Publisher: HarperOne
Genre: Christian self-help
Formats: $26.99 hardcover | $14.99 ebook | $21.99 audiobook
Released: March 12, 2024
Emily P. Freeman is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of six books. As a spiritual director, workshop leader, and host of the Next Right Thing podcast, she offers spiritual companionship and discernment for anyone struggling with decision fatigue. Freeman holds a master’s degree in spiritual formation and leadership from Friends University.
In How to Walk into a Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away, Freeman explores the question, What do you do when you start to feel a shift and must decide if it’s time to make a change? Though we enter and exit many rooms—jobs, relationships, communities, life stages—over the course of our life, knowing how and when it’s time to leave is a decision that rarely has a clear answer. How to Walk into a Room helps discern the how, when, and what now of walking out of rooms and into new ones with peace, confidence, and a whole heart.
When asked what contributed to the book landing on the New York Times bestseller list, Freeman said: “If anyone tells you they know the secret to landing on a bestseller list, run fast in the opposite direction. No one really knows what works or doesn’t work.”
Over 15 years and five traditionally published books before How to Walk into a Room, Freeman has hit the Wall Street Journal list, Publishers Weekly list, and the USA Today list, but this was her first time making the NYT list. She noted a few things she and her team did differently that may have made the difference.
The first was making the decision to run a bestseller campaign. She said, “I think it makes a difference when everyone on the team—from editorial to marketing to publicity—agrees that we want to give the book its best shot at being a bestseller. … This doesn’t always lead to the outcomes we want, but as an author it helped me feel supported, like we were all on the same team.”
Additional differences included publishing with a Big Five house, prioritizing independent bookstores and libraries for pre-orders and events, and focusing first on the readership Freeman had already built. “I’m a huge believer that it’s more important to focus on the reader who is already paying attention. They know me, they know my work, they want to support my work. So what can I do to help incentivize them to want to buy it early, share it widely, and continue to be a reader for the long haul?” She focused on offering a compelling pre-order incentive for the most engaged readers, such as behind-the-scenes videos and commentary, which she offered through a private Substack.
To other authors, Freeman offers, “I think it’s important to keep the main things top of mind: Write an honest and compelling book, share it with confidence (never apologize for sharing your work), and work hard to serve your existing readers. I can’t say that will lead to a bestseller, but I can say for sure it will contribute to your life and work as a writer for the long haul.”
Emily Wenstrom is a freelance writer and platforming expert and writes award-winning speculative fiction for teens and adults as E. J. Wenstrom.
E. J. Wenstrom believes in complicated heroes, horrifying monsters, purple hair dye and standing to the right on escalators so the left side can walk. She writes dark speculative fiction for adults and teens, including her new release, a young adult dystopian novel titled Departures (August 10, 2021). When she isn’t writing fiction, E. J. Wenstrom is a regular contributor to DIY MFA and BookRiot, and co-hosts the Fantasy+Girl Podcast. Learn more at her website.
