As the final full week of June comes to a close, so do several major book retailers’ sales campaigns. Today marks the final day of Barnes & Noble’s preorder sale, Amazon Prime Days, and Bookshop.org’s Anti-Prime Day promotion—each of which can be a big draw to readers.
Of course, promoting your books at the same time as larger sales campaigns is a popular tactic—plenty of authors schedule discounts and other promotions around Black Friday to attract holiday shoppers. This past December, IAM’s Audrey Hughey shared ten tips for taking advantage of the holiday shopping season in order to boost your book sales before the end of the year (though the tips can work at any other time of year, too).
Audrey Hughey
But aligning your promotions with big companies' campaigns is far from the only way to successfully use discounts and deals in your marketing strategy. Short-term paid promotions like those offered through Kobo, BookBub, and a host of other platforms; social media campaigns around important dates or book launches; and even bringing readers to your direct sales storefront with exclusive bundle deals are just some of the promotional tactics authors use to boost sales and readership in short windows.
In May 2023, IAM staff writer Paul Austin Ardoin explored how indie authors could take advantage of paid promo newsletters in order to successfully attract new readers and boost sales. Learn more about these strategies below.
Paul Ardoin
Do you have questions or topics related to marketing and promotions in 2026 that you’d like us to explore? Let us know at feedback@indieauthormagazine.com. Your responses may become part of a future article.
This Week's Indie Author Magazine Articles
Three years ago, Indie Author Magazine published an article on AI and copyright. Most of the information authors had then was hypothetical. No court rulings had been made, no precedents set.
Since then, appellate court decisions, a three-part report from the US Copyright Office, over fifty active lawsuits against AI companies, and a $1.5 billion settlement have clarified much of the speculation that existed around the topic previously. In this week’s Monday Close-Up, IAM publisher Chelle Honiker summarizes where AI copyright law stands today and the questions that are still to be answered as of 2026, whether you use AI or just want to know how to protect your work.
Chelle Honiker
Every author has a manuscript they will never publish. Every main character grapples with challenges as they travel through their story. Both in fiction and in the real world, mistakes are unavoidable. But they’re also one of the best ways for us to grow. Mistakes help our characters discover who they need to become by the end of the book, and they help us find our voices, shape our businesses, and perfect the stories we put into the world. As part of her ongoing guest series, book coach Rona Gofstein reminds authors that success won’t always happen the first time—but even failure can be a good thing, if you look at it the right way.
Rona Gofstein
Teachings from Indie Author Training
Webinar: “What's your book's job? Writing nonfiction as a tool to grow your business"
Every decision you’ll make about your book's content, structure, voice, and even publishing path gets shaped by the answer to one question: What's your book's job? In other words, what will it do for your business, for yourself, and for your audience? In this session, we'll explore different potential jobs, including models for how writing a nonfiction book can provide ROI—both personally and professionally.
Takeaways:
- Getting clear on what you want out of your book will shape every other decision you make.
- Knowing your book's job prevents the most common nonfiction mistake: writing the book you wanted to write instead of the book your audience needs.
- A book can serve your business even if it's not a bestseller. There are many ways to earn an ROI on your nonfiction book besides book sales.
Watch the webinar at https://webinars.indieauthortraining.com/talks/whats-your-books-job-writing-nonfiction-as-a-tool-to-grow-your-business/, then ask your questions and keep the discussion going in the field beneath the video.
More Indie Publishing News
Here’s a look beyond our pages at the latest headlines and happenings in the publishing world.
- A new partnership between Simon & Schuster and The Black List—a platform for connecting film, television, theater, and book publishing professionals—will bring more than six thousand titles to the site, allowing film and TV scouts to search the books’ metadata for potential new projects. The Black List expanded to host fiction authors and book publishing professionals in September 2024, and though this week’s partnership announcement will bring thousands of traditionally published works to the site, the platform is open to “any writer with a fiction manuscript,” including self-published authors, according to its website. You can learn more about the platform at https://blcklst.com, and read about the collaboration with Simon & Schuster here: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/100642-simon-schuster-adds-6-000-titles-to-the-black-list.html.
Anything we’ve missed that you think we should cover? Any topics or questions you’d like our team to explore? Let us know at feedback@indieauthormagazine.com. Your suggestion may just make it into an upcoming article.
