In June 2025, I published my first novel, Return to the Galaxy. Seven months later, I had six science fiction books out, multiple #1 bestsellers, and, at one point, my six books were all within the top nine slots in Amazon UK’s Alien Invasion Top 100 category. Now I’m achieving over 4.2 million Kindle Unlimited (KU) page reads per month across the six books — built gradually through new releases, reader retention, and series read-through rather than from a single breakout launch.
These results were the outcome of stacking a series of small, repeatable decisions: rapid release, strategic list-building, preorders, and targeted promotion, combined into a system rather than treated as one-off tactics.
None of these steps required special access, a huge budget, or prior publishing experience — only consistency and a willingness to learn and treat writing like a professional craft.
In the hope that it can help you with your own career, I want to share what worked, what didn’t, and what I would do again if I were starting from zero today.
Step 1: Release Consistently
After Return to the Galaxy released in June 2025, I launched the other books in July, September, October, November, and December. The most recent at the time of writing was Stand for the Galaxy in mid-January 2026.
How I Wrote Six Books in Seven Months
One surprising point might be that I can’t actually type. If I bash at a keyboard all day using the hunt-and-peck method, I can produce about 1,000 words. If I dictate using the Wispr Flow dictation product, I can usually dictate about 7,000 words per day.
Before I sit down to write, I plot out the arc of the book, the arc of each individual character, and then each scene. I write detailed notes and will write about 800 words of notes for every 2,500 words of finished text. When I sit down to dictate, it feels just like telling a story to a friend around a campfire, and I find it easy and relaxing.
Dictation allows me to draft quickly without burning out, making the release schedule realistic rather than aspirational.
Why Rapid Release Works as a Marketing Strategy
My release pace wasn’t accidental. It was the backbone of everything that followed.
Rapid release works because each book amplifies the next. Every new title pushes readers back into earlier books, increases visibility across the series, and gives marketing efforts somewhere to flow. Instead of promoting a single title, you’re building momentum across an ecosystem.
This fast pace means readers don’t have time to forget the stories, and the Amazon algorithm rewards a continual flow of new book releases.
One tactic with a surprisingly large impact was adding the first 10% of the next book to the end of every novel. Readers finishing book one immediately flowed into book two. After reading the preview, many bought the next book on autopilot. This dramatically improved read-through and stabilized launches. My read-through rate from book one to book two on KU is over 80%.
Why Product Quality Still Matters
No amount of marketing can rescue a weak product. Even with poor promotion, a good book will sometimes find readers. But as the excellent Thomas Umstattd of the Novel Marketing Podcast puts it: “Good marketing makes a bad book fail faster.”
Return to the Galaxy was ready to publish in September 2024, but Thomas persuaded me to delay nine months to build my mailing list and carry out other marketing. I’m so glad he did, because otherwise I truly believe that my first novel would have sunk without a trace.
Before writing Return, I studied my favorite books to understand why they appealed to me. I was drawn to fast-moving stories with high stakes and characters I cared about, so that’s what I tried to write. I advocate for writing the best book you can, and one you would genuinely love to read.
Even an excellent book, however, will vanish if no one sees it. With millions of titles published every year, discoverability isn’t an option; it’s a necessity.
Step 2: Build Your List and Earn Reader Trust
When I began my mailing list in mid-February 2025, I had zero subscribers.
Ten months later, my list had grown to over 9,300 subscribers. That list became the stabilizing force behind every launch, smoothing out retailer volatility and turning preorders into real visibility.
My core strategy was built around reader magnets. Instead of offering sample chapters, I focused on complete short stories set in the same universe as my novels. Short fiction delivers a full emotional payoff quickly, building trust far faster than excerpts.
I ultimately produced eight short stories and one 112-page novella, Wild Prince at the Star Fighter Academy. I offered these as direct sign-up magnets, group promotions, newsletter swaps, and back-of-book calls to action.
Short stories worked particularly well because I could write one in three days, publish it quickly, and deploy it across multiple platforms.
Group Promo Accelerators
Group promos were my initial accelerators. Exposure through multiple trusted authors converted far better than solo promotion.
My first reader magnet, Return of the Star Lords, was also the first fiction I’d written in over 40 years. To my surprise, it won several competitions, allowing me to add a winner’s medallion to the cover; an early credibility boost that helped conversion.
Within three months, due to a very active and widespread newsletter and author swap strategy, I had over 1,000 subscribers. Within five months, that number reached 2,500.
I then used a list-building service featuring 10 authors per promotion, each paying $100 per month.
The results were consistent: 300–400 subscribers per month, with roughly 50% unsubscribing after the first email. That unsubscribe rate might sound high, but the retained readers were worth the cost. They opened emails, clicked links, and bought books.
The Novella Hook
At the back of every novel, I offered Wild Prince, my free novella, available only to new newsletter subscribers.
This single call-to-action converts readers steadily. By the time someone finishes book one, they want to read more. Offering a substantial novella rather than a short sample makes the sign-up feel generous rather than transactional.
Weekly Newsletter Strategy
I email my list weekly, twice weekly during launch periods.
Each newsletter contains:
- A three- to five-minute article on science or future-facing topics that interest me
- A light promotional mention of book one or a new release
- Any newsletter swaps or group promotions I’m participating in
The key with author newsletters is consistency. Readers want value, not constant sales pitches. And in an era of TL;DR, brevity matters. Every article is designed to be readable in a few minutes.
Newsletter Collaboration: Borrowing Trust at Scale
I also experimented with using my newsletter creatively, rather than treating it purely as a broadcast channel.
One of the most effective collaborations came from working with my cover artist, Tom Edwards. When I was researching cover artists early on, I reviewed my own Kindle library and picked out my 40 favorite science fiction covers. To my surprise, 22 of them had been painted by Tom.
That discovery made my choice easy, and months later, it gave me an idea for a unique promotion.
I contacted several authors whose science fiction covers Tom had designed. Four of us agreed to collaborate: Craig Martelle, M.R. Forbes, D. J. Holmes, and myself.
Each of us contributed two of Tom’s covers to a shared newsletter feature, alongside two covers Tom selected from his other authors. I also interviewed Tom in a short Q&A about cover design, genre signaling, and what makes a book cover sell. All four authors then sent similar versions of the newsletter to our mailing lists. Between us, the newsletter reached an estimated 40,000 readers.
The immediate sales increase for my books was modest at around 100 additional copies; the larger impact showed up in KU page reads and new subscribers. More importantly, it introduced everyone’s work to a large group of genre-aligned readers who were already primed to trust the recommendation.
I also arranged simpler newsletter swaps with authors who already had established lists in my genre. These weren’t cold audiences — they were readers who already trusted the recommending author. That trust transferred.
Step 3: Use Preorders to Feed the Algorithm
While building and engaging my list was crucial, I also needed to convert that audience into launch-day momentum. I’ve had mixed but instructive results with preorders — mostly based on how much time and promotion I gave them.
When I’ve given them time and promoted them properly, they’ve been extremely effective.
- Book one: No preorder
- Book two: Five-week preorder, 261 preorders
- Book three: Five-week preorder, 356 preorders
- Book four: Five-day preorder, 106 preorders
- Book five: No preorder
- Book six: Two-week preorder, 314 preorders
Those preorders translated directly into launch-day visibility.
My weakest launch was book five, which had no preorder due to personal circumstances. For book one, the preorder was cancelled due to a technical issue. Both books recovered eventually thanks to series momentum, but the difference was notable.
Preorders work best when you give them time, mention them repeatedly in your newsletter, and combine them with a strong backlist and active readers. Rapid release makes this harder, but still worthwhile.
Step 4: Amplify Visibility with BookBub
Shortly after the launch of my debut, Return to the Galaxy, I learned about BookBub’s New Releases for Less feature. At that stage, a full Featured Deal felt out of reach for a brand-new author, but this tool offered a realistic way to buy targeted visibility at launch.
I applied for Return to the Galaxy and was accepted.
The effect was immediate. Sales and KU page reads spiked within hours. I recovered the cost of the promotion in four days. The halo effect lasted roughly two weeks. Although sales eventually tapered off, page reads settled at a noticeably higher baseline.
That experience changed how I thought about BookBub. Rather than viewing it as a single “golden ticket,” I began treating BookBub as one highly effective component in a connected marketing system.
Stacking New Releases for Less
When book two launched, I repeated the New Releases for Less promo, but with a twist.
On the day book two was featured, I discounted book one to free. Readers discovering book two could immediately get two books in the series for a combined $0.99.
This worked extremely well. I fully intend to use New Releases for Less again for my next series, particularly for books one and two.
My Featured Deal Experience
Like many authors, I’d love to land a BookBub Featured Deal every month. In reality, BookBub is selective, and rightly so.
To my huge surprise, I did land a Featured Deal about four months after book one launched, running the deal at $0.99.
Over the days following the promotion, sales and rankings began to climb steadily. Within a week, Return to the Galaxy had reached #10 in all of Science Fiction, and #556 in the entire Amazon store. Daily Kindle Unlimited page reads jumped by roughly 10,000, and sales increased enough that I ultimately more than doubled my return on the original promotion.
I’ve applied for Featured Deals since and been rejected, as expected, but I’ll keep applying.
BookBub Ads: Early Lessons
Like many authors, I started with Amazon Ads, then experimented with Facebook. Amazon Ads worked well for me because readers are already in buying mode.
I’ve only been experimenting with BookBub Ads for a few weeks, but the early results have been encouraging.
One clear lesson emerged quickly: Targeting huge, household-name authors is expensive and inefficient. Clicks cost more, and conversion was weaker than expected. Where I did see strong performance was targeting midlist and second-tier authors in my genre. Costs were lower, and readers appeared more receptive.
I’m still experimenting, but BookBub Ads have earned a permanent place in my tool kit.
Final Takeaways
If there’s one lesson I’d pass on, it’s this: Success didn’t come from one big breakthrough. It came from stacking small, repeatable actions into a system.
Rapid release gave me momentum. Reader magnets built trust. My newsletter list stabilized launches. Preorders fed the algorithm. BookBub amplified visibility.
Each piece reinforced the others.
I’m still learning. I still make lots of mistakes. But the system works.
If you’re starting from zero, my advice is simple:
- Build your list early.
- Release consistently.
- Treat marketing as a craft, not an afterthought.
- Focus on repeatable processes, not miracles.
The biggest surprise for me was how generous other authors were with their time, swaps, and advice, and how much faster progress becomes when you treat publishing as a collaborative ecosystem rather than a solo race. This article is part of my attempt to give back in the same spirit.
As for what’s next, I’m continuing the Return to the Galaxy series and launching a second science fiction series later this year, this time with everything already in place.
If I could go from unpublished to a bestseller in seven months, I genuinely believe others can do the same.
Good luck!
The views and opinions expressed in this guest post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of BookBub.
