Sue Reed is a YA author who lives in the North-East of England, and her debut novel, The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn was published just over a year ago.
I’ve been following Sue for some months on Instagram, admiring how she has self-driven her book promotion, and I was delighted to hear she had secured almost 900 direct book sales (as of August) plus a further 700+ sales via Amazon and book shops. A further update, due in January, is expected to see sales reach at least the 2000 mark.
In the UK, the average book sells 4000 copies over it’s life time; YA books are amongst the groups that sell the least; and many books of all genre sell fewer than 200 copies, so in this context, Sue’s sales record is seriously impressive, especially when you think that she’s done it without the help of a large publishing house.
Sue has been determined, tenacious, and creative, while embracing an approach to promoting her book that prioritises connecting with her potential readers, rather than marketing her book ‘at’ them.
This was a lively, informative and entertaining conversation that I absolutely loved. I was nodding furiously all the way through and I found Sue’s casual dgaf energy seriously motivational and inspirational.
Scroll down to the bottom for the time stamps if you want to fast forward to any particular question, and please make sure you check out the links to Sue’s work on Instagram, here on Substack, and of course buy a copy of her brilliant book.
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Links to Sue’s work
Buy The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn
on Substacksuereedwrites on Instagram
During the chat, Sue mentions Lou Hamilton, brave_newgirl on Instagram, and her book, Dare To Share: Connect with the world and make a positive impact through the power of podcast guesting
Sue’s, Unpicking Publishing series of essays:
⏳Time stamps
⏳00.01 Intro to Sue
⏳03.23 Sue’s experiences of pitching to traditional agents
⏳09.33 the challenges of writing YA at the moment
⏳11.54 Sue’s reasons for choosing not to indie publish
⏳12.43 how she arrived at the hybrid-publishing model, how long it took for her book to be ready
⏳16.36 what did working with hybrid publishers, The Book Guild, mean for Sue’s marketing
⏳21.21 how Sue’s experiences running online brand, The Woolly Pedlar, informed the decisions she has made about promoting her book
⏳23.39 how Sue sees marketing being all about a mindset of making use of the opportunities in front of you
⏳28.23 how the connection she had with the community created as part of her Woolly Pedlar brand have paid off in her new life as an author
⏳31.10 the difference between connection and marketing
⏳33.51 transparency around sales numbers
⏳38.57 what has been the biggest factor in securing those sales figures?
⏳40.45 talking sales and money - how selling directly means Sue can recoup her costs more quickly
⏳44.02 how Sue has used her community to help her get the word out about her book
⏳45.33 how Sue manages the time she spends on social media, treating it like a job so it doesn’t suck time out of the rest of her day
⏳48.34 what is the one thing Sue would like other authors to know about promoting their books?
⏳50.23 Sue tells us all about The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn which sounds amazing (I’ve been meaning to buy a copy for ages and instantly went and bought two - one for my daughter and one for a Christmas present after hearing Sue speak so passionately about it! You can order a copy here: The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn )
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