The Anatomy of a USA Today Bestseller Launch Campaign

As most indie authors are all too aware, it is next to impossible these days to launch a new self-published book and have it land on the New York Times bestseller list. That’s because the list prioritizes certain types of sales and is ultimately curated by editors.

The alternative? Target the USA Today bestseller list, which has two qualities welcoming to self-published work: it lumps together sales of all formats into one, all-encompassing list; and it is a purely sales-based list. In addition, it’s possible to hit the list not only with a single title, but with a solo-author box set or a multi-author box set. The pricing must be at least 99 cents to be eligible, only US sales count, and the work must be available at one retailer other than Amazon. (That means no Kindle Unlimited exclusives.)

Recently, Nicholas Erik and Lee Savino offered an in-depth session explaining how they successfully launched the paranormal romance Alpha’s Vow onto the USA Today list in May 2021. Erik is a novelist himself who consults with indie authors on book marketing and advertising; Lee Savino is a romance novelist with nearly 100 titles published either on her own or in collaboration with other authors. (Earlier this year, we reported on another session they hosted, focused on book marketing strategies and goals for 2021.)

First things first: Erik was quick to point out that a launch meant to hit a bestseller list will likely be less profitable than other types of launches. In other words, the amount of marketing spend necessary to hit the USA Today list is going to cut into profits, and the benefit of hitting a list is rarely what people think. Erik was blunt about this. In fact, he does not think readers care about these lists and has seen that proven out through testing of various ads. (Ads mentioning bestseller status typically perform worse than ads focusing on enthusiastic reader reviews, for example.)

“If you’re thinking, ‘Oh my god, I have to do this to have a chance of being a full-time author’—absolutely not the case. Tons of people are making six or seven figures who never hit the list,” he said. “Even if you have the money, it doesn’t always benefit you to push really aggressively with a launch or a promo. You want to pick your shots and also be aware of why you’re doing something. It’s fine to do it for personal satisfaction or as a challenge, but if you’re expecting this to somehow launch you into the stratosphere, the next echelon or rung of your career, I think that you’re going to be disappointed.”

At this point, Erik paused for a moment and said, tongue in cheek, “Now that everyone’s left we can continue.” He did admit, however, that conducting a bestseller launch has a key benefit: it helps authors reach new readers. You’re getting visibility, and that can pay off for a series in particular, when there are more installments to come.

Alpha’s Vow is a book in a successful and popular series that combines paranormal and contemporary romance tropes. It includes mercenaries, wolf shifters, and a surprise baby. The first book in the series sold 2,400+ copies during its first week of release in February 2021. The second book, Alpha’s Vow, has been up for pre-order since the first book came out. Savino saw strong pre-orders and decided it was a great chance to hit the list for the first time with one of her individual titles (co-authored with Renee Rose). But she wanted to do it while charging full price for the ebook, which in this case is $4.99.

Erik identified two key factors that led to success: the authors’ existing platform or fanbase (which factored into strong pre-orders) and Facebook advertising. Erik said that it’s not possible to hit the USA Today list at full price with a single novel without a substantial platform, and Savino and Rose have a combined list of 100,000 subscribers. They set a budget of $15,000 for the launch and decided to push hard with advertising on Facebook. They tested the ads during the pre-order period, then scaled up with their best-performing ads during launch week. Erik estimates that 70 percent of the sales came from the authors’ existing platform, 20 percent came from Facebook advertising, and 10 percent came from other sources, mainly BookBub ads and newsletter swaps. (Much of the session was devoted to a highly detailed examination of the Facebook ad campaign, which we’ll recap for you in an upcoming issue of Hot Sheet; it deserves its own item.) While Amazon advertising is something Erik would typically use as well, it wasn’t possible for this book, likely due to the word Alpha in the title or its explicit content.

Why a budget of $15,000? That’s a relative number. Erik said, “Don’t just look at the amount. It’s relative to what [the authors] have saved up, what the series is doing, relative to how much it makes per month, including things like translations.” He said the figure represented about 20 to 25 percent of the earnings this month for the series. “So it’s not massive in context. Obviously it is quite large, but you work up to that as the series becomes more successful.”

The book’s launch day was on a Tuesday, which is important for hitting a bestseller list. This is a well-known strategy in traditional publishing as well, and here’s why: bestseller lists count sales starting on Monday, ending on Sunday. Pre-orders get counted as sales typically the day before a book launches. If a book launches on a Monday, the pre-orders could get counted in the prior week, torpedoing your chances of hitting the bestseller list if you’ve had a strong pre-order campaign. Thus: Tuesday is the best day to launch.

The final numbers? With about 4,000 pre-orders going into launch week, Alpha’s Vow sold 7,194 copies in the US in its first week and 8,385 copies overall (including pre-orders). The book hit #76 on the USA Today bestseller list and was also in the Amazon Top 100 for its category. There were 664 pre-orders for book three and 1,750 newsletter sign-ups (there was a back-of-the-book exclusive that readers could get if they signed up). The book continues to sell about 100 copies per week supported by roughly $100 in weekly ad spend on Facebook. Total spend for the launch (including pre-order advertising) was $17,215, earning about $7,500 in profit for the authors after the first week of sales.

Most authors will need at least 5,000 sales to have a shot at the USA Today list. The fall and Christmas season can be a more competitive time of year; those tend to be months when you have big traditional authors (Grisham, Steel, Patterson, etc.) releasing a new title. Savino said May was a good time (obviously) and that she’s also had success hitting the list in January with box sets.

Bottom line: Erik often returned to what really underlined the successful launch here, which wasn’t the ads but the authors’ existing fanbase. “Where I see people get in trouble with aggressive launches, they make the ads the number-one player,” he said. “The ads are more comfortable being the second star or third star.” Rather than have ads carry the entire weight of a launch, he advised calibrating ad spend based on platform and existing readership to avoid overspending. “You can’t launch at full price and have a good result, or hit the USA Today list at full price with a single novel, without having a substantial platform that could probably sell a few thousand books.” In other words, you need a platform to ignite things. If you’d like to learn more, take a look at Erik’s mini-guide on how to hit the USA Today bestseller list. He and Savino also run a Six-Figure Author Marketing Challenge suitable for intermediate to advanced indie authors.