What to Do to Sell Your Book: Standing Out in a Flooded Market

Updated May 2026 to reflect current data.

Richard Lowe, The Writing King, lays out what it actually takes to sell copies of a book, which is a different problem from writing a good one. With a flood of titles published every day, the hard part isn’t the manuscript, it’s getting noticed at all, and that takes both the right packaging and a real promotion plan.

The conversation moves from how a book earns attention to the campaign that puts it in front of readers.

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In this episode

Standing out in a flooded market

Before any promotion can work, a book has to earn a second of attention, and Richard’s formula is three-part: a compelling title, an attractive cover that reads even as a thumbnail, and a clear sense of the problem the book solves. Readers don’t buy on the writing they haven’t read yet; they buy on the promise the package makes. Get those three right and you’ve cleared the bar most titles never reach.

Promotion is a campaign, not a moment

The biggest mistake is treating promotion as something that happens on launch day. Richard’s approach is to build an audience well before the book is out by sharing the writing journey on social media, letting people follow along, get invested, and feel like part of the process. By the time the book ships, there’s a group of people already waiting for it, which is what a launch needs to actually move copies.

Launch, podcasts, and blog tours

From there it’s a sequence. A launch party, virtual or physical, makes publication an event rather than a quiet upload. Podcast appearances and blog tours, guesting across other people’s audiences, put the book and the author in front of engaged readers who are already paying attention to that host. None of it requires burning money on ads; it requires showing up consistently in the right places and giving people a reason to care.

The networking behind it, and why he made the leap

Much of what makes that promotion possible is relationships, and Richard credits his decades in technology for the network he built along the way, the connections that now open doors to podcasts, guest posts, and referrals. The move from tech to writing wasn’t just a career change; it was a deliberate choice for freedom and creative control over how he spends his days and whom he works with.

Find Richard Lowe at TheWritingKing.com.

Common questions from this conversation

How do you make a book stand out in a crowded market?
With a compelling title, an attractive cover that works as a small thumbnail, and a clear sense of the problem the book solves for its reader. Those three things decide whether a browsing reader stops to look.

When should I start promoting my book?
Well before launch. Share the writing journey on social media as you go, so you build an audience that’s invested and waiting by the time the book is actually available.

What is a blog tour?
A run of guest appearances across other people’s blogs and podcasts, putting you and your book in front of audiences that already trust those hosts, rather than trying to build every reader relationship from scratch.

Do book launch parties actually help sell copies?
Yes. A launch party, online or in person, turns publication into an event that gathers your audience in one place and gives the release momentum it wouldn’t have as a quiet upload.

Do I need to buy ads to sell my book?
No. Richard’s emphasis is on an organic campaign, sharing the journey, a real launch, podcasts, and blog tours, rather than spending heavily on advertising that rarely pays off for books.