How I Know An Author (and Their Book) Will Be Successful

I’ve worked with a handful of authors who have successfully landed traditional book deals after self-publishing books. Denise Duffield-Thomas comes to mind, as does Susie Moore. But here’s the thing most people don’t understand about these authors’ journeys.

Denise and Susie had success first.

When Denise came to me in 2017, she had sold thousands of her self-published books, Lucky Bitch and Get Rich, Lucky Bitch. Thousands. And the reason she had such great sales was because Denise’s audience is huge and her business is booming. Denise proudly told me that she makes millions of dollars in revenue with her money bootcamp. Susie told me similar things about her business.

And when I found that out, I knew their books were going to sell.

Not just to agents and publishers, but readers too. Their books were going to “work” (industry speak for “make a profit”) because their businesses did.

Because their marketing did. Because their sales tactics did.

Because they did.

I sat down to write this after two frustrating calls with potential authors who didn’t understand a basic, elemental and inherently simple truth about publishing (self or traditional).