How to Become a Best-Selling Writer, and Other Bullshit, by Josh Stallings

Q: We all have to promote our work if we want to succeed, but there’s a lot of ground between hiding one’s light under a bushel and being that pushy author people hide from at events. What are your best promo ideas and what’s the most egregious hard-selling you’ve come across?

A: First off, this is a vital discussion for anyone working in a creative job. If you haven't read the responses from my fellow Criminal Minds this week, do. It’s a quick and free masterclass in how to honorably promote your work. 

Despite the emails and DMs I get on the regular, promising that this or that system will make my book a best seller, one thing we all seem to agree on is there isn’t a surefire dead-solid perfect way to market your work. If there were publishers would only publish best sellers, movie studios would only release hits.

I have tried many promotional ideas, paid social media ads, gave away books hoping for reader reviews, hired a PR person several months prior to a book’s release. None of these showed enough of a sales bump to justify the price. I had several book launch parties. Those were fun at least, gave me something to talk about leading up to the book’s launch and cool pictures to share on Facebook. Which leads me to the awareness that to sell books we need to have something other to say than buy my books. Best-selling authors can just say, “I have a book coming on this day.” And it will sell. We lesser mortals need to have something interesting to talk about. A PR person is useless without a topical story for them to promote. 

Readers are discerning and cynical when it comes to being sold to. Amazon reader reviews used to be a gold standard for independent sales. Then the sock puppet scandals came out. If you blocked those from your memory, writers and publishers created fake reader profiles that then gave their books glowing reviews. Those days I got many DMs from writers offering to swap reviews. Readers now know readers reviews can be bullshit. Fancy trailers don’t work anymore. We are all tired of being sold to. We want something genuine. Blurbs may help if they come from a best-selling beloved author, but that Josh Stallings loves your book won't move the sale’s needle. 

“Josh Stallings is the kind of writer who shouldn't have to publish for himself, but here he is slugging it out the hard way. Just like one of the hard-asses in his own books. The man knows what to do with paper and ink. Read the damn thing.” -Charlie Huston

Charlie Huston gave my first book this wonderful blurb. He’s known as a writer’s writer, and he never blurbs. I’ve talked to quite a few readers who checked me out based on Charlie’s recommendation. But blurbs from amazing writers haven’t made me a bestseller or a household name.

Things that have worked, reading at events. There are Noir Bars all around the world now, and reading with six or seven other authors is a great way to introduce yourself to new readers. And introduce your readers to new writers. Conventions helped me grow my connections with writers and readers. 

If I read a book I love, I promote the hell out of it. I promote reading. Help my local library. A reader contacted me from a remote town in New Zealand. She said the local library didn’t have my books. I reached out to them and sent — at my expense —copies of my books. I don’t know if it helps my sales, but never underestimate the power of good will. I fight to remain positive even when all looks bleak. I’ve heard writers publicly dissing a bestselling author. Mistake. They’re best sellers because a bunch of readers like their work. They may not be your cup of tea, but putting them down doesn’t make you sound smart it just turns off potential readers.

Marketing. After the book is written, a new phase of work begins. The first piece of marketing is the book’s title. I try to fill a couple of pages with possible titles. I write them with as little logic as possible, just spit them out, then I put them away for a day before reading them and circling the ones I like. I pare them down to five or six titles and send those to a select few trusted early readers, asking for them to rank them. I know the publisher may ask for a re-title, but without a really good original title, they may not read it to begin with.

Next, I put my brain on what in the book is unique and marketable. I learned this from Chantelle Aimée Osman, the editor at Agora Books who acquired TRICKY. She showed me it wasn’t a police procedural or it was and it was more. It was a book about neurodiversity. A subject I know a lot about both from raising an intellectually disabled son, and being dyslexic myself. This gave me a way to frame discussions about the book that were both personal and culturally relevant. 

I need to stress that for me all thoughts of marketing have to wait until the book is finished. Otherwise, I’ll try to write to market and destroy any integrity the book might have.

Writing is a non-logical, intuitive process. Marketing is a hyper-logical studied process. Those parts of my brain don’t play well together. 

My advice is to write the book you love. Rewrite it until it is the best possible version of itself. Then bend the marketing rules to fit your book. Publicly be yourself. Or at least the best possible honest version of yourself. 

Be kind. Be Helpful. Be positive. There is enough awfulness to go around, so let’s remember to spread the joy when we can. And when we can’t be positive, remain at least civil. 

Readers and writers are by far some of the smartest and kindest people around. We are all lucky to get to play in this sandbox.