How your book gets in front of readers.
Listing a book is free and simple. Everything after that is a set of separate, optional decisions: whether to add a promotion, and whether to add production and management. You take them in the order that suits your book.
Five steps, and only the first one is required.
You submit your book, free
A link to your book, a cover, a description and a genre. No package, no contract, no payment details. The form posts to our own API and tells you only that it arrived — no email address, no moderation state, nothing else.
We moderate it before anyone sees it
We check the book is real, that the metadata reads correctly and that the cover is legible at catalogue size. If something needs fixing — a cover, a description, a genre — we tell you rather than quietly publishing it. This usually takes a few days; we do not publish a hard service level for it, because we would rather give you a real number than a fast one we cannot keep.
It goes live on the catalogue
Your listing becomes public and browsable by genre and by era, and turns up on the daily front page. Anyone can browse it. Nothing is behind a sign-up, and the listing stays there for the life of the catalogue.
You decide whether to add a promotion
Some books are found through the catalogue and some are not. If you want more reach than the catalogue gives you, you can request a free giveaway, a $0.99 promotion or an honest review campaign. It is a separate decision, it is yours to make, and a free listing never obliges you to make it.
You can add production and management, if you want it
Video, trailers, listing optimisation, advertising and managed social media are available as services. They are optional, and they are never required to keep your free listing or to run a campaign.
A free listing is not a guarantee of impressions, clicks, reads, downloads, reviews or sales. It makes your book findable, and findable is not the same as read.
What a campaign adds, stage by stage.
When you do decide to promote, this is the system the work runs in. Each stage feeds the next, and every package covers a defined amount of it.
Discover
Video finds the readers.
What we do
Short-form content — TikTok, Shorts, Reels — puts your book in front of genre-relevant audiences, at every plan level. Enhanced and up add a cinematic trailer; Starter layers managed Amazon DSP spend on top.
What changes for the reader
Someone who has never heard of your book sees it for the first time, matched to their genre rather than shown at random.
Trust
Reviews make the click worthwhile.
What we do
Listing copy and A+ content (Foundation, Momentum, and Growth) make the storefront credible and clear. ARC campaigns (Momentum and Growth) recruit genre-matched readers for a complimentary copy, inviting an honest, independent review — never conditional on a positive rating.
What changes for the reader
A curious reader meets a clear listing and, where included, independent social proof instead of a blank or confusing sales page.
Convert
The listing earns the sale.
What we do
Preorder setup (Foundation and Momentum) establishes the launch infrastructure. Momentum and Growth add a structured preorder countdown and segmented retargeting to bring interested readers back to finish the purchase.
What changes for the reader
An interested reader has a clear reason and opportunity to act — before launch through a countdown, or after engagement through a relevant return visit.
Retain
Reader lists make the relationship repeatable.
What we do
ShelfMates and StoryPals enroll readers into a list you own (Foundation, Momentum, and Growth), not one you rent from a platform. Momentum and Growth add full social account management and scheduled newsletter features.
What changes for the reader
A one-time buyer becomes part of an audience you can reach directly — not someone you have to rediscover from zero next time.
Repeat
The next book starts with readers you already earned.
What we do
The same system runs again for the next release — video, trust, conversion, and retention — except this time it starts from an existing list instead of zero.
What changes for the reader
Discovering your next book stops being a coincidence and becomes something they were already set up to hear about.
What we control. What we influence. What no one can honestly guarantee.
This distinction is meant to build credibility, not weaken the offer — anyone who promises otherwise is promising something they can't control.
What we control
- Agreed production
- Agreed campaigns
- Agreed reviews / recruitment work
- Listing optimisation
- Reporting
- Communication
- Testing and iteration
- Campaign management
- Delivery of included services
What we influence
- Reach
- Engagement
- Clicks
- Audience growth
- Conversion
- Sales
- Reviews
- Reader acquisition
- Repeat readership
What we cannot honestly guarantee
- An algorithmic viral event
- A specific number of sales regardless of market conditions
- A bestseller position
- A particular category ranking
- A particular advertising platform's behaviour
- Reader behaviour
This is also exactly what the Atomic Shelf Commitment below covers — and doesn't.
The first 90 days, if you hire us.
This is the shape a paid campaign normally takes. It is a planning shape, not a promise of a result: the figures on the results page are planning ranges, and what any given book achieves depends on its genre, backlist, price point and starting audience.
Build the foundation
- Establish positioning
- Prepare content
- Improve assets
- Begin discovery
- Establish baseline metrics
Build momentum
- Increase consistency
- Identify what resonates
- Strengthen social proof
- Improve conversion points
- Expand reader acquisition
Measure what works
- Compare against baseline
- Identify strongest channels
- Improve weak points
- Strengthen repeatable acquisition
- Determine next priorities
The first month establishes the foundation. The following months give the work enough time to learn, compound, and improve. If you are not buying a campaign, the first step still applies on its own: a free, correct listing.
We commit to doing the work, learning from the results, and improving it as we go.
We don't promise that every book will explode overnight. Publishing doesn't work that way — and neither does building a readership.
What we do promise is that we'll do the work we've committed to, measure what happens, and stay accountable for the outcome.
If we fall short of the work, delivery, or agreed commitments on our side, we'll make it right — at our cost.
If the results show that something needs to change, we explain what we are seeing, adjust the plan, and stay involved until the work is back on track.
What to expect from the work.
When should I expect results?
Results build over the 90-day cycle: the first 30 days establish the foundation and baseline metrics, days 31–60 build momentum and strengthen social proof, and days 61–90 measure against baseline and identify what's working. Meaningful, sustained movement is more realistic by month 3 than month 1.
What happens during the first month?
We establish positioning, prepare content and creative assets, begin discovery-stage posting, and set the baseline metrics everything else gets measured against.
Do you guarantee sales?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: Although it is possible to estimate expected downloads or sales for lower-priced books, those outcomes cannot be guaranteed because they depend on reader behaviour, market conditions, and platform performance. We control the work we commit to — production, campaigns, reviews recruitment, listing optimisation, reporting. We influence reach, clicks, and conversion. We don't guarantee a specific number of sales, a bestseller position, a ranking, or an algorithmic viral event — no one honestly can.
What metrics do you report?
Depends on your plan's stage: content-only plans report impressions, video views, click-throughs, and sales lift; campaign plans (Momentum/Growth) also report preorders secured, free promo downloads, and KU page-reads boost.
More questions? See the full FAQ.
See what this looks like for your book.
Start Here routes you to the right plan based on where your book is right now. If you only want one promotion, ask for one and we will scope it with you.