On Writing : Ask Me Anything (AMA) 8/19 to 8/20 - How to Market Your Book in Today’s Crowded Marketplace by Jonathan Jordan

Hi, @Jonathan. Hope you’re having a great summer! Thanks for having this AMA! I don't have any experience marketing books. Once a writer has built trust, what's the best platform to put an ad on to market a book?

Maurice Vaughan happy to answer this one early since it's a bit involved... Ads should add fuel to the fire, not start the fire. So if you run ads for a book, you want them to show up (a) in the same place your target readership hangs out and (b) where YOU hang out. Ex: You don't want to spend a bunch of $$$ on Facebook if your profile there has no presence or activity. That's a red flag for any buyer. They can tell you're half-assing it. One time, I ran ads on Amazon for my book, forgetting to update my Amazon Author profile. So even though I got some sales, I still lost money because most people who saw the ad didn't know who I was and my profile didn't help (I've updated it since then...). Most of my book sales now come from LinkedIn because I've built a decent following there and my book is written for nonfiction writers/keynote speakers who hang out there. On the flip side, it also depends on your book's topic. For instance, if I write a short nonfiction book called "What to Do If Your House Floods," it makes sense to run Google ads because that's the sort of query someone would type in for that topic.

Hi. I independently published my books in Greek after previously having them available online for years, and I’m now working toward English translations. Since I’m essentially introducing an existing book to a new international audience, where would you recommend starting from a marketing perspective? Would you focus on building an audience around the author, the story/series itself, or the transition into the English market first?

Hi Jonathan Jordan - thank you so much for taking the time to do this AMA. It is so incredibly timely for me as I am preparing to rollout a 5 book ebook series. I have started developing my promotional campaign but have TONS of questions. I'll limit it to 2 here if that is OK:

1. I am using a staggered rollout for the 5 books starting Memorial Day weekend 2027. Would you have suggestions for promotions using a $2000 rollout budget and a $ 200-a-month budget for 6 months (that spans the rollout of the 5 books).

2. What sort of pre-rollout promotional approach would be effective for ebooks?

For context, this is a fictional narrative that reframes the Charles Manson mythos and incorporates facts and actual individuals within the fictional reframing and each book will be 35-45K words written in short, pulpy, page-turning chapters that are typically between 2-5 pages. I am expecting to use the tagline 'Micro Novel Movies For The Mind' in my promotional campaign. Designed to entice true crime, conspiracy, and thriller readers AND also draw in non-readers and short attention span readers. My research indicates that MOST people want to read books but most don't have the time or attention spans to do so, so I have purposely crafted the prose to appeal to these people as well.

Jonathan, for an independent first-time author with a very limited marketing budget, what would you prioritize to build an audience and generate meaningful visibility without relying heavily on paid advertising? If you had to start with only a few low-cost strategies, what would they be?

If the goal is not just book sales, but also building an audience around the story and its characters, would you approach the marketing differently?

Thank you, Jonathan, for sharing your experience.

I have a question based on my own experience as an author. I published my autobiographical book ,

“The Pharaoh in the Land of Cappuccino”

and it is available in several languages, but I’ve learned that publishing a book is very different from building an audience around it.

If an author already has a published book but has very limited budget for marketing, what would you recommend as the first three practical steps to build genuine interest and discover the right audience?

Would you focus on the story itself, short-form content, communities, collaborations with other authors, or something completely different?

I’d especially appreciate your perspective on how to build visibility without simply spending money on advertising.

Thank you!

Emil Soliman

Tell me more about marketing your books using a pen name. I write Webnovels under a pen name because I have other published books and want to build a separate fan base for my Booktok fiction. What is the best way to market?

Jonathan, I appreciate you taking the time to host this AMA and share what you’ve learned from eight years in publishing. Your experience helping more than 70 authors navigate publishing, book marketing, positioning, audience trust, and the broader business of bringing a project to market, along with your perspective across the literary and entertainment spaces, makes this an especially valuable opportunity to gain practical insight as I think through the next stages of my own publishing and commercialization strategy (I tend to throw a lot of questions out at once during AMA's but bear with me).

I'm currently developing The Golden Age, a science-fiction/fantasy novella trilogy that serves as the opening story within a larger expandable universe called ASTRᵉION.

I'm preparing to self-publish the trilogy through Amazon KDP while developing the property beyond publishing. That includes early screen packaging, identifying potential talent attachments, protecting the underlying IP and adaptation rights, developing marketing and distribution strategy, and creating an AI-film proof of concept based on The Golden Age / Season 1.

One of my larger objectives is to determine whether publishing, the proof of concept, targeted screenings, festivals, platforms, audience testing, and other channels can collectively generate measurable audience validation around the property, even if book sales alone do not become the primary indicator of its commercial potential.

With that context:

Outside of copies sold, what metrics would you consider legitimate evidence that an emerging story/IP has an audience or meaningful commercial potential and which of those metrics would actually matter to: literary agents, publishers, producers, financiers, managers, production companies and eventually studios or distributors?

What platforms or pathways or designed to get credible audience validation and where should I test The Golden Age / Season 1 proof of concept AI film?

If you were advising me at this exact stage, what would you tell me to do in the next 12–24 months to determine whether the property has genuine commercial potential without making book sales the only measurement of success?

More specifically:

When should I pursue representation and talent, which rights should I protect, where should I spend marketing capital, where should I test the books and proof of concept, and which audience metrics would give me credible leverage to use when I eventually approach larger publishing and entertainment partners?

S. Mpiz First, find out where your ideal readers are hanging out. Who did you write these books for? Many authors start this process too late and wonder why no one cares about their book posts. Instead of trying to be everywhere, I recommend focusing on no more than 3 platforms or else you'll burn out!

Second, study what is working for other authors in your genre. Go support those authors and start engaging with their accounts. Don't spam about your books, but genuinely engage and connect with their audience since there will be overlap. Being a good literary citizen now will pay off later.

Finally, if your books include Greek theming/experience in any way, there's no reason you can't audience build and transition at the same time. Readers love to see their culture reflected in literature, so you may be able to happily blend the two. You may even consider doing posts about the process of translating your books into English as a behind-the-scenes series.

Darrell A Pennington 1. Before you spend a dime, you need to spend time figuring out where your ideal readers are hanging out and what other authors in your genre are doing to stand out. No need to re-invent the wheel. Otherwise, you'll be throwing your money down the drain instead of targeting it where people will be most receptive.

2. Engage and build trust before you dive into promotion. If you have an existing audience or newsletter, put together a launch team or ARC campaign: people who will read the book before the release and help you promote it via social posts and early reviews so you have the social proof. I believe I already mentioned Bookfunnel on your post about this, which is a really effective tool for building a newsletter list focused on ebook readers. The newsletter swaps they set up can be really great for building up a newsletter following.

While your tagline is clever, it's not very clear. Any tagline you use should be reader-focused and scream, "Hey, I wrote this for you!" Create an ideal reader profile and tailor your marketing to that one specific person. Go study the Amazon descriptions of bestselling books in your genre and take note of what they're doing right there to draw in readers. Too many authors waste their descriptions by describing what the book is about instead of communicating why the reader will benefit. When you can connect that to your hook - the Manson angle - then you've got something special.

[Short books are a great strategy btw, and 35-45K words is still a good length so that a reader doesn't feel cheated. There is enough story there to feel satisfied while wanting to grab the next one.]

That's a really helpful answer, @Jonathan! I didn't think about those things. I can use them when I pitch my scripts too. Thanks for the answer! Thanks for all of the answers!

Thank you so much Jonathan Jordan . I have a lot of work in front of me haha! I appreciate the guidance.

Eldomar Greinke no need to spend a ton of money upfront. In fact, you'd arguably waste that money. Better to build trust and visibility first. Find out which social channels your ideal readers hang out in and start engaging consistently. Give more than you take.

If there is a special interest group on your social platform of choice, engage there too. For example: a "Thrillers Fan Group" on Facebook. If social isn't your thing, start connecting with local writing and book groups in your area. That's the approach "Theo of Golden" took: grassroots word-of-mouth.

I recently wrote a blog for Stage 32 about some free resources to check out that help with marketing. You can find it here: https://www.stage32.com/blog/6-free-marketing-resources-every-author-nee...

Not everything on the list will be immediately applicable for you, but there are several tools on there you can probably get value out of.

Hey Eldomar Greinke, didn't see your second question at first but my advice about building trust stands. If your goal is community then there are a million ways to do that, just need to decide which platform makes the most sense for your genre/topic.

Emil Soliman definitely best to build community and trust first, especially since autobiography is such a tough genre to sell without visibility. Here's what I'd do in your shoes:

1. Scout out some communities to be a part of that relate to your story. For example, one of my clients wrote a book about being a caretaker to parents with dementia, so she joined several Facebook groups specifically for caretakers. She invests time in serving that community, giving advice, but not pitching her book directly. That way when the book comes up, it's organic to how she is already serving other people, not a sales pitch.

2. Make a list of podcasts related to parts of your story. Listen to multiple episodes. Make sure you write a review. Reach out and pitch a topic, not your book. Say something like, "Love the show. Do you think your audience would be interested in [topic]?"

3. Start posting consistently on the platform where your audience hangs out the most. Focus on engagement posts and educational posts. Follow the 10:1 ratio. For every 10 value posts, do one sales pitch, "Hey guys, I wrote a book. Here's what it can help you with."

Also, check out the blog I wrote recently for Stage 32 about free marketing tools:

https://www.stage32.com/blog/6-free-marketing-resources-every-author-nee...

Not all of them will apply to you, but some will.

Hey Kristin Johnson, first off, that's so cool. I love how digital publishing is opening up doors like this. The pen name authors who I see doing the best focus on engagement posting and visuals that they can create easily on Canva or even directly on TikTok since it sounds like you're already plugged in there. They're good at starting conversations and getting people to chime in, which builds trust and relatability, even though they're not using their real name or face. Carousels are a great option too, especially if you're using them to feature comp titles for your books or to discuss tropes in your books.

Also, check out Marketing By Shelby (https://www.marketingbyshelby.com/) because she posts a ton about faceless book marketing tips and has resources related to it.

I just got on TikTok recently, so you should follow mirandabookmarketer since many of her suggested post ideas work for faceless accounts too.

Areale Hanks , you might not like my answer but I believe in telling the truth, even when it might feel inconvenient. When it comes to generating IP interest for a film adaptation or attracting a film agent, sales numbers typically the only metric that really matter. Even many New York Times bestsellers don't get adapted because studios deem their book sales numbers too low to turn into a viable project.

The only exception is if you build an audience that can't be ignored, such as a large YouTube or Substack audience, since both of those have been proven to convert better than typical social media platforms. And by large audience, I mean you have well over a million YouTube subscribers.

But there is a bigger issue you need to take very seriously when it comes to AI-generated content, which is the fact that the material produced CANNOT be protected under US copyright law. Therefore, studios won't embrace something that they cannot own the rights to or protect under US copyright laws. Maybe the laws are different in other countries, but I suspect you'll run into similar barriers elsewhere.

But beyond that, my advice would be for you to focus on one thing at a time. Don't try to publish AND do screen packaging at the same time. Focus on one thing and get really, really good at it. Then you can move on to the next when it makes sense to do so.

Hi Jonathan, I'm Sooraj from Pakistan. I'm developing an 8-episode epic fantasy series called SPELLBINDER inspired by South Asian mythology.

With 4 million books published this year, how can a new fantasy writer with zero budget build an audience BEFORE the book/series comes out?

What are the first 3 things I should do in the next 30 days?

Thank you!

Draft2Digital is the way to go to get your book out there.

Hello Jonathan Jordan I hope this message finds you well, I’m writing to you tonight in hopes that you help me on the next steps for my book/movie. I’m about done with the script and book since I’m making it simultaneously. What is the next step to publish it or put it out there so I can make it come to life…? I want to do it all I want to direct, I want to produce, I want to screen write, create, act even. But of course I’m just one man, mainly I want to create and bring to life my vision. What’s the next step after finishing the book and script for the movie?

Thank you, Jonathan. This is a very valuable perspective, especially your point about building trust before asking people to buy.

It made me look at my own story differently. My autobiography isn't really just about the book itself — it touches on immigration, Egyptology, Italy, tourism, cultural identity, unusual experiences, and a journey that took me from Egypt to Europe.

I think the real opportunity is to start conversations around those experiences and let the audience discover the story naturally, rather than trying to sell the book first.

And I particularly like your 10:1 principle. Value first, promotion second. That's something I can genuinely see myself applying.

Thanks for sharing this. You've given me a much clearer way to think about the audience-building side of my story.

Jonathan,

I much rather have the truth so I can understand how to better execute or find the necessary means and resources to do so. Because I keep coming back to this question in a matter of ways because it’s not really making much sense in terms of a book needing an audience to validate its worth, then when pitching a script to executives and industry professionals, a script doesn’t necessarily have an audience, so I’m confused at what metrics a script would use to validate its worth and how the book and script metrics align if these assets aren't package within one project together. Any thoughts here?

Then there’s statistical market research that validates media consumption in US adults where 75% actively read books and another 75% who are movie goers in comparison to the 83% to over 90% of US adults that prefer video streaming.

I still don’t understand why building an audience around a particular project deems a project’s worthiness when studios tend to use high profile actors and their genre-based audiences to promote a particular project. I mean I can see and understand why these metrics matter, but I also pay attention to the journeys of projects after they’ve been produced as well. That’s becoming a thing since Stranger Things, Weapons, and Obsession the hype/buzz around these projects influenced post-production easter egg reviews, and press junkets. I think this has become far more interesting and takes the average movie review a step further.

Also, I’m aware that fully generated AI content and copyright protections remain a controversial topic in music and entertainment, and protecting IP assets is something that people must learn to do correctly to ensure the chain of title and IP rights are in order when doing larger scaled business endeavors.

I’ve been watching the entertainment attorney’s go back and forth about it all year and find it’s best to get things squared away early on. I believe in protecting all IP assets through the appropriate channels not just with copyright protections; which is critical when considering IP assets and the chain of title and rights come into play. I have an understanding there’s all the gray area in between like NIL protections when dealing with AI and doing it right for the sake of risk mitigation and avoiding lawsuits. There’s so much, there’s just so much going on, where nothing is linear, but I try to create project continuity and hand off notes to centralize everything that could effect my slate and bring it back under the initial project when deviation is mandatory. Lol.

But I appreciate you taking time out to do an AMA with us.

Mark Films is Draft2Digital an international or National platform?

Thank you so much for your thoughtful response! My books don’t really have Greek themes, but my first book received over 40,000 views on a public writing platform before I self-published it, and now I’d really love to reach a much wider audience. I’m mainly interested in getting my books in front of more readers and connecting with as many readers as possible. I really appreciate your advice!

What are the possibilities to find traditional publishers in US market? Is it the right thinking that if the first novel will be published then you are set for getting published always so you can agree on as bad deal as it could be?

Sooraj Khan, a few things to consider over the next 30 days...

1. Start engaging with the literary community with no agenda. BookTok, Bookstagram, Threads, Substack...whichever platforms are the best fit for you where you can engage and post consistently. Personally, I find Threads pretty toxic but lots of writers like it. Pick no more than 3 platforms to engage on and connect with other authors, support their posts, find influencers to support. Many authors don't start posting until they have a book to sell...and so the algorithm punishes their posts because they're only selling, not building community. Post about your favorite books, favorite characters, favorite tropes... Spark conversations instead of constantly pitching yourself.

2. Make sure your first book in the series can stand on its own two feet and has a satisfying ending. Readers feel betrayed when a first book ends on a cliffhanger. This is even more important if you're going to try to be traditionally published. Use the language: "This is a standalone novel with series appeal." That tells the agent, "Hey, this book has a solid ending but also, I've got more ideas in the bank!" (BTW...lots of agents are looking for BIPOC authors these days, including South Asian stories since those have not been represented well in the wider market.)

3. Keep educating yourself! Listen to the podcast "The Sh*t No One Tells You About Writing" for tons of advice on querying, structure, prose, dialogue...and so much more. Go to your local library and check out books like "On Writing" by Stephen King, or "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott, or "Save the Cat Writes a Novel." Look at how you can improve your craft because no matter how good your premise is, if the execution is lacking, readers won't finish the book...and they won't tell their friends to buy it either.

Mark Films Draft 2 Digital is definitely a good option for anyone who wants to focus just on ebooks. But for anyone who wants to do multi-medium distribution, you can't ignore KDP (Amazon), Ingram, or ACX (audio). But there is a whole group of ebook-only authors who have learned to make a killing through Draft 2 Digital by building a loyal following in their genre.

Angel Viveros my biggest advice to you would be to focus on one medium at a time. Does you story work better as a spec script or as a book? What you don't want to do is release it as a book first, then it gets poor reception, hurting your chances of doing an adaptation on film. Both paths are difficult enough, and you unnecessarily complicate your chances of success by trying to do both at once. Pick one, give it 1000%, and then you can pivot later if needed.

Just be aware that it's incredibly rare for a studio to pick up a self-published title that has no serious sales metrics. Yes, you'll find "exceptions" like "The Martian" and "Fifty Shades of Gray," but even those titles didn't get their big screen deals until AFTER they had been republished by a traditional publisher and proven themselves in the wider book market.

Areale Hanks keep in mind that books are not the same as movies. Yes, a spec script can sell without you having a following. But there still has to be an existing audience. Studios buy a horror spec script because a market for horror fans exists and they don't really care who wrote it so long as it gives them a thrill. But book readers aren't just buying a book...they're also buying YOU as an author.

Plus, only about 600 movies get made in the North American market each year, around 6,000-10,000 globally. That's WAY less than 4,000,000 books a year. So when you're talking about self-publishing, you're in a much more crowded space, fighting for attention...while research shows fewer people are reading books. Building that audience is essential.

On the other hand, a traditionally published debut author will get some marketing support from their publisher, but they have to show the willingness to follow that advice and build their audience before the book releases. A good friend of mine landed a traditional book deal a couple years ago and she had less than 1,000 followers online at the time. But she poured a ton of effort into building her following in the 6-9 months before release, sharing her process, sharing updates and little previews, engaging with book influencers, and she became a USA Today bestseller during her first week. She quickly landed her second book deal after that and her audience keeps growing.

Miroslavas Siniavskis that's a great question! Landing a traditional deal is tough, no joke, but it can really be worth the effort if your manuscript matches what agents are currently looking for. There's also a great opportunity in the traditional market for non-Western and BIPOC representation. Go listen to the podcast "The Sh*t No One Tells You About Writing" and read their Substack. Tons of advice on how to query and position your manuscript for success. Sign up for a free QueryTracker account so you can start building a list of agents who you want to query.

You can't assume that you'll get a second book deal after the first, though. It all depends on sales metrics. If the publisher who offered you the deal makes back their money (and more), then they are more likely to support a second book. See the story I shared in the comment above about my friend who landed a book deal. She sold over 40,000 copies in the first 6 or so months, so her publisher picked up her second book. Now she's working on her third with them.

hello Jonathan.

Thanks for the help to others which is, of course, helping me as well! Just wondering about the idea of trying to combine —for free?!?—the words of my 10 year old, self-published memoir, “ImPerfukt…and never happier!” on two sites at once. As written words…and also my audio.

Years back, I created my own audio files—recorded in a pro setting, but never compiled them. I’m considering revisiting the book’s pdf, and uploading to Substack?, but also complementing the written words with my audio version.

Any thoughts on such a marriage?

Jonathan Jordan, very impressive and informative. I have been told dozens of times that I should write my autobiography. Lots of people would consider it a work of fiction if they read it.

Hi Jonathan, I am a French independent author with several books, including a horror anthology. I have a very limited marketing budget. What would be the three most effective free steps to reach genuine readers and increase sales on Amazon KDP? Thank you!

Hi Heidi Patullo, many authors "relaunch" their books with a new version + audio at the same time. If you still have the audio files, you could probably use ACX to compile the full audiobook. Just realize that you may have to adjust the audio file settings first because ACX can be a bit temperamental with the audio levels.

As for Substack, one cool feature is that they have a built-in audio option for written content. It's AI obviously, but at least it gives an option for people to listen without you having to record yourself. You can also attach your podcast, which could be an option to marry the audio you have to the text. One word of warning, though, is that Substack is still "rented" space. You don't own the platform vs. having your own separate email list, so I typically suggest Substack users to regularly export their subscriber list so that if something ever happened to their Substack account, they don't lose their audience.

Personally, I like Substack, but I'll admit it's become more difficult to grow a following on there in the past year because it's SO full of writers...and not so full of readers. Still, it could be a creative solution for what you're describing.

Wyman Brent one word of warning I give all my book coaching clients is that autobiography is tough to market unless you're uber-famous. A better approach is memoir, which zooms in on a specific period of time and uses it as a teaching tool for the reader. Much, much easier to market when it's centered around a topic vs. centered around you alone. Great examples: "Creativity, Inc." by Ed Catmull, or "Marathon Woman" by Kathrine Switzer. That way you can connect with potential readers around your shared topic of interest. People need to be able to see themselves in your story.

Jonathan Jordan That's good information and a nice personal journey to go alongside the book/project as well. I admire and can respect a good journey story. It seems that a lot of the best authors, writers, screenwriters, producers have a journey story to make them more memorable and I think the story behind the person is a contributing factor as well. For example, Stephen King's The Long Walk that was recently adapted. Well as I engaged in some of the post-production buzz I had to know why he used the pen name Richard Bachman when most of us already knew it was him. Shortly after, it was indirectly expressed that he was under the influence of cocaine which lead to the pen name used. Given the time and era, that made it all make sense. So that was a good point you made there.

I recall Tony Armer providing similar details about films produced annually. And with that reflection when I come to these AMA's I take notes and combine them with project development notes, industry professional notes, and speaker notes and apply them to my projects. I've found this helps scale development cohesively in application so I'm not doing the developmental building completely alone. Advisory has not lead me astray thus far which keeps me motivated and inspired.

Right now I have a nice collection of human resourced development notes from Tony Armer (Execution / Independent producer path), Stevenson Greene (Studio-level development coverage / content executive diagnosis), Richard Botto (Pitch architecture / Stage 32 executive-facing clarity)who has good short speaker sessions on LinkedIn and socials, , other out of network professionals and now you.

So, I'm glad I was able to catch this AMA early because my work schedule keeps me very "conservative" with my time and the activities I can commit too. I often tend to miss anticipated events but it's okay. Excuse the scatter-brain and rambling guys, I think I've been under projects and working too much. lol Good stuff here. I just find it unfortunate that it took me 3 years before I became active on the platform and the film/entertainment industry became relevant to my career path. I really love it here.

Jennyfer Leroy a horror anthology sounds so fun!

First, focus on finding out where your target readers hang out and engage, engage, engage.

Second, find out who the influencers are in the horror space: BookTok, Bookstagram, podcasts that focus on horror. Connect, engage, support other authors first. Make it part of your daily routine to engage, listen to those podcasts, and become a name they recognize in shared groups. It's a long game! If you did step one right, it's easier to get those people to take a look at your work or pitch a topic for you to present on their podcast.

Third, create some kind of freebie you can share. Maybe you take one story from the anthology and digitally publish it. You might even consider doing that as a PDF file people can download in exchange for their email if you want to build a newsletter. If you don't care too much about that, then you can always publish on Substack or Medium. Share it, ask for feedback, and use the call-to-action "If you liked this, you'll love my full anthology." Or you can use a platform like Draft 2 Digital to offer that first free story to people and use it as a sales funnel to the full anthology with a link or QR code to Amazon.

My advice with ads is that they should add fuel to the fire, not be the fire starter. Most new authors get that part wrong and spend $$$ without seeing the return. (I've done it too!) Better to build an audience first and focus on getting reviews from real readers so that then the ads are working in tandem with the algorithm.

Jonathan Jordan, which part to write about is​ the ques​tion. Do I write about the extreme mental, physical and s​exual abuse as​ a child? Do I write about living in Rus​s​ia the day the Soviet Union ended? Or, maybe about being a gentile who founded the first Jewish public library in Lithuania since 1943? My library will be 15 this year. I received dozens of death threats. Do I write about being a guy from big city California who ended up living on a small farm in northern Germany? Or, maybe about discovering 16 months ago that I have a talent for creativity. In the past 16 months, I have written at least 1,100 songs. Plus, fully developed a family-friendly animated series based upon one of my songs. I am currently in advanced talks with an animation studio.

Thank you for doing this AMA, Jonathan Jordan. I passed on five indie publishers because they wanted film/TV rights to my manuscript. Are all publishers now requiring film/TV rights in their contracts with writers?

Yep, that's a tough one to answer, Wyman Brent! What a life you've lived. As a former social worker, my heart goes out to you for the childhood you endured.

There are certainly ways you pay homage to all those parts even if you focus on a specific time period for 90% of the book. Flashbacks and flash-forwards are handy to make that happen. Sounds like the running theme is survival as an outsider. That could be your thread that becomes beneficial to readers. Best of luck with the animation studio!

HEY Jonathan Jordan I wrote a few stories after studying how to write them and I put a few up on amazon, I also draw and make comics, it you want I can sent you a link to my amazon page. The one issue I have is for people to read and leave a review of my works, I even offered a free book if they do but still nothing! I don't know what I'm doing wrong and I don't want to spend a butt ton of money for an easy fix. I had to redo a cover and title for one of my books.

Hey Francisco Castro , mmmmmm, sometimes but not usually. It's more common for film/tv rights to stay with the author/agent, so you were right to question them. Always something you should run by a literary agent before signing. If you don't have one, then that might be why they were throwing that in.

Hey Gregory Barone, you're not necessarily do anything wrong, it's just very very difficult to get reviews. Most authors don't think about reviews until after release. the best approach is to have a book launch team assembled before release and do an ARC campaign. You can always do a re-release, though, especially now that you have a new cover and title. There are some legit review services like Booksprout and BookSirens you might check out, but there is $ involved in terms of signing up for their services. (You're not actually paying for the reviews themselves so that they remain honest.) Your best (& cheapest) move is to engage in writing communities and do review swaps with others who are in the same predicament, so long as you can keep them honest. Amazon's algorithm (and customers) don't believe it when a book has all 5-star reviews.

Thank you, Jonathan Jordan!

Incredible insight, Jonathan — especially on starting marketing while still writing, not after. As a strategic consultant and EP for independent films, I see this play out constantly: the projects that find an audience are almost always the ones where that audience existed before a single frame was shot. Building trust first, like you said, rather than jumping straight to ads. Excited to follow this AMA!

Sara Hamilton exactly. It feels so obvious when said aloud, but time after time, it's the obstacle I see keeping so many authors from success. They simply start too late, and I get it...I did it too early on in my authoring journey!

Jonathan Jordan, thank you so much for the depth and generosity you're bringing to every single response in this AMA! The specificity in your answers is genuinely rare in book marketing conversations. Members are walking away with real, actionable strategy rather than generic advice, and that's such a gift!

Many of our members are writers whose books started as scripts, or whose scripts are adapted from books they've written. For those creators specifically, how would you approach audience-building differently than for someone whose project lives only in one medium? Should they be building audiences around the story world itself (characters, themes, universe) so both formats benefit, or is it smarter to build separate audiences around each medium and let them cross-pollinate naturally? And if you were advising someone with a screen adaptation potentially on the horizon, would you shift your marketing strategy in the pre-release stage to prepare for that possibility, or focus fully on the book first and let the screen work develop as its own conversation later?

I ask because Stage 32 sits right at the intersection of publishing and screen, and this question keeps coming up in our community as more of our writers move between the two.

Thanks again for such a wonderful AMA!

Jonathan Jordan Absolutely. As a screenwriter, I’ve seen how important it is to build audience interest early. The same principle applies to books great storytelling and smart positioning should work together from the beginning.

Ashley Renée Smith great question. If someone has shifted from a screenplay to a book, then my main advice stands: Find out where your readers are, study genre expectations, engage with the existing readership/influencers. Delay "selling" as long as possible. No one really needs to know it started out as a screenplay until you want to share that story on a podcast interview.

If someone is shifting from book to screenplay, it really depends on whether they released the book or not. A book that didn't sell well isn't likely to succeed as a screenplay. My take is that it's probably not worth the effort unless they want to change the title and names of the characters to make it "new."

But if the book was never seen out in the wild, then no sweat. They should give the screenplay everything they got and treat it like any other spec script. The fact that it started as a book shouldn't really matter that much. The unpublished manuscript was the "outline" that helped them get to the script.

Jeniffer Cole yep, because in the wise words of K-Pop Demon Hunters, everything is "for the fans!"

Jonathan Jordan Haha, exactly! At the end of the day, the fans are what make all the storytelling worth it.

Thanks for doing this Jonathan Jordan :)

Hi Jonathan Jordan, how can I write a high-concept logline that immediately convinces a producer to request the full script?

Hi Jonathan! I’m a young screenwriter from outside the U.S. What is the best way to build an audience and get industry professionals interested in an original film project before having a large following?

Jasurbek Mukhtorov to address your first question, loglines are really more for screenplays than for books. If you're looking for a book deal, then you typically need an agent first, which means you need to query your book. There's a ton of fantastic querying advice in the podcast "The Sh*t No One Tells You About Writing" and the book "Get Signed" by Lucinda Halpern.

But also, the creative arts is such a subjective business. There's no guaranteed formula to get someone to request a full. So much depends on what they are looking for and their own interests and business. I've had pitches that a producer loved but it just wasn't the right fit for their slate. That's just part of the biz.

But in my experience, you should use the following elements in your loglines: Protagonist, inciting incident, challenge they have to face, and the stakes. Example for the movie "Rocky": "When a softhearted, down-on-his-luck boxer is unexpectedly offered the chance to fight the world's heavyweight champion, he takes a shot at finding himself and finding love."

As for the best way to build an audience and get industry professionals interested, you've got all kinds of tools and resources available here on Stage 32 to help. But my best advice is to get out there and start posting content, engaging, and networking. You can't build an audience or interest if you're invisible.

For everyone who had a question about ads, I just learned something wild, specifically about Meta ads (Facebook + Instagram). Once you start paying for ads, they want you to keep paying more and more. Once you stop, you'll see your content engagement go down because you'll start getting shadow-banned. All the more reason to make sure that your content plan is ON POINT, that you're providing high value in posts and engagement. Also, start small. Don't dump a bunch of money in at launch and then hard stop because it will affect your content views/engagement. Build organically first, make sure your content is good by studying what works, and let the ads be the fuel on the fire.

Hello @jonathan

Thank you very much for doing this AMA and for taking the time to answer all of our questions.

Do you think it's worthwhile for screenwriters to develop the same story as both a screenplay and a novel?

I've heard that publishing a novel on platforms like Amazon can help demonstrate that a concept has an audience, which might make it more attractive when pitching to producers.

Beyond that, what other benefits do you see in developing a screenplay as a novel as well? Would you recommend this approach for emerging screenwriters?

Thanks Jonathan Jordan I'll look into that some more. have you heard of bookreverb?

Gregory Barone heard of it, yes. But transparently I haven't tried it, so I don't have much of an opinion.

Meriem Bouziani If you're hoping that having a book on Amazon will be a shortcut to a movie deal, I'm afraid I'll have to burst your bubble. It's not. Yes, if you demonstrate there is an audience via massive sales (I'm talking millions of copies sold like "The Martian"), then yes, a studio will pay attention. But that means you have to really invest in the book as a BOOK and market the heck out of it by knowing and finding your readers. You're probably better leaving it as a spec script unless you really believe the story will work better in book form.

My advice is to focus on one thing at a time. Let the book be a book. Let the script be a script. Again, unless you realize that a book is the wrong medium for your story, or vice-versa. But developing both simultaneously is a recipe for burnout and frustration.

The benefits of exploring both novels and screenwriting is that they make you sharper as a writer. Screenwriting is a great skill for novelists to master dialogue and pacing. Novel writing is a great way for screenwriters to develop voice, attention for detail, and character develop beyond what you see on the screen. I love both forms and they have both helped me improve my craft.

Thank you very much for your honest response Jonathan Jordan. I didn't know all of that before.

Right now, I'm focusing mainly on screenwriting and writing my second script. I actually find screenwriting a little easier than writing in a novel format.

Meriem Bouziani as hard as it is to break into Hollywood, books are especially challenging because of how much competition there is. You have to REALLY love it! Sounds like screenwriting is your true passion.