Bestseller Substack Book Launch Strategy Package
Concierge support for your (bestseller) book launch
Your books deserve to sell and be read. Substack is the best untapped resource you have.
Substack sells books. I show you how to use the platform to sell yours, for a forthcoming title, a backlisted book, or long-tail sales.
Together, we’ll use my proven system and the incredible advantage that Substack gives authors to launch and sell your book—and, perhaps, aim for a spot on the bestseller lists.
Our focus will be on pre-order sales and leveraging your Substack and the Substack network.
We complement what you might be doing with an in-house or independent publicist.
The Substack Book Launch Strategy Package consists of step-by-step guidance for your launch based on my deep knowledge of the platform and book sales and publicity after using Substack to get my own book on the USA Today bestseller list.
What we’ll do:
Outreach to Substack writers and creators for potential collaborations
My personal (not AI-produced) templates to help you draft emails and write book sales pages that convert
3 sessions, 45 minutes each, with my expert guidance customized to you and your book
A detailed overview of each session with step-by-step directions on what to do next, plus access to the transcript and replay
Feedback from me every step of the way to help you troubleshoot and get all your questions answered
Full email access to me throughout our time together
How it works
Session #1:
Highlight your goals and vision for the book launch
Catalogue your existing connections on and off Substack
Discuss any publicity your team has planned and how our work might complement it
Audit your current Substack growth and metrics with an eye toward any quick opportunities
Create your Substack book launch calender, including what and when you’ll bring your subscribers into the pre-order process on Substack each month from the cover reveal to the pre-order announcement to blurb reveals and reviews as they roll in to pub week events
Email support: Creating your book launch sales page and sales emails
Session #2: Tapping into the Substack network
We’ll continue to grow your Substack throughout the book launch using Notes. Notes is a place to bring in subscribers who might buy your book and not a place to sell your book.
We’ll create an email list of 100,000 subscribers by tapping into other Substack writers’ lists:
We’ll compile a list of 25-100 Substacks that are the right fit for your book and the collaboration or publicity opportunities there
Email support: Drafting pitch-letters for each type of opportunity
Session #3: Pub month events and sales opportunities
Map and schedule bulk-buy and BILF opportunities
Traditionally, book in lieu of fee applies to an author exchanging their speaking fee for sales of their book, but Substack offers its own opportunities for bulk buys and sales in exchange for bonuses related to your Substack
Create a pub-week street team: Map out a plan to mobilize your most engaged subscribers (sometimes that means paid subscribers, but not always) to promote, recommend, and sell your book because they believe in it too via:
Goodreads (and Amazon) reviews
Notes and their Substacks
Email support: Full email access during pub month and week, plus a celebratory email the likes of which you’ve never seen.
Investment: $3400
*Book your first session and I’ll reach out with next steps.
Substack book launch and book sales success stories
Melinda Wenner Moyer sold 25,000 copies of her book—with her publisher crediting Substack for driving continued sales.
Virginia Sole-Smith became a New York Times bestseller, stating, “There is no doubt in my mind that this happened because of Burnt Toast [her Substack].”
Maggie Smith credited her subscribers for helping her very literary collection of essays hit the New York Times bestseller list.
About me
Sarah Fay (MFA, MA, PhD)
I’m the leading Substack Growth Strategist and a national bestselling author at HarperCollins.
I started my author Substack in 2021, much the way other authors do. HarperCollins said I should start a Substack, so I did and grew my author Substack to 6,000 subscribers. My memoir Pathological was an Apple Best Books pick, received a rave in The New York Times Book Review, and sold well. But it didn’t hit the lists.
Three years later, I got it onto the USA Today bestseller list using only Substack. No outside media. No publicist. Just my 6,000-subscriber author Substack and the strategies I teach.
How I know this works:
1,800 copies sold during relaunch week.
12% of my readers bought after the full campaign.
Number one on HarperCollins’s Bookshop page for several weeks.
Guest posts and Substack lives reached an additional 90,000+ subscribers across collaborating Substacks.
I’m now Founder and CEO of Substack Writers at Work, where I help writers and creators double, triple, and 10x their subscribers, get real engagement, and substantially increase their revenue. I’m the Fortier Public Relations Substack Consultant and on the faculty at Northwestern University. My work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Paris Review, where I was an advisory editor.
This is for you if:
You have a forthcoming or backlisted book, traditionally, hybrid, or self-published.
You’re expected to sell your own book and you want a real plan for it.
You’d rather sell through relationship and connection than a hard pitch.
You have a book in progress, and you want to show agents and editors you can sell your own book.
This may not be a good fit if:
You’re looking for how to set up a Substack from scratch. This isn’t about setting one up.
You want a general book-marketing course rather than a Substack-specific one.
You’re expecting a guaranteed spot on a bestseller list. The strategies are proven, but results vary.
What authors are saying
So many author marketing trainings ignore Substack or treat it like just another email list. But this approach is fresh, smart, and actually doable.” — Anton Volney
“Don’t hesitate if you’re an author. Sarah is a fantastic teacher, knows her stuff in the Substack world and in publishing. I’m so glad to have made the investment.” — Dana Killion
“Sarah is brilliant and knows Substack inside out.” — Jeannine Ouellette
Authors are expected to use an independent publicist, which runs $20,000 or more without guaranteed results.
Our work together empowers you with a system to use again and again to sell this book and all books past and future. It shows you the value of your own book and how to attract and cultivate your readers. It’s yours to keep and use to get the kind of results an expensive independent publicist can’t.
Your books deserve to sell and be read. Substack is the best untapped resource you have.
Please reach out if you have any questions: sarah@sarahfay.org
All my best,
* Additional sessions can be purchased as needed.
FAQ’s
Does the Substack team help authors sell their books? Not officially beyond giving us each a Substack to do it on.
How many collaborations with other Substack writers are guaranteed?
If I don’t see the results I want, can I get a refund? We’ll determine a reasonable goal at the start of our work together. If you follow through on every point in the process and we don’t achieve your reasonable goal, we can discuss next steps.
Will someone who doesn’t have a Substack newsletter and has solely a profile see results? Yes but primarily to help you build your email list to get subscribers who will buy your book.
Can authors with upcoming and backlisted books do this? Yes. We breathe new life into backlisted titles and upcoming releases, so you can apply the techniques to both existing and future books.
Is this suitable for self-published authors? Self-published authors can use everything we do, though my focus is on traditionally and hybrid-published books.
Do I need to already have a Substack? It’s better if you already have one, but authors who are interested in Substack are welcome. If you want help setting up your Substack, book my 3-Month Accelerated Growth Package 1:1.
Will this get me on the bestseller list? Perhaps. I give you specific strategies for targeting the USA Today and The New York Times bestseller lists but results vary based on implementation and other factors. It will change the trajectory of your writing career in terms of opening up opportunities you never imagined.
What makes this different from a book-marketing course? This isn’t a generic book-marketing course. It’s a concierge, bespoke package. customized to your Substack, and the wider Substack network, to sell your forthcoming or backlisted book. Everything I teach is based on what I actually did to get my book onto the USA Today bestseller list.
Investment: $3400
*Book your first session and I’ll reach out with next steps.