You hit publish.
Now what?
Most authors think that’s the end of the work. Amazon will take it from here. The book will find its audience. Success is automatic.
Then months pass. Sales trickle in. Reality hits hard.
Here’s what Seth Godin said about bestseller lists: They’re a “construct,” “fictional,” and “divorced from reality.” They represent curatorial choices by editors, not pure sales volume.
Translation? The game is rigged. Unless you know the rules.
The Big Five Advantage
The Big Five publishers – Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Macmillan – have something indie authors don’t: distribution channels. Ingram. Amazon. Baker & Taylor. They own the pipes.
So bestseller status goes to the authors they back.
But then Alex Hormozi happened.
In 2025, he sold 2,930,000 copies of “$100M Money Models” in 72 hours. No Big Five backing. No traditional distribution advantage.
Just strategy. Execution. And relentless promotion.
The Truth About Publishing
Publishing your book is 5% of the work.
The other 95%? Marketing. Promotion. Visibility.
Think about it. Your book on Amazon is one of 8+ million books. Without active effort, it gets buried before anyone even knows it exists.
What Actually Works
Stop asking: “Will Amazon sell my book?”
Start asking: “How will I sell my book?”
Here’s where to begin:
Leverage your market size. Who already knows you? Your email list. Your social media followers. Your network. They’re your launch audience.
Apply what you learn. Don’t just write. Study how other authors did it. Alex Hormozi wrote three books—$100M Offers, $100M Leads, $100M Money Models. Study his pattern. Learn from the wins.
Think local first. Get 100 people to buy your book locally. Then regional. Then national. Momentum builds on momentum. Nigeria has a population of about 230million.
Build the infrastructure. Do you have a website? A landing page? Are you sharing your book on social media? Do you have an email list? These aren’t optional – they’re essential.
The Real Work Starts After Publishing
Publishing is the beginning, not the end.
Marketing is the game.
Networking is the strategy.
Visibility is the currency.
You need to support your book the way you’d support a business. Because it is a business.
Imagine selling 100,000 copies at $12 each. That’s $1.2 million. It’s possible. Alex Hormozi proved it.
But it requires strategy. Execution. Promotion.
Not luck. Not hoping Amazon notices you.
Your Move
Your book deserves a chance.
Not just to exist on Amazon. But to reach the people who need it. To generate revenue. To build your authority.
If you’re serious about this – if you want to go beyond publishing and actually sell your book – you need a community of people doing the same work.
That’s why I created THE CLUB. A community of authors supporting each other’s launches. Sharing strategies. Building visibility together.
Join THE CLUB and let’s do this together: https://forms.gle/3fJCkubD27bxaPH1A
Your bestseller isn’t a dream. It’s a strategy away.
P.S. — Repost this if you know an author sitting on a book that deserves to sell. They need to hear this.
