What makes a bestseller?
29 August 2026
Today my author copies of my new novel, The Secrets She Keeps, arrived in the post before publication day on Weds, 2nd September. Hurray! Holding copies of my book in my hand, marvelling at how an idea in my head has become a novel, is always a huge thrill.
With stomach jitters for publication day I devoured an article by The Guardian sent to me by one of my author friends How to make a bestseller: insiders reveal the tricks of the book trade. Great read, but from an author’s perspective also worrying because it shows that there’s hardly anything we can do to make our book sell. That is, other than write a book as best was we possibly can of course.
As I previously suspected, the article argues that book sales are down to part publisher alchemy, part retailer support and part luck. Before publication your editor does a grand job tightening up your text. The Guardian points out two other elements of the physical book are vital: the cover and the back blurb.
The front and back covers
Traditionally published authors rarely get to choose their cover. We’re usually shown it and can provide feedback but it’s your editor and designer who put it together and get the final say. As The Guardian notes, bright colours entice readers to pick books up, and the author’s name in a large font helps them to remember who the writer is. Publishers have a keen eye for trends and what’s selling at the moment. For domestic noir books covers with houses are on trend. No prizes for guessing why The Secrets She Keeps has a house on the front!
The blurb on the back is also vital. If a reader has been enticed by the cover they’ll want to know what the book is about. I wrote my book but my lovely editor, a copywriting expert, wrote the back blurb.
Bookshops
When it comes to getting books in shops, authors have to leave it to the professionals (aside from chatting up your local indie booksellers). Publishers choose from debuts they are backing, and their bigger author names, to pitch to supermarkets and book chains. Apparently WHSmith used to charge for chart space and supermarket buyers are so powerful they can have cover changes made if they’re not happy. In the last few years supermarkets have reduced their shelf space for books and nabbing a spot has become far more competitive. If it ever happens to me you’ll probably hear my screams of delight over on the continent!
My publisher, Embla Books, is digital first, which means that although they also publish paperback books and audiobooks for every title they concentrate on selling ebooks. They are whizzes at understanding the algorithms the main ebook sellers use and the importance of things like metadata (keywords). Marketing involves paid ads on social media, pitching to Amazon for books to included in Kindle Daily Deals and Kindle Unlimited, liaising with book influencers and being active on social media.
Book subscriptions
If an author writes in a particular genre then being picked by a book subscription service to be their monthly title can rocket their book into the bestseller charts. Fairyloot is a popular one for fantasy fans, whilst Premier offers beautifully designed and signed hardbacks in literary or crime fiction. Being chosen for a subscription book club is definitely on my manifestation list!
Influencers
Next on my manifestation list, alongside a Sunday Times bestseller ranking, a literary award and being asked to be a literary speaker on a Cunard cruise to New York (not asking for much, am I!) is the serendipity of a famous person being papped reading my book. Influencers can make (or break) a book. Readers love an authentic, rather than paid for, review, which has led to the rise of BookTok. If the Duchess of Cambridge or Taylor Swift were to say they’d enjoyed The Secrets She Keeps then that would be publicity money couldn’t buy. I can but dream …
Reality dawns
There are more books published annually than any bookshop could possibly stock - only The British Library holds a copy of each as a legal duty. The sheer volume means that publishers decide on the key titles they are going to back, pitch to supermarkets, submit for literary prizes and spend publicity and marketing budgets on. Even then success and becoming a bone fide bestseller is never a guarantee.
As authors all we can control is the books we write. Rather like parents, when our book (or child) goes out in to the world we have to let it do its own thing and wait and see how its future plans out. What no-one can ever take away from us, though, is the wonder of holding our own book in our hands and the knowledge that it will far outlive us.
Fare thee well The Secrets She Keeps. Fingers crossed it’s onwards and upwards!
Buy The Secrets She Keeps paperback, ebook or audiobook here.