I remember when I published my first book. I thought it would take the world by storm. Instead, it had a total of 15 downloads in its first weekend. And it was free!
There’s nothing more discouraging than pouring your heart and soul into a book, genuinely wanting to touch your readers’ lives… only to have nobody read it.
I used to think the only way to sell books was to already be famous. But it turns out I was wrong.
My client, Brad, wrote a book because he wanted to break into a new market. He had no past clients or connections in this area. He was brand new, with no email list or following. And we got his book into the top 10 in 7 categories. More importantly, we kept it selling for months after his launch.
My most recent book hit the top 5 in 18 categories in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. And that’s after it sat around Amazon’s graveyard for five years before I launched it.
And that first book I mentioned? It camps at the top of its categories, week after week.
It’s not just my books or my clients’ books. In 2020, I hosted a certification program to train 10 people in this system. Their clients’ books also became bestsellers, including many #1s, tons of top-10 rankings, and a few international bestsellers.
The reality is, most self-published books sell fewer than 100 copies—total, in the whole lifetime of the book. If you’ve had trouble selling your book, you’re not alone. But the good news is, selling a book does not require fame or magic—even though it may seem like it at first.
If you’re like most people I talk to, it’s one of three things holding you back… and they’re all myths.
Many people believe that, if your book is good, it will just sell itself. Or, a related myth: just get your book on Amazon, and Amazon will sell it for you.
It seems to make sense. After all, who’s better at selling things than Amazon?
But the reality is: There are over 48 million books for sale on Amazon. More are added every second.
Unfortunately, that means you’re going to have to do some marketing in order for your readers to find your book. No matter how good your book is, your readers can’t buy it if they don’t know about it.
As authors, it’s our job to get our books in front of the people who need them. If we don’t do it, nobody else will.
But the good news is: It’s not that hard. We’ll talk more about how it works in the next myth.
If you’ve published your book, you already know books don’t sell themselves.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably wasted countless hours trying to promote your book, only to get a few dozen sales at best.
It doesn’t take much of that to get pretty discouraged. It’s easy to start thinking that only magical unicorn people (and Oprah’s best friends) can become bestselling authors.
I certainly thought that after my first few book launches. I was so discouraged, I actually gave up. It was only when a friend insisted that I help with his book (and wouldn’t take “no” for an answer) that I decided to try it again.
It’s totally possible for a brand-new author to launch a book to bestseller—even with no email list, no fans, no connections, no experience, and no fame.
Just think about my client Brad, who I mentioned above. He was a first-time author, brand new to his field. He had no email list, no fans, no following, and no connections. We launched his book to #2 on a budget of less than $150.
How did we do that? The secret is getting the book in front of the people who want to buy it.
There are websites where readers sign up to hear about new books in genres they like. They sign up for these services because they want to buy more books.
If you put your book in front of people who specifically signed up to hear about books like yours, because they want to buy them, do you think you could sell some copies of your book?
Yep. It gets pretty easy when you do it that way.
I relate to this myth most of all. When I launched my coloring book, I spent hours and hours doing everything I could to promote it.
The problem is: I was doing the wrong things.
I did everything that’s hard, takes up a lot of time, and doesn’t yield many results. I spent a whole summer that way, then burned out and gave up.
That experience served to reinforce my belief that only magical, special, famous people can sell books. But that’s not true at all.
Like I said, I was doing everything that doesn’t really work. Meanwhile, the same week I published my coloring book, a group of marketers published theirs.
Their book wasn’t as good as mine, but it ended up selling over a million copies. I was furious! But I didn’t know what to do.
The difference between them and me is that they were good at marketing. I had no idea how to market a book.
Since then, I’ve learned. I found out there are really only six crucial steps to selling a book and launching it to bestseller. And none of them involve in-person events, trying to pimp your book to local bookstores, handing out bookmarks, or spending your life on social media.
Forget Googling “how to sell more books” and trying to do the top 50 (or 100) things, like I used to try to do.
It’s a lot faster to only do the six steps that actually work. Funny thing: it works better, too.
As an author who has sold over 6,000 copies of my latest book, here are my top three tips for selling more copies of your book:
Get into the right mindset. Even though your book won’t magically sell itself, you can sell more books and even hit the bestseller charts if you want to. If that’s important to you, commit to learning how to sell books—and actually doing what you learn.
Get your book in front of the people who are looking for books like yours. That’s where you’ll make the easiest sales.
Skip the lists of “the top 50 ways to market a book” and do what works.
If you’d like me to walk you through launching your book to bestseller, I made something for you.
I created the Bestseller Launch Blueprint to be the fastest, most efficient way to launch your book and hit bestseller—even if you’re brand new, nobody has ever heard of you, you don’t have an email list, and you’ve never sold anything in your life.
I’ve boiled my bestseller launch process down to the 6 crucial steps required to sell any book. They’re the same steps I use to launch my books and my clients’ books to bestseller.
For each step, I’ll explain what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and why it’s important.
You’ll get it all, boiled down as simple as possible, so you know exactly what to do when you launch your book.
That’s what you’ll get in this blueprint. It’s a 31-page PDF, so you can read it and know exactly what to do in an hour.
And it’s worth it. Becoming a bestselling author is priceless. If you’re in business, even if it helps you win just one new client, it’s more than paid for itself. And that’s not counting the value of the visibility and authority that come with being a bestselling author.
If you write fiction, it’s harder to justify spending $6,400 up front on your book launch, but there’s no question that becoming a bestselling author would help you build your fan base and make it easier to sell all of your future books.
Either way, if someone had handed me this system back when I was starting out, I would have paid thousands—and it would have paid for itself many times over, between the impact on my career and all the time I would have saved. And now you can get the whole system, boiled down into a 6-step blueprint.
I can offer it at such a low price because it’s a digital product. There’s nothing to print or ship. You get the entire blueprint—plus the Bestseller Launch Checklist and the Publishing Roadmap—instantly.
$97 is a steal compared to the impact on your career and your life.
But today, I want to offer you something even better.
Today, I’m giving you the entire Bestseller Launch Blueprint, plus the Bestseller Launch Checklist and Publishing Roadmap, for only $27 total.
You’re seeing this page because I want to grow my community, so I decided to offer you a taste and show you what I’m about.
Maybe you’ll eventually end up becoming a client. Maybe not.
I’m tired of watching people like you and me put everything we have into writing the best books we can, only to have them sell 15 copies—while terrible books take off just because they have great marketing.
I want to level the playing field. And giving you this information is the best way I know to do that.
If you want your next book to become a bestseller, and you’re ready to focus on what works and ditch what doesn’t, this blueprint is for you. Just fill in your information at the bottom of this page to get instant access now.
With advertising costs rising, I may have to increase the price soon. So, if you’re interested, go ahead and get your copy now.
To recap, when you get the Bestseller Launch Blueprint today, you’ll get the exact 6-step process I use to launch my books and my clients’ books to bestseller. Read it in an afternoon, and you’ll be ready to launch your book to bestseller.
You’ll also get the The Bestseller Launch Checklist, so you can track your progress visually and make sure you don’t miss anything, and the Publishing Roadmap to guide you through the process of publishing your book to set yourself up for launch success.
Selling books can seem impossible when you don’t know what you’re doing, but with the Bestseller Launch Blueprint, you can learn my simple, proven 6-step process for launching books to bestseller. Read it in an afternoon and start selling more books.
Will your book get the same kind of results I’ve gotten for myself and my clients with this system? Well, as I mentioned before, most self-published books sells fewer than 100 copies. Most authors have no idea how to market their books, so they either take the “publish and pray” approach, or they spend tons of effort on things that don’t move the needle. The result is: their books don’t sell.
I can’t tell you how your book will do. But I can tell you that, if you follow this system and it doesn’t work, I’ll refund your money.
If you implement everything that I show you in this blueprint, and your book does not become a bestseller on Amazon, I will give you 100% of your money back. I'm so confident, I'll give you a whole year to try it.
Cara Stein is an idealist who has stopped trying to play it cool. She believes the only reason people don’t like business or marketing is that they don’t know how to do it well—yet. She's often praised for her no-bullshit style and her wry humor.
Cara has been helping people finish and publish their books since 2012. She’s guided over 200 books through the publishing process. She’s also the bestselling author of five books of her own, including How to be Happy (No Fairy Dust or Moonbeams Required), Getting Unstuck, and Finish and Publish: Write the Book You’ve Always Wanted to Write. Her peeves include chipmunks, fakery, and the word “peeve.”
Ailish Keating:
Helpful info so far
The course answers a lot of questions I had about launching, in an organized way. I'm about 4 months from launching. Good investment
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Denise Gruzensky:
I am launching the 2nd edition of my Children's Book and I'm so excited to have a mapped out plan thanks to this course!
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Alyssa Bailey:
A good help
This helped me organize some of the information I had already received and hadn't yet used, and new book launching ideas.
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Joselyn Greene:
Great overview and step-by-step guide for planning a book launch
The content was very informative. I especially liked the launch planner spreadsheet that calculates dates for each step in the launch process based on the launch date entered.
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Shannon Beets:
Helpful Information
I was looking for someone to break down the steps to a book launch in simple, actionable terms. This course did exactly what I needed. I appreciate the timelines and templates. Worth the time and money!
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Christine Husom:
Great Course
Very helpful. A lot of motivating information I plan to use.
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Thomas Wideman:
Best Training
The best training I have taken thus far. It was very informative and inexpensive.
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Joyce Crawford:
Clear, simple, realistic
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Malesia SPIRES:
GREAT! Exactly what it says!
I found this very informative. Very helpful for a beginning author like myself. Thanks Cara!
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Kathleen Paiva Alford:
Grabbed my attention!
Practical and comprehensive!
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Shanelle Dupree:
Learned something new
I love that I’m learning new tricks and information with each course I view. Thank you!
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Janet Ashmore:
Awesome Blueprint!
After retirement, we self-published my husband's first book last year and the second this year, but didn't know how to go about marketing them. Thank you for this excellent, easy to understand guide-we can't wait to put these steps into action!
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Daryl Jackson:
Very helpful info and details for any authors but especially first timers like me.
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Eyad Yehyawi:
Excellent outline for launching your book!
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Amy Burgess:
Comprehensive, step-by-step plan
I was skeptical because so many courses simply don't deliver on the promised value. This is NOT one of those courses. This is a true, actionable, step-by-step guide to accomplishing a bestselling launch for your book. I'm so excited to get started!
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Reena Pagnoni:
Very helpful for a first time author!
Great tips and information. This will really help me along my publishing journey. Thank you!
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Kathi Toro:
Great Content
I have self published one book in 2011, and I have made all the same mistakes you refer to in the Bestseller Launch Blueprint Starter Kit. My plan going forward is to use your outlined method and hopefully I will publish my next project with less aggravation and with much more ease!! Thanks!!
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Jason Moser:
The Perfect Blueprint
Great information for any level of writer. Knowing this before you publish your first book is essential and it will save you a lot of time, spare you of the frustrations of not knowing, and get you on the road to writing and publishing success right from the start.
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Michelle Gordon:
This was a very easy read with great templates provided to aid in getting presales reviews, setting up ads, and reaching more customers. I really like the downloadable/printable templates and the timeline of what to do and when.
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Roxanne Bland:
Nice--All in One Place!
Some of these tips I've gleaned through my own marketing research, but it's nice to have it all in one place!
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Beverly Jones-Durr:
Great Stuff
Course was terrific. Great information to use in the future. Thank you!
Laura Schiff:
Good Value for the Money
Thank you, Cara! Very nicely done. I found both the Blueprint and the Starter Kit helpful. I'm about half-way through the first draft of my non-fiction book, and I can start implementing some of your suggestions now. Cheers!
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Todd Hayes:
Provides the simple steps needed to prioritize your launch efforts.
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Tiffany Walton:
Book cover info. CHECK!
Very informative already. Especially if you have no idea where to begin when looking for a book cover designer.
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Ruth Morris:
The pre-calibrated lead up to launch was a real time saver. Made the process feel doable rather than overwhelming.
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Stevie Claxton:
Worth the money
I'm getting ready to launch my first novel this year and was rather nervous about how to go about things. I stumbled across this on Facebook and decided that it would be worth the money to see how others are doing it versus reinventing the wheel. So, I bought the course and just finished! It's well worth the money to have a strategy in my back pocket.
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Jeralynn Mance:
Essential Information
This course is awesome, informative, and life changing.!! There was so much that I didn't know, things I would have never considered doing in my launch. I am greatly appreciative for this course, its invaluable!!
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Barry Gallagher:
Covers are Key!
So far, so good! Lot more valuable information and tools.
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Cheryl Shumake:
From a grateful author
Thank you so much for putting together a concise, easy-to-follow, launch plan which promises results without promoting unrealistic expectations. I will employ your insights and directions and am looking forward to better outcomes than I could have achieved on my own.
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James Kelly:
Tips to Launch Your Best Seller
I have accomplished some of the items in the course, but the amount of information was outstanding. I am armed with tips and suggestions to enhance the sale of my current books, and set the stage for the next one out the door. Great job!
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Cheyenne Tagliaferro:
Awesome
Great info!! Looking forward to seeing if this info will make a difference between my second book launch and my first… Thank you
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Lex Brown:
Streamlined & Actionable! High-Quality Content!
I truly enjoyed this course and think that its worth every penny spent. The content has strong impact, with actionable, streamlined steps for accomplishing every Authorpreneur's goal: a growing audience with high conversions into buyers.
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Victor Wilkie:
Very informative
I was pleased overall and hope that this will help with my project. However, I wish that the course contained some more detailed information on getting editorial reviews, whom to contact, etc.
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Robert Cooper:
Excellent presentation!
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Robyn Michaels:
Indeed, it takes more than writing to make a book. Very good information!
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Loralee Lago:
Excellent information. I would have like a few more print outs but what was given was invaluable!!!
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Mary Kennedy:
Great Information
I've learned so much from participating in this course. Hadn't realized there is so much to know AFTER a manuscript is finished.
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Tony Martin:
This is a great little primer to get you started toward realizing your publishing dreams. It’s accessible, just detailed enough, and gives you a great foundation to begin. I recommend it.
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Lisa Washington:
Good Info to start with
There was a lot of good content to start with.
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Danielle Perlin-Good:
Great Outline
I highly recommend taking this course so you can learn what to do in order to have a bestseller launch campaign.
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LaBena Fleming:
Excellent Advice