

It is way harder for a publicist to pitch an author who’s just an uncredited hobbyist.

Fiction authors can also claim “authority” from having a clear connection between who they are and the stories they tell. For example, a romance author might have experience as a real-life matchmaker, or a mystery writer who worked as a lawyer or investigator may have a unique perspective to share in an interview.

Even when the author’s professional background is not directly connected to the plot, having relevant personal experience can help. For example, a debut novelist who writes literary fiction about grief, immigration, or family dynamics may not be a subject matter expert, but their own perspective can give them a tangible entry point for media opportunities.

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Authors with communities

When people talk about authors needing a “platform,” they sometimes picture a huge social media following, viral videos, or a perfectly curated Instagram grid. While those things can absolutely help, they are only one version of visibility.

A platform is a place to distribute your ideas, while communities—where readers can engage with each other without the author needing to facilitate everything—create actual conversations that outlast a single social media post.

Because I dove into the nitty-gritty of platforms vs communities in previous posts, I won’t linger too long here.

The gist is that author communities help publicists do their jobs (and sell books) way better than author platforms.

Authors comfortable with going public

Of course, expertise and community only go so far if an author does not want to engage publicly. Not every writer dreams of being interviewed on television or can take time away from home to travel the country on tour, and that is completely okay.

That said, certain publicity opportunities do require an author who is willing and able to step into the spotlight.

Before pitching certain opportunities, publicists have to ask themselves: Can this author speak on their book’s topic for 45 minutes? Do they feel comfortable in front of large audiences? Do they have the flexibility to travel to non-local opportunities?

I’ve written a comprehensive post on this as well:

Authors with networks

Just like there’s a difference between having an audience and having a community, there’s a difference between having a community and having a network.

The type of network that an author might have depends heavily on what they write. For nonfiction, your network often already exists within your industry. For example, a therapist might be connected with other mental health professionals, or a chef might have relationships with restaurants or food journalists.

For fiction authors, people like critique partners, literary magazine editors you’ve submitted to, writing communities, local booksellers you’re friendly with, book clubs you’ve interacted with, and even Discord chats/Facebook groups you’re a part of can be a part of your network.

Publicists spend years building their own contacts and relationships, but we can’t possibly know everyone. So when authors share their contacts with their publicists, we’re able to tap into communities we might not already be in contact with.

In addition, pitching contacts who already have some connection to the author or book tend to be way more fruitful than cold emails. These relationships can turn into opportunities like:

• speaking engagements

• professional newsletters featuring the book

• podcast interviews

• partnerships with organizations

• events with relevant communities

And, surprise, I have a whole post on this topic, too!

Bringing it all together

Ultimately, a publicity-friendly book is not a book that checks every box, but one that gives media professionals and readers multiple reasons to care.

Even if your book doesn’t receive any publicity support, that does not mean it won’t find an audience. Publicity is only one mode of discovery, and other major factors like marketing and word of mouth can be just as (if not more) impactful.

Let me know below if this post was helpful, and reshare with others for my endless gratitude.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization.

While it might feel a little random to suddenly talk finances, I want this Substack to be a place that addresses all the practical sides of making a bookish career work—from writing, to publicizing, to living in the expensive epicenter of U.S. publishing.

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Current Read

Let’s Make a Scene by Laura Wood
I stumbled upon this 2025 rom-com completely by accident while scrolling through available books on Libby. Having just finished it, I can conclude that it’s a crying shame Laura Wood doesn’t have a cult following. Let’s Make a Scene is an extremely well-written dual-timeline, enemies-to-lovers story between two costars filming a Regency romance. No frustrating miscommunication, no breakup at 90% that comes out of nowhere, no cardboard characters with zero emotional intelligence… Now that’s a perfect summer read.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization. This post contains an affiliate link.

One of the hardest parts about deciding to pursue a creative career is that everyone seems to have an opinion about your finances.

Before I graduated college, I listened to plenty of well-intended warnings about low salaries, impossible rent, and the idea that if I really wanted to work in publishing, I’d have to accept living paycheck to paycheck forever. (Thankfully, none of those comments came from my parents. Shout out Mom & Dad!)

While I knew I loved the industry enough to take the risk, I also wished I had one example of someone living the kind of life I hoped to build: nothing extravagant, just comfortable, sustainable, and genuinely happy without needing to sell out for a job that I knew wouldn’t fulfill me.

Let me be that example for you.

Before I get into it, a quick disclaimer: I work in corporate publishing. So while I’m in a creative industry, I also have a salaried job with predictable hours and income. My experience won’t be identical to someone freelancing, working contract jobs, or building a creative business from scratch.

However, publishing does have a well-earned reputation for low salaries, and that’s an ongoing conversation the industry needs to continue having. This post isn’t meant to dismiss those realities; it’s simply an honest look at how I’ve made a creative career in New York work for me.

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#1: I didn’t move without a plan

The biggest financial decision I made happened before I started packing. I accepted a full-time job while still living in California, waited until I had my signed offer letter, and then I started frantically applying for NYC apartments.

Sure, waiting until the last minute probably narrowed down my options and added the stress of a ticking clock (between accepting the offer and my first day on the job, I only had about 15 days to look, sign a lease, AND move), but waiting to have proof of employment let me qualify for my apartment without a guarantor.

It also gave me peace of mind that I wouldn’t have to gamble on drying up my savings waiting for a job offer that might not actually materialize.

#2: I opted for humble housing

Housing is almost everyone’s biggest expense in New York, so it’s also where I had the most control over my budget. I chose to live in Brooklyn with two roommates rather than trying to find a studio or one-bedroom in Manhattan. It isn’t the fanciest apartment in the world, nor the shortest commute to work (about 45 minutes), but it gives me more financial freedom.

Having roommates has never really bothered me, and because I was moving to a city where I literally knew no one, I knew that having a few built-in people to socialize with would be a plus.

I also adore Brooklyn.

Manhattan certainly has its moments, but it’s not someplace I’d want to be in the middle of 24/7. Where I live, the streets are quieter, the grocery stores are slightly less expensive, and there are no skyscrapers blocking light from my windows. For me, those factors all outweigh the convience of a quick commute.

#3: I budget like crazy

My starting salary was $48,000 a year. I knew it wasn’t a lot, but it was also the most money I was looking at in my life so far, so that definitely helped me see it as an opportunity rather than a limitation.

I know creatives aren’t usually the biggest fans of spreadsheets, but boy are they useful (and you can make them look all pretty with fun colored tabs!). Right after moving, I created a monthly budget planner with the following breakdown:

• 50% for bills (rent, utilities, transportation, phone, and other fixed expenses)

• 25% for food and fun (groceries, restaurants, hobbies, clothes, activities)

• 25% for savings (emergency, travel, and retirement)

And. I. Track. Everything.

I try to add expenses to the spreadsheet immediately after I tap my card, but tend to forget a bunch and just straighten everything out at the end of the month. It can be a little tedious, but spending blindly is dangerous on a low salary. The extra hour I take to balance out my budget on the 31st is worth never worrying that my card will decline.

One important thing is that I budget based on my take-home pay rather than my salary on paper. Taxes vary by state, but in New York, taxes take around 25-30% of every paycheck. Meaning, that first year, I was only actually bringing home $36K (yikes!).

As my salary increased through raises and changing jobs, I adjusted those percentages. Today, I still spend just under half of my income on bills (yay, health insurance and rent increases), but now I save closer to 30% and dedicate 20% to food and fun.

Every raise has expanded my options, but I made sure they didn’t dramatically change my priorities. Just because I make a little more doesn’t mean I need to go rent a much fancier apartment or sign up for an Equinox membership.

#4: I prioritize low-spend activities

One of the biggest assumptions about New York is that you bleed money just by leaving the house. It’s… sort of true.

There are days when I walk out the door intending to spend nothing, but then I’m invited out to a drink with a coworker, and pick up a carton of raspberries on the way home, and then do my laundry, and then somehow spend $40.

And then there’s the can’t-miss movie tickets, and Broadway shows, and birthdays, and new restaurants, and baseball games, and concerts, and… you get the gist.

To balance this out, I always pack a lunch for work, only eat at restaurants once or twice a month, keep clothing/frivilous spending to a minimum, and try to save drinks with friends for happy hour whenever I can. Once or twice a month, I might grab a tea at a café, but you definitely won’t find me spending $8 on a latte five days a week.

NYC is also the home of dozens of free events every weekend, like live concerts, craft clubs, writing groups, museum and gallery exhibitions, art fairs, farmers markets, brand pop-ups, and more. There are plenty of ways to keep your calendar booked on a budget (and dozens of handy Instagram and Substack creators who compile weekly lists of free activities).

#5: I rebranded saving as a way to buy options

Saving has always been very important to me because that’s how I was raised. As I’ve gotten older, though, I’ve realized that saving money literally buys you freedom.

Knowing you have a financial cushion makes it easier to leave a job that isn’t serving you. It gives you breathing room if your lease ends unexpectedly or you decide to move. It creates opportunities to go on vacation, or buy Christmas gifts, or pay unexpected medical bills, or replace a dead laptop.

But I also recognize that my priorities won’t match everyone’s priorities.

For me, saving has always been high on the list, but someone else might happily spend that same money on a beautiful apartment, dinners with friends, or seeing every Broadway show that comes through town.

Those choices aren’t inherently better or worse—just a little riskier.

#6: I make exceptions

Now don’t get it twisted: the budget is there to support my life, not the other way around.

Most months, my spending follows roughly those percentages I outlined above, but every so often, something comes along that’s absolutely worth bending the rules for. Earlier this year, I tagged a nine-day solo trip around the UK onto the end of a work trip in London. Between trains, hotels, museums, bus tours, theatre tickets, and the occasional nice meal, I spent around $2,000 over those nine days.

Normally, that money would have gone toward my retirement and investment accounts. Instead, I’d intentionally set it aside over the three months leading up to the trip because I knew it was something I really wanted to do. My savings rate dipped for those months, and I didn’t lose a second of sleep over it.

Like going to the gym, a budget doesn’t have to be completely perfect to be effective. If I know a bigger expense is coming, I account for it in advance or smooth things out over the next month or two. As long as those bigger spending months are the exception rather than the norm, they’re just waves in the ocean.

Because while your twenties are great for building financial security, they’re also for saying yes to experiences you’ll remember for the rest of your life.

#7: And I stay unbothered

Because I’ve built a budget that works for me, I don’t spend much time wishing I had a completely different job just because it pays more.

If you’re surrounded by friends who constantly make you feel guilty about earning less than them or for not following a “traditional” career path—spoiler alert: they’re probably not good friends!

I love spending my days working with books alongside other people who are also really passionate about them. Most of my coworkers are crazy creative outside of work, too, and it’s completely normal to start our Thursday morning meeting passing around photos of everyone’s latest project. I love that support.

I’ve also found there’s a great emphasis on work-life balance in corporate publishing (though I’ve heard this isn’t exactly equal across every company), and am grateful to log off work at 5 pm still feeling energized. That’s something I value.

And even if I’m saving a little less each month than someone in a higher-paying field, I’m still making steady progress toward my financial goals. My travel fund is growing, my retirement savings are growing, my someday house fund is growing. Progress is still progress.

There you have it

My experience is only one example, and I know it won’t apply to everyone. Creative careers come with different challenges, different salaries, and different levels of stability.

But if you’re wondering whether choosing a creative career automatically means giving up financial security, I hope this post offers one hopeful perspective.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization.

And, of course, there are some great practical actions you can take to apply these ideas to your own publicity strategy.

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Current Read

Our Perfect Storm by Carly Fortune
There’s no denying: it’s a Carly Fortune summer. If you were a fan of either Barry’s Bay novel (or the recent TV adaptation that strayed so far from those novels), odds are you’ll enjoy this one. It’s another classic beachy romance set in a dreamy Canadian setting with a few classic tropes (friends-to-lovers, boy next door, shared hotel room) thrown in for good measure. It wasn’t my favorite Carly Fortune to date, but still comes highly recommended.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization. This post contains an affiliate Bookshop.org link.

Understanding the differences between these two terms will not only help you better market your book to literary agents and publishers, but better equip you for when the time comes to promote your book online1.

Let’s start with some quick definitions:

An author platform:

• The channels an author uses to share their work, ideas, expertise, and personality with an audience.

• Its primary purpose is helping readers find you, understand what you write about, and stay connected to your work.

• Can include a website, newsletter, social media accounts, podcast, or other public-facing channels.

An author community:

• A space where readers can participate in an author’s content through conversation, shared interests, and genuine relationships (both author/reader and reader/reader).

• Can exist online through chats, livestreams, comment sections, discussion groups, and virtual events, or in-person through book clubs, workshops, meetups, and live events.

Already, I’m sure you’re seeing a big difference here. A platform distributes your ideas, whereas a community creates conversations around them.

Don’t get me wrong: these aren’t competing ideas; you need one to feed into the other. First, people discover your platform. Then, they become regular readers. After that, some of those readers start interacting with one another. Eventually, they begin recommending your books without you ever asking.

The goal is to create a continuum of platform → audience → community → advocacy.

Why communities sell more books

There’s one backbone idea behind book marketing: reading has always been social.

Sure, you might read in isolation, but you certainly don’t discover books that way. Casual recommendations, book clubs, and online discussions are constantly propelling the industry, and communities naturally create that momentum.

Your readers (including librarians, booksellers, friends, family, strangers, and beyond) are your biggest advocates—not because they’re being paid to market your book, but because they genuinely want other people to experience it too.

And it all comes down to psychology.

Communities create social proof,

When we see other people reading, discussing, and recommending a book, we subconsciously interpret it as valuable or worth our attention. It’s the same reason bestseller lists, “staff picks,” and “BookTok made me buy it” displays are so effective, because they signal that other people have already decided this book is worth your time.

Trust,

A recommendation from someone you’ve spent months chatting with in a reading group often carries far more weight than a sponsored advertisement or a polished social media post.

Accountability,

People are far more likely to finish a book when they know they’ll be discussing it with others. Book clubs, buddy reads, and monthly reading challenges encourage people to actually read books, rather than buy them because they look pretty and leave them abandoned in their TBR pile.

Sure, unread book sales are still book sales, but unread book sales don’t lead to recommendations.

And repeated exposure.

Marketing research consistently shows that people are more likely to take action after encountering the same message multiple times.

Someone might scroll past your book announcement once and forget it, but if they later see a friend recommend it, notice their local bookstore featuring it, or listen to a podcast episode by their favorite online book club, each interaction reinforces the last until buying the book feels like the natural next step.

The strongest communities don’t depend on the author

Here’s one thing that I’ve personally come to notice as a campaign advantage: the most effective author communities aren’t even about the author at all. Instead, the authors are more like a figurehead of a self-operative organization.

Hear me out. An author with a huge platform might announce a book tour and sell out events in every city, but if they get sick, or their flight is delayed, or something prevents them from being there, everyone’s going to ask for a refund.

On the flipside, author communities have a life of their own. Hell, if the author couldn’t make it, they’d still show up because they know their friends are going.

In the industry, we might call these “authorless events.”

They’re exactly what they sound like: when a bookstore, library, or community group hosts an event centered around a book, but the author isn’t there. Instead, the publisher might provide discussion guides, activity ideas, recipes, playlists, or other materials to help bring the event to life.

And they’re often incredibly successful.

Why? Because the event isn’t just about meeting the author, but giving readers a reason to gather. It’s like taking a virtual third place and making it happen in real life. Some examples might be:

• The Lord of the Rings fan meetups that happen decades after the books were published

• Crochet groups working through projects from the same pattern book

• A library hosting a monthly discussion using an author’s book club guide

• Readers organizing local meetups after finding each other in your newsletter’s comments section

• A community potluck with recipes all from the same cookbook

Those are all examples of your work creating community without requiring your constant presence. As an author (and a publicity team), that’s the dream.

How to build community online

The easiest trap to fall into is treating social media like a never-ending cycle of posting and promoting. Instead, think about creating places where readers can participate.

Online, that might look like:

• Hosting monthly discussion threads in your newsletter comments

• Going live once a month on Instagram or YouTube

• Starting a Discord or Facebook group where readers can chat directly with each other and start their own subthreads

• Spotlighting reader reviews, artwork, playlists, or theories

• Encouraging local meetups or chat groups

Once you’ve built a community online, it’s only a matter of time before readers begin chatting and organizing amongst themselves. At that point, one of the best things an author or publisher can do is give readers the tools to gather without needing you there. You can:

• Create discussion guides

• Share a book-themed playlist

• Offer printable bookmarks and other materials

• Suggest themed snacks, recipes, or cocktails/mocktails

• Create a “book club host kit” or checklist

• Create a self-guided walking tour if your novel has a real-world setting

• Make printable character maps or family trees

• Create a bingo card based on activities or lessons in your book

• Start an ambassador program for volunteer event organizers

Anything you can do to make it easy for someone else to say, “Want to do this together?” is the goal.

The takeaway

Yes, build an author platform, because people need a way to find you, but don’t stop there. Follower counts don’t create loyal readers (or book sales!); shared experiences do.

For more related reading on author platforms and events, check out these recent posts:

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization.

(For more narrative personal essays, check out my Story Time column)

I hope you enjoy. And, if you’ve been thinking about starting your own newsletter or social platform, let this be your sign.

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Production & Publishing Assistant - Crooked Lane Books / Alcove Press
Associate Human Resources Business Partner - Hachette Book Group
National Account Manager - Hachette Book Group
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Executive Editor, History - Oxford University Press
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Current Read

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
For me, V.E. Schwab is one of those authors whose books I will read no matter what, which is why I went into this one not knowing that it’s all about vampires. They’re not usually my thing, but for the next 300 pages, they sure are. It’s a historical fantasy with a dual-timeline, dual-POV structure that took nearly 50% of the book for the two main characters to overlap… talk about building suspense. If you’re a fan of complex narrative structures, urban fantasy, or femme antiheroes, add this to your list.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization. This post contains an affiliate link.

As a book publicist, I spend my days pitching journalists, working with creators, helping authors think about how they’ll show up online, and watching firsthand just how intertwined publishing has become with personal brands.

A major part of the industry hinges on influencers to sell books and spread word of mouth. Even authors can’t escape the creator pipeline, and I’m not talking about posting a blown-up photo of their book’s cover and maybe a book tour graphic. Readers crave more than promotional content; they want things like behind-the-scenes looks, personal pictures, hyper-specific breakdown videos, and controversial hot takes.

It’s a lot to ask for. Increasingly, we’re not just asking authors to sell their work; we’re asking them to sell themselves.

Yes, it’s uncomfortable, and often unfair—I’ll be the first to agree. But when having a personal brand makes such a noticeable impact on the market, I’ll never stop encouraging my authors to put themselves out there. In fact, I’ve written a whole post about the practicality of authors building a platform on Substack.

Not too long ago, I’d share this advice, close my laptop and do... none of it.

I had to ask myself: if I believed so deeply in the value of sharing your work online, why wasn’t I willing to do it myself?

Eventually, I ran out of excuses.

Let’s go back to the beginning. When I was working as a publicity assistant, one of my responsibilities was reaching out to book influencers. I’d compile lists of Instagrammers and Substack writers, learn their reading tastes, send them advance copies, and ask if they’d consider sharing our books with their audience.

On paper, it sounded like a pretty sweet deal. Read books, write about them, build a community of fellow readers, and receive a near-endless supply of free ARCs.

Somewhere in the middle of sending all those emails, I had a very selfish thought: Why can’t that be me?

It didn’t stop there.

Once, at a networking event, I met a fellow publicist my age who worked in the fashion industry. Her agency had recently signed a contract with an influencer to share one sponsored post in exchange for more money than either of us made in a year. There’s only so many times you can hear a story like that and not think to yourself, Maybe these people are on to something.

I’d love to tell you I started this newsletter purely for the love of writing. That’s only half true. The other half is much more practical (and, no, it wasn’t just so I could receive free book mail).

As a Gen Zer—and especially as one who works in media—it’s impossible not to notice how much opportunity comes from having a presence online. Everyone has a personal brand, whether you’re online or not: it’s your reputation, and it’s up to you whether you want to intentionally cultivate it or just let it form on its own through the years. And that latter choice can take a long time.

Let me be clear: I’m not worried that publishing is disappearing. No matter what the nay-sayers claim, I’m of the mind that books are here to stay for the long haul. I have no plans of leaving the industry or my job on purpose any time soon, either. I truly love what I do (and I’m not just saying that because some of my coworkers subscribe to this newsletter).

But careers change, interests change, and even dreams change. Maybe one day I’ll want to publish my own book. Maybe one day I’ll want to freelance.

Building something that’s mine gives future-me options.

And if I never started, I knew I’d always wonder what if?

Fortunately, writing has always been the medium that feels the most natural. Like many (though certainly not all) people in publishing, I studied English in college. I was an editor at my university newspaper. I minored in Professional Editing. I spent years writing essays and articles and learning how to build an argument that people actually wanted to read.

I missed that.

It’s not that I don’t write at work—I absolutely do—but it’s mostly emails, pitches, and press materials. Rarely do I get to follow an idea simply because I’m curious where it might lead.

So I joined Substack.

If you’ve been here since the beginning, you probably remember that this newsletter looked very different in its first few months. I tried a little bit of everything before I found my niche. At first, I had a hard time believing anyone would care what someone with only a few years of publishing experience had to say.

But something quickly became apparent: because I’m still early in my career, I haven’t forgotten what publishing looked like from the outside. It’s more obvious to me what’s fascinating and what’s confusing. I’m still asking the questions that industry veterans stopped asking years ago.

So, now, I write about what I know, I write about what I notice, and I write about the questions I can’t answer yet—and then I ask people more knowledgeable than me to answer them.

If you’re on your own Substack journey and struggle to come up with content ideas, here’s my hot tip: instead of waiting for a lightning bolt of inspiration, pay attention to conversations you’re already having, headlines that catch your eye, and questions you find yourself Googling. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to have something worth saying; you just have to be the person who notices the thing everyone else walked past.

For me, over time, those observations became something that resonated with thousands (!) of people.

Since I was young, I kept a journal.

I’ve always been the sentimental type who documents little moments because I know one day I’ll want to remember them. The thing is, journals don’t write back (except for that creepy one in The Chamber of Secrets). This newsletter does.

To me, that’s one of the most overlooked powers of a personal brand.

I’ve met so many generous people in publishing through Substack. I’ve interviewed professionals I admired from afar. Readers have emailed me thoughtful questions. People have stopped me at conferences after seeing my name badge (I still can’t believe this one). I was invited by my ex-college professor to speak virtually with students about breaking into publishing.

I’m very aware that my audience is modest in the grand scheme of the internet, but publishing is a small industry. A few connections travel fast. It’s an odd feeling to go from being a face in the crowd to being a face people recognize.

I work with an incredible team, but we’re spread across two countries and a five-hour time difference. On any given day, I have fewer colleagues in the office with me than I have fingers on one hand (or, more accurately, half of one hand).

I’m an introvert, but even introverts need their social fix, and bookish introverts need people to get nerdy about books with (I don’t make the rules). This newsletter became that outlet. I’ve made genuine friends through Substack, and I hope to meet even more.

Beyond just socially, building a public voice has also made me better at the thing I do professionally. Not only does networking feel less intimidating when people already vaguely know you, but thinking critically about publishing every week has made me a stronger publicist and a much more observant one.

It makes me laugh to think that I’m a publicist by day and a quasi-journalist by night. You’d think those were two competing sides of the media spectrum, but I’m learning that they actually enrich one another instead. Our lives contain multitudes, and so can our careers.

One day, I’ll come back and read these essays from the beginning.

I’ll probably laugh at how dramatic I was about some AI scare or how confidently I predicted the future of publishing. But I’ll also remember exactly who I was at this stage of life: a young adult who liked reading, and writing about reading, and meeting other people who liked those things too. And having a time capsule of this moment might be even more valuable to me than getting a few free books every once in a while.

So if you’re waiting until you’re an expert before you start sharing your work and passions online, don’t. Consider this your permission: share what you know, share what you don’t know, and share what you want to know. Try things, pivot, and try again.

Who knows? Maybe, like me, you’ll find something you didn’t even know you were looking for in the first place.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization.

P.S. I’m newly on Instagram!

My goal for the rest of 2026: get over myself and start reading more nonfiction. If you have any narrative-forward nonfiction recommendations, please drop them below.

Job Board

Assistant Scout - Alanna Feldman Scouting
Publicist/Senior Publicist, Special Interest - Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.
Finance Director, Sales - Hachette Book Group
Associate Publisher, Children's Books - HarperCollins Publishers
Marketing & Content Development Manager, Grace Corner - Hay House Publishing
Field Sales Manager - Penguin Random House
Senior Director, Art - Penguin Random House
Senior Marketing Associate, Clarkson Potter and Ten Speed - Penguin Random House
Publicity, Promotion, Events Assistant Manager - Rizzoli
Manager, Special Markets - Simon & Schuster
Literary Agent - Stonesong
Acquisitions Editor - Wayne State University Press

Have a job opening to add to the list? Shoot me a DM.

Current Read

There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
I’m cheating slightly here, as I actually just finished this one over the weekend (if I had finished it earlier this week, it certainly would’ve made my honorary mention list above). If you haven’t heard of this one yet, here’s the gist: humanity is fighting a war against an alien species that steals memories. But how can you fight an enemy you don’t even remember exists?

I had so many thoughts when I closed the last page that I channeled them all into a wildly incoherent Goodreads review. Here it is:

I read this entire book in one day. I rarely finish sci-fi in one sitting, much less a body gore sci-fi, frankly, because storing so much world-building and theorization in your brain all at once feels uncomfortable. A bit ambitious, even. The irony of this novel, of course, is that there was SO much information, so many ideas and theories and concepts and what-ifs that I found myself so humbled, so egregiously confused, that the only way to fight through that obscurity was to keep reading. Almost like, if I stopped and took a break, perhaps even slept on it, I’d forget everything I’d read so far. It is not lost on me that the entire backbone of this book is the infallibility of memory.

This was one of those books that makes you believe in true genius—not perfection or all knowingness, but such creative human genius that for 24 hours, I could fathom a universe so unfathomable. For all I know, the author could be a total hack. Every confusing passage I powered through, content to admit they were beyond my brain’s conceptualization, might have actually been a massive plot hole. I hardly comprehended the ending at all, and yet I understood enough to understand that humans know nothing, and that’s more or less the point of it all. The earth is thousands of years of mystery that we spend our entire lives trying to unravel, only to discover more mysteries buried underneath. But humanity persists.

This review makes as little sense as the book itself. How meta is that? What an absolutely terrifying, awe-inspiring experience. Four stars out of five.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization. This post contains an affiliate link.

This year, I’ve had the honor of carrying nearly a dozen books in the back of my mind.

A note: In efforts to keep things fresh and exciting for everyone (and to push myself to stay on top of the cultural conversation), nearly every book on this list was released in 2025 or 2026. Did I read everything new that came out over these past two years? No. But I absolutely tried.

Without further ado, here are my standouts from the last six months (grouped by genre, but in no particular order)

P.S. Did you know that by shopping through Bookshop.org, you can ensure all profits of your purchase go to a local indie bookshop? Make sure to click “choose a bookstore” in the top right corner before shopping. These are affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Meeting New People by Daniel M. Lavery | Contemporary Fiction | June 2026
An acerbic, funny, and painfully on-point novel about a single woman in her fifties reflecting on the collapse of her closest friendships. It’s almost like a guilty pleasure listening to the protagonist, Barbara, voice every unkind (but extremely relatable) thought you’ve ever kept to yourself. Oh, how I wish I’d read this as a part of a book club and could dissect all her decisions over a glass of wine.

Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski | Contemporary Fiction | June 2025
A wealthy Manhattan mother is forced to confront the heartbreak of her first love when her former high school girlfriend (now a famous Olympic athlete) suddenly reenters her carefully constructed adult life. I’m not exaggerating when I say this book pulled my heartstrings tighter than they’ve been pulled in years. I genuinely ached for these women and the unbearable timing and messiness of life.

My Friends by Frederik Backman | Contemporary Fiction | May 2025
Would you believe me if I said this is the first Frederik Backman book I’ve read? I know, I know, it’s a crime, I see that now. I actually only picked this one up after a first date recommended it. While that guy is no longer in the conversation, this book sure is. Backman has a stream-of-consciousness-esque style that I’m enamored with. This adventurous, dual-timeline, multi-POV novel follows modern-day teenager Louisa as she tries to uncover the story behind three children in a famous painting. I cried, I laughed, I cried again, I loved it.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans | Literary Fiction | April 2025
As you may have learned from my enjoyment of Meeting Other People, I’m extremely partial to female adult leads who know exactly who they are and don’t apologize for it. Sybil Van Antwerp fits the bill precisely. Now in her seventies, she’s an ex-attorney, grandmother, friend, gardening club purist, and a staunch letter-writer with a mysterious enemy. The ending was perfect—not because every string was neatly tied off, but because it felt like a beautifully realistic mixture of character growth, unavoidable shitty situations, and mundane conversations that are no less meaningful just because they don’t resolve in some grand revelation.

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar | Literary Fiction | December 2024
I know, I know, I’m late to the game on this one, but I’m here to tell you that everyone who praised this book two years ago knew what they were talking about. It follows a young man grappling with grief, addiction, and depression, but it’s equally about the beauty of family, poetry, potential, and sacrifice. Earlier this year, I read a fantastic Substack article by Melissa Makarewicz on the power of books to make you more conscious of and intentional with your own life, and Martyr! was the perfect example.

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett | Historical Fiction | May 2026
This book is like nothing I’ve ever read. It opens with a prologue that leaves you with a dozen questions and zero answers until 300 pages into the book—then the real plot takes off. If reading hundreds of pages of context daunts you, rest assured that Stockett does not waste a single sentence. She’ll have you so attached to Meg and Birdie (our plucky narrators) that you won’t think of making plans with your week until you’ve powered through the next 300 pages. Without spoiling anything (because that mid-book plot twist relies on total ignorance), know that this is a historical fiction novel of epic proportions, following a group of down-on-their-luck women during the Great Depression. It’s tragic, sarcastic, visceral, and hopeful, all wrapped into one.

Kin by Tayari Jones | Historical Fiction | February 2026
Once you’re in a reading slump from finishing The Calamity Club, go put Kin on hold. It picks right back up in the American South 10 years later, following two hometown friends who grow up to lead vastly different lives. It’s a dual POV (my favorite) and spans through the first years of their fledgling adulthood, taking a look at racial, gender, and class equality along the way. The ending is not for the weak, but the tenderness with which these characters were written was worth the tears.

The Shippers by Katherine Center | Romantic Comedy | June 2026
I read this one in a single day, and I’m not talking about a nice six-hour-straight stint on a lazy Saturday afternoon. I mean that I started this over breakfast, read it standing up on the train, picked it back up on my lunch break, and then devoured the rest before the Knicks game started that night. If you’re a fan of friends-to-lovers, confined spaces, and vacation romances, this one’s for you.

The Court of Venus by Bel Banta | Fantasy | September 2026
I’m cheating a little bit with this one as I managed to get my hands on an early copy, but how could I not include such a stellar debut? It’s an astrology-inspired fantasy with one of the best slow-burn romances I’ve seen executed in a while. And the royal intrigue plot was equally well done—Bel Banta is a true pro at revealing just the right amount of information at the right time.

Arcana Academy by Elise Kova | Fantasy | July 2025
A thief sentenced to prison for illegal tarot magic is recruited by a rogue prince to infiltrate an elite magical academy as both a student and his fake bride-to-be. Isn’t that enough? I am a sucker for the fake dating trope, but I was honestly most impressed by how clearly mapped out the magic system felt. The tarot-based powers had actual rules, limitations, and consequences, which (IMO) is completely underrated in fantasy. Watch out for book 2 this summer.

Red City by Marie Lu | Urban Fantasy | October 2025
There’s something extremely special about growing up with an author. I first read Marie’s YA bestseller, Legend, as a pre-teen, and now I got to dive into her very first adult novel as an adult myself. If you’re into mafia fiction, nitty-gritty magic systems, morally grey main characters, and emotional arcs that actually feel earned, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. This one didn’t get nearly enough press to do it justice.

Honorable Mentions

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
Is She Really Going Out with Him? by Sophie Cousens
A Complete Fiction by R.L. Maizes
The Good Parts by Evann Normandin

Next on My List

Whistler by Ann Patchett
Frankie by Graham Norton
Into the Blue by Emma Brodie
Bad Words by Rioghnach Robinson

What are your favorite reads of the year so far? Did we have any in common? Leave them in the comments; I’d love to hear!

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Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization.

This is one of such posts. To everyone who takes the time to leave a note or ask a question, thank you for helping this newsletter be the best it can be.

Job Board

Senior Marketing Manager - Crooked Lane Books / Alcove Press
Sales and Product Manager - Hardie Grant
Key Account Sales Manager - Ingram Content Group
Senior Marketing Manager - Page One Media
Associate Publicist, Knopf Doubleday - Penguin Random House
Director, Online & Digital Sales - Penguin Random House
Senior Designer, WHO HQ, Penguin Young Readers - Penguin Random House LLC
Literary Agent (Nonfiction) - Susanna Lea Associates
Advertising and Conventions Coordinator - W.W. Norton & Company
College Publishing Sales Representative - W.W. Norton & Company

Have a job opening to add to the list? Shoot me a DM.

Current Read

The Good Parts by Evann Normandin
When Rose decides to take a memory-erasing pill, Landon—her ex-husband, now a stranger—vows to make her fall for him all over again. Don’t let Carly Fortune’s quote on the cover trick you into thinking this is a rom-com. I’m only a few chapters in, and can already tell I’ll cry at the end. I mean, it’s marketed for fans of One Day and In Five Years—that feels like an inevitability. But Normandin’s prose is so inviting, so heartening, that of course I’m going to devour it anyway.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization. This post contains an affiliate link.

1) You’re a college student who loves books and is vaguely aware that “working in publishing” is a thing, but you have absolutely no idea how people actually get there.

Or:

2) You’re already established in another field and wondering what it might look like to pivot into an industry you’ve always been interested in.

Good news: I’m going to talk about both.

Publishing is one of those industries that feels incredibly opaque from the outside. Before college, I genuinely thought the entire industry consisted of authors, editors, and a small group handling the design and production of it all.

Turns out, publishing is a whole lot more complicated with dozens of different roles playing a hand in the creation of a single book. And more importantly, there are far more entry points into that ecosystem than people realize.

So, whether you’re a college student trying to figure out your first internship or a mid-career professional wondering if your skills translate into publishing, here’s where I’d start.

For College Students Interested in Publishing

Publishing needs more than English majors

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about publishing is that everyone in the industry majored in English literature. In reality, publishing companies are full of people with wildly different academic backgrounds.

At my company alone, I’ve met people with degrees in:

• History

• Communications

• Journalism

• Business

• Computer science

• Graphic design

• Culinary arts

• Marketing

• Law

• Data analytics

• And yes, of course, English

The reason for that is simple: books need more than editors.

They need marketers, sales teams, designers, publicists, data analysts, production managers, social strategists, contracts teams, digital teams, metadata coordinators, rights managers, and event planners.

Books are creative products, yes, but publishing itself is also a business operation.

A communications major might thrive in publicity. A business major might love sales or operations. Someone with a tech background could end up in ebooks or digital systems. Journalism students often transition well into editorial or media-facing roles.

A lot of people accidentally pigeonhole themselves into thinking “editorial or nothing” before they’ve even explored the rest of the industry.

If you want a more detailed breakdown of different publishing departments and what they actually do day-to-day, I wrote an entire post about that here:

(And yes, despite the title, it’s mostly about all the jobs that are not editing.)

Start learning about the industry before you apply

One thing I wish I had done earlier in college was simply spend more time learning how publishing actually functions before I started randomly applying to internships.

The good news is that this is easier than ever now. There are so many people online openly talking about their careers in publishing, like:

• Substack writers

• YouTubers

• TikTok creators

• Industry newsletters

• Publishing podcasts

• (Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to some of my favorites!)

You should absolutely take advantage of these resources, but don’t stop there.

If you think you’re interested in publicity, start following publicists on LinkedIn. Read what they talk about. Learn the vocabulary (and use that vocabulary in your cover letters and interviews). Observe what kinds of projects they work on and what their actual day-to-day looks like.

The same thing goes for editorial, marketing, production, sales, or literally any other department. If you still can’t find the information you’re looking for, give Google a shot. Here are some phrases I’ve literally pasted in the search bar:

• “day in the life of a literary publicist”

• “what does a production editor do”

• “who do publishing sales reps sell to”

• “how do subsidiary rights work”

It sounds basic, but familiarity matters. Becoming fluent in how the industry talks about itself will undeniably help you down the line when it becomes time to apply.

A lot of major publishers also host regular LinkedIn events, informational sessions, webinars, and Q&As, especially around internship season. Even if you’re not actively applying yet, or if they’re on topics only peripheral to your interest, attend them anyway. More information is always better than less information.

Internships matter more than prestige

I know internships can be complicated, especially when it comes to the financial side of things, but unfortunately, they really do matter in publishing.

That said, I think students sometimes get overly fixated on landing the perfect internship immediately instead of focusing on building relevant experience over time. Publishing-adjacent experience counts for a lot more than people think.

For example, before I ended up in publishing full-time, I interned:

• at an online literary magazine

• writing the blog of a freelance book editor

• on the editorial team of a technical research company

None of those experiences looked identical, but all of them helped me build useful skills across editing, proofreading, professional communication, deadline management, and understanding common workflows on big teams.

Here are a few internship and summer job ideas to get your search started:

• campus newspapers

• literary magazines

• copywriting

• journalism internships

• nonprofit communications

• social media management

• influencer outreach

• event coordination

• libraries

• bookstore jobs

• academic journals

• podcast production

• research assistant positions

• marketing internships

• technical writing

Bookstore experience, especially, is wildly underrated. Working at a bookstore teaches you things like how readers actually shop, what genres trend seasonally, what people ask booksellers for repeatedly, how inventory systems work, and which covers make people stop and pick something up.

Publishing institutes can help, but they’re not mandatory

If you’ve spent any amount of time Googling “how to get into publishing,” you’ve probably encountered publishing institutes. Programs like the NYU Summer Publishing Institute, Columbia Publishing Course, and Denver Publishing Institute are often presented as major gateways into the industry.

And to be fair, they can be incredibly helpful. They give you structured exposure to publishing, access to industry professionals, networking opportunities, and a fast introduction to different departments.

But they are also expensive. Very expensive.

I talked about this more extensively in another post (below), but my general opinion remains the same: publishing institutes are useful, but they are not mandatory.

Some people absolutely love them and credit them with helping launch their careers. Others feel the networking was valuable, but not necessarily worth the cost.

Personally, I didn’t do one, and I still ended up in publishing.

At the same time, if you’re coming from a completely unrelated background and want a fast-track introduction to the industry, these programs can help orient you.

For Mid-Career Professionals Interested in Publishing

I want to be realistic for a second: transitioning into publishing mid-career can be difficult, at least anecdotally.

There’s a well-documented retention problem in publishing right now, especially at the mid-level. A lot of people hit a point where their workload increases before compensation or advancement opportunities do. And once people find a job they like… they tend to stay. Some editors and publishers often hold their position for decades, meaning new spots aren’t exactly opening up every day.

I say this because I think having a realistic understanding of the industry actually makes career transitions more successful. People who tend to thrive in publishing long-term are usually the ones who understand both sides of it: the passion and the practicality.

But, importantly, publishing companies still absolutely need experienced professionals.

Your existing skills probably translate more than you think

The mindset of “but I’ve never worked with books before” is the same kind of limited thinking as “but I’m not an English major.” May I remind you that publishing companies still require:

• Project management

• Marketing strategy

• Sales experience

• Client relations

• Operations knowledge

• Contracts expertise

• Event coordination

• Digital strategy

On my current team, about half of our management-level employees transitioned in from other communications, marketing, and PR roles outside of publishing.

Publishing companies are businesses. They need people who understand organization, logistics, communication, audience behavior, budgeting, and strategy just as much as they need people who love reading.

Loving books helps, obviously. But transferable skills matter a lot.

Career-transition resources exist

Another encouraging thing is that publishers are becoming much more vocally supportive of people making lateral moves into the industry. A lot of companies and organizations have started offering webinars, career panels, and virtual information sessions to specifically tackle this topic.

Some great examples include:

• PRH’s Publishing Pathways

• Sourcebooks’ “Careers in Books” webinars

• Publishers Weekly events

• Women’s Media Group

Registering for a few of these can make the industry feel dramatically less mysterious. Publishing institutes and master’s programs are also an option, if further education fits into your life plan.

And honestly, like college students, one of the best things you can do as a career changer is simply start immersing yourself in publishing spaces before making the leap. Read industry newsletters, follow people in the field, learn the terminology, and observe how books are marketed and sold.

Resources

To help get you started, here are a few of my favorite industry resources.

Websites / Newsletters

• Shelf Awareness

• Publishers Weekly

• The Bookseller

• Lit Hub

• Jane Friedman

• Book Gossip

• Publishing Confidential

• Delivery & Acceptance

• What Publishing Is

• Not So Secret Agent

• Fisher the Bookseller

• Writerly Things

• Get It Write

• My Literary Life

• The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

• Galley Brag

Job Boards

• Publishers Lunch Job Board

• Shelf Awareness Job Board

• Publishers Unite

• Association of University Presses Job Board

• My weekly digest email (shameless self-plug)

In conclusion

If there’s one thing I want you to take away from this post, it’s that there is no single “correct” path into publishing, and most career paths aren’t linear.

What matters most is usually some combination of curiosity, persistence, and (of course) genuinely loving books.

Feel free to drop questions below, and I’ll answer them as best I can.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer, company, or any other institution.

One thing I've been thinking about lately—both at work and while writing here—is how often we use words like community, audience, and platform interchangeably, even though they mean very different things. So this week, I wanted to unpack what publishers actually look for when an author has an online following, and how you can use yours more intentionally.

Job Board

Executive Assistant, Media Rights & Development - Aevitas Creative Management
Content Marketer/Merchandiser - BookBub
Assistant Editor, Art & Entertainment - Chronicle Books
Account Coordinator, Literary - DEY
Publisher & President, Education - Gibbs Smith Education
Associate Director/Director, Independent Channel Sales - HarperCollins Publishers
Publicity & Marketing Assistant, Mysteries - Kensington Publishing
Book Designer, Trade Publishing - Lonely Planet
Associate Director, Marketing, Children’s - Macmillan Publishers
Publicist - Yen Press

Have a job opening to add to the list? Shoot me a DM.

Current Read

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
There’s been no shortage of press on this one, and yet I opened the first page not knowing a single thing about the premise, besides the fact that it was an epistolary novel. Now that I’m about a quarter of the way in, I must say I am absolutely drawn in by the suspense of what isn’t said between letters, and how each chapter makes you guess right from the start who is writing. Our hero, Sybil, is easy to love in the way that all older female narrators who aren’t afraid to speak their mind are. Looking forward to where this one goes.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization. This post contains an affiliate link.

I’m sure you’re familiar with the type: someone you followed a few months ago because you thought they were funny, or did their makeup really well, or shared a recipe you liked, and then all of a sudden, their “get ready with me” content shifted overnight into “Surprise, I wrote a book! Please buy it!”

How dare they trade their entertaining (if unprofitable) content for something so grossly capitalistic as a book!

Except, well, wouldn’t you like to do the exact same thing?

It’s no secret that making content is often a thankless job, particularly for creators who are trying to build platforms from scratch. Once you’ve built enough trust, expertise, or visibility to attract an audience, wanting to turn that effort into something sustainable isn’t greedy; it’s practical. Some influencers launch skincare brands, and some create consulting businesses.

Others, of course, write books.

Before we go any further, I want to be very clear: plenty of authors build large audiences and struggle to sell books, and plenty of authors sell books without much of a platform at all. A platform is not a prerequisite for writing a good book, and it certainly isn’t a guarantee of sales.

But if you already have an audience—or if you’re actively trying to build one—why wouldn’t you learn how to leverage it as effectively as possible? This post isn’t arguing that platforms are everything, but if you’ve already spent years building one, you might as well understand how to best use it to your advantage.

Followers don’t equal buyers

Let’s walk through the following scenario: say that you put in the hours, found your unique selling points, identified your brand pillars, learned how to make engaging content, and leveraged all that blood, sweat, and tears into a sizeable following.

A natural question follows: how many of those people would actually buy a book from you?

The honest answer is that no one knows. But even without knowing exactly, we can still make an educated guess. To do so, publishers will often look at your engagement rates.

Engagement can mean different things depending on the platform:

• Comments, saves, shares, and watch time

• Repeat livestream attendance

• Newsletter open rates

• Link clicks

• Paid subscription conversion

• Community participation in chats, groups, or Discords

The reason engagement matters is simple: it measures action. Following someone is passive, while commenting, sharing, clicking, opening emails, and showing up repeatedly are all small actions that suggest someone is invested enough to potentially take a larger action later.

Most creators see engagement rates somewhere in the 1–10% range. Email newsletters often perform better because subscribers have actively opted in, but even then, you’ll see a significant difference between opening an email and purchasing a product.

Not all engagement is equal

It’s a common misconception to think, “I have 50K followers with a 5% engagement rate. That means that 2,500 people will definitely buy my book.”

Reality’s not so clean cut. Platform engagement should be viewed as evidence of interest, not evidence of future sales. This is something that acquisitions teams are increasingly aware of.

Beyond follower counts and platform engagement, there still needs to be evidence that readers are interested in the book itself, not just in your content. After all, someone might love your outfit videos, funny skits, or hot takes without having any desire to buy something with your name on it.

That’s not to say engagement metrics are useless. They’re still valuable indicators of audience investment and can help demonstrate that you’ve built a genuine community. But they’re ultimately broad data points, and the key to converting audience interest into book sales lies in understanding the specifics: what content people are engaging with, why they’re engaging with it, and whether that interest naturally aligns with the book you’re hoping to sell.

Imagine a creator whose content falls into three categories:

1. Shopping recommendations

2. Recipes

3. Parenting lifestyle content

Each category attracts slightly different people. From the creator’s perspective, it feels like one audience, but from the platform’s perspective, there are three overlapping audiences. In fact, even if you follow a creator, the algorithm will literally suppress any of their content that lies outside your interests to instead only show you the videos you’re most likely to spend time watching.

Suddenly, that 5% engagement rate looks a little different. Maybe 3% stems from shopping videos, 2% stems from recipe videos, and 1% stems from lifestyle content.

If that influencer decides to announce a cookbook, the category 1 and 3 audiences might not care in the slightest. In fact, they might be confused why the influencer is coming out with a cookbook at all—don’t they just post OOTDs?

Here’s the moral of the story: if you don’t know which audience is engaging with which content, it’s easy to overestimate how much interest exists for a particular book concept.

A useful exercise is to stop looking at overall engagement and start looking at engagement by content pillar. Ask yourself:

• Which posts consistently generate the most saves?

• Which posts inspire long comment threads?

• Which posts cause people to ask for more resources?

• Which posts generate DMs?

• Which posts make people comment, “I’d buy this” or “I wish this existed as a book”?

Those signals will not only point to an engaged audience, but to the subcategory that might want to spend $30 on a hardback.

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Let content pillars guide your book ideas

When put that way, it’s less about converting followers into customers, and more about adapting your content to best suit your audience.

Now, this isn’t what most authors want to hear. What they want is to write the book they really want to read. But if you’re trying to leverage an audience you already have to its fullest potential, you need to write what your audience wants to buy.

Before you go wagging your fist in the name of creative liberty, I invite you to remember that writing for yourself and writing for the market are not binary concepts. Most successful books exist somewhere in the middle!

And if you’re building a platform intentionally, your content is essentially free market research. People tell you what they want every day, through comments, shares, saves, and even by what they ignore. Your goal is not to chase trends, but to identify recurring patterns.

For nonfiction, this often leads to obvious conclusions. If your audience constantly engages with recipe content the most, a cookbook may be a natural extension. If they’re obsessed with financial explainers, a personal finance book might make sense.

But what about fiction?

Many fiction writers assume that because they’re writing novels, their platform has nothing to do with their book. I don’t think that’s true.

Take Caro Claire Burke, for example (and forgive me for bringing her up again). She has a modestly strong following: less than 100K on Instagram and Substack—and these are post mega-bestseller numbers. They were likely much, much smaller when Yesteryear was acquired. Her main platform at the time was her podcast, Diabolical Lies, which blends pop culture, politics, sociology, economics, and ideological trends all together.

From an objective stance, you might have assumed she’d write a nonfiction book, but instead she wrote a speculative novel about a time-traveling trad wife.

And it worked. Really worked.

Rather than writing a straightforward nonfiction book that mirrored her content, she identified the underlying themes that attracted people in the first place and translated them into fiction.

It’s controversy, not ideology, that her audience eats up. So she wrote something as messy and dramatic as possible. Queue the discourse.

What if you already wrote the book?

The aforementioned advice only works if you start building your platform first, analyze performance second, and then start writing/proposing your book third.

But what if you wrote the book before all of that?

Well, good news: books take a long time to get made. Say you sign a book deal this month—you’ve likely got at least eighteen months ahead of you until it reaches bookshelves. That means you’ve got a year and a half to start building that profile.

The key is to reverse engineer your readership. Instead of tailoring your book to your best-performing content, you’ll want to tailor your content to your upcoming book. Don’t just post stuff that you think will go viral and get you the most followers the fastest—you want content that’s going to work for you in the long run.

For fiction authors, that might look like:

• Reviewing books in your genre

• Discussing tropes that appear in your novel

• Posting historical research for historical fiction

• Sharing mythology, folklore, or worldbuilding content for fantasy

• Talking about true crime cases that inspired a mystery

• Posting travel content connected to your novel’s setting

For nonfiction authors, it might look like:

• Teaching small pieces of your methodology

• Sharing case studies

• Discussing industry trends or current news

• Answering questions in the comments

• Building authority around the problem your book solves

The goal is to ensure that when you eventually announce your book, your audience isn’t confused. Instead, they’ll think, “Of course they wrote a book. I’ve been waiting for this for months.”

How to leverage your platform at launch

Alright, let’s say you followed the advice above, carved out your target audience, and prepped them with the knowledge that a book is coming and it’s going to be a natural extension of what you already offer online.

Well, don’t stop there!

As we like to say in the PR and marketing side of publishing, launching the book is just the start, not the finish line. Now it’s time to promote, promote, promote.

The good news is, if you’ve already put in the effort to build a platform, this part will be easier. You can turn your focus to nurturing it.

From a PR standpoint, one of the very best ways to leverage your platform is by inviting your followers and subscribers to become insiders (i.e., give them a reason to be invested in your book, beyond the fact that it’s on a topic that resonates with them). Take them behind the scenes!

Here are a few ways I might encourage one of my authors to accomplish this, in the periods right before and after launch:

• Recruit a launch team. Several weeks before publication, offer a few readers (these might be your 5-star subscribers, close friends, or followers chosen in a raffle—they don’t need to be influencers, but that never hurts) early copies, sneak peeks, or other behind-the-scenes content in exchange for helping spread the word.

• Create a tiered pre-order incentive. For example, announce a month or two before publication that once 100 people preorder, a bonus chapter is unlocked for everyone, then at 250 preorders, a reading guide is unlocked, etc. This way, your audience will not only feel encouraged to buy the book, but to tell everyone they know to buy the book, just so they can unlock as many bonuses as possible.1

• Use call to actions. Commonly referred to as CTAs, these include any text, buttons, or links that encourage a user to take an immediate, specific step (such as “check out my book to learn more on this topic,” or “for more patterns/recipes/tips like these, order my book here”). They’re a great way to sneakily plug your book without hitting people over the head with promotional material.

• Offer signed copies. If you already plan to sell copies of your book, signed copies might be a great exclusive perk for your subscribers. If you don’t have the means of selling copies, reach out to a local bookstore to see if they might be interested in partnering with you on signed exclusives.

• Make proof-of-purchase their ticket. If you already regularly host livestreams or virtual workshops, you can make a few exclusive to those who have bought your book.

• Launch giveaways. If your content lends itself to giveaways, you can create a prize bundle (or partner with a brand on one) and make ordering/leaving a review for your book an entry requirement.2

• Recognize readers. Repost reviews, spotlight bookclubs reading your book, quote comments, and share any user-generated content like fan art or recipe/finished project photos. Where at all possible, make sure to tag/credit your subscribers.

Instead of making your account into a constant sales pitch, the goal is to naturally integrate your book into your established content while simultaneously rewarding those who follow you.

Still not sure what to do? Find the accounts of authors you admire, take note of how they’re promoting their book, and replicate a few of their strategies.

At the end of the day

A platform is neither a shortcut nor a guarantee. But if you’ve already invested the time and effort into cultivating a community around your work, it makes sense to understand what that community is actually responding to, and leverage it as best you can.

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization.

As we hit peak humidity in NYC this week, it felt like the perfect time to dive into one of the industry’s most common seasonal assumptions: the so-called “summer slowdown.” For a detailed breakdown of what my summer workload actually looks like, check out last week’s post:

Job Board

Director, Book Design - Andrews McMeel Universal
Director, Creator and Community Publishing - Andrews McMeel Universal
Book Scouting Assistant/Scout - Barbara Tolley & Associates, Inc
Editor, Children’s Books - Cherry Lake Publishing Group
Freelance Acquisitions Editor at Large - Crooked Lane Books / Alcove Press
Production & Design Assistant/Associate - Crooked Lane Books / Alcove Press
Editor, Basic Venture - Hachette Book Group
Production Editor, Workman Publishing - Hachette Book Group
Senior Designer, Workman Publishing, Children’s - Hachette Book Group
Contracts Associate - Macmillan Publishers
Subrights, Audio, and Special Sales Associate - Skyhorse Publishing
Operations Associate - Susanna Lea Associates
Senior Literary Agent - Transatlantic Agency
Assistant to Director of International Rights - Trident Media Group
Contracts Associate - Writers House
Client Services Assistant - W.W. Norton & Company

Have a job opening to add to the list? Shoot me a DM.

Current Read

My Friends by Fredrik Backman
I’m only about two chapters into this one, so I can’t comment on too much yet, but I will say that I’m only 10% in and have already cried ugly tears. So. Be warned. The book follows Louisa, an aspiring artist who becomes determined to uncover the story behind three nearly invisible figures in a famous painting.

End Notes

Unsolicited Manuscript joined Instagram this week! If you’re interested in getting your publishing news served in bite-sized graphics, be sure to drop a follow here: https://www.instagram.com/unsolicitedmanuscript/

Unsolicited Manuscript is an independently run newsletter. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, company, or any other organization. This post includes an affiliate link that may earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you.