Publisher: Alcove Press (Crooked Lane Books)
Genre: Cozy fantasy
Formats: $18.99 paperback | 13.99 ebook | $13.99 audiobook
Released: Sept. 19, 2023
Breanne Randall is a freelance writer by trade and an author by vocation. Her articles have been published in national magazines such as Parents, Fit Pregnancy, Good Housekeeping, and more. A seasoned traveler, she imbues her stories with the magic and culture collected from the over forty countries she’s visited. Randall lives in Northern California with her husband, two daughters, and a slew of farm animals.
In The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic, Sadie Revelare has always believed that the curse of four heartbreaks that accompanies her magic would be worth the price. But when her grandmother is diagnosed with cancer with only weeks to live, and her first heartbreak, Jake McNealy, returns to town after a decade, her carefully structured life begins to unravel.
When asked what contributed to her book landing on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, Randall said: “When I finally got a book deal (11 years after I first started writing), I knew my best shot at hitting a list would be to get as many pre-orders as possible.” With this in mind, she began promoting the book the week the deal was announced in Publishers Marketplace.
“I know that some authors believe it’s solely the publisher’s job to sell the book, but I wanted to do everything in my power to support their efforts.” For Randall, this started with creating a compelling hook that captured what the book was about and who it was for: “My hook—‘a warm and witchy Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic book’ became my war cry. Every single post included a variation on those words, and my target audience responded!”
After crafting a hook, Randall focused on building her email list, as it gave her the most direct line to readers, and incentivized subscribers with the promise of a giveaway of an advance copy of the book. Then, she used Flodesk to create a workflow designed to slowly introduce new subscribers to the novel with additional teasers every couple weeks.
With these elements established, Randall launched her pre-order campaign. She invited readers to submit their pre-order receipts to receive a character art print, bookmark, and stickers, and she got such strong traction she had to cap the incentive at 2,000. The novel ultimately secured 11,000 pre-orders. “Every day, I shared little clips of my author journey and the book. Sometimes it was just quotes, other times it was my reaction to little milestones; my first blurb, the cover reveal, my first time seeing the advanced copies, etc. I really wanted to build a community, and to do that, I invited people along the journey with me!”
Additional elements of the campaign included partnerships with independent bookstores, giveaways, posting consistently on social media, and “being vulnerable in sharing the plethora of rejection I received along the way.” Randall has large followings on TikTok and Instagram and also is active on Twitter and Pinterest.
Asked what she would tell other authors, Randall said, “It’s okay to mess up. It’s okay to not want to show your face on social media. You don’t have to know how to do everything. But you do have to be willing to learn!”
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.
