Newpub Tips: How Not to Get Noticed in 2025
The crowdfunder for the 10th anniversary special edition of my first novel Nethereal is heading toward its final week. Seize your last chance to get limited, exclusive editions that will not be on Amazon. That’s right; This campaign is the only place to get the deluxe version of Nethereal signed and numbered and the new Kairosis novella. Don’t wait until the books you want are gone. Pledge now on Kickstarter!
If you’ve spent any time in the self-publishing world over the past decade, you’ve heard the mantras. They haven’t changed, and they’re, always repeated by well-meaning midwits selling $90 video courses on Gumroad.
And for a while, some of their advice kind of worked.
But that was 2015. It’s 2025 now. If you’re still running your publishing business like it’s the golden age of Kindle Unlimited, you’re already losing.
It’s time to kill some sacred cows.
First up: the Great Lie of "Just Write More Books"
By now, you’ve heard a dozen online gurus say a hundred times “The best marketing is writing the next book.”
No, the best marketing is marketing.
This phrase gets trotted out by authors who either struck gold early with minimal competition or suffer from KDP Stockholm syndrome. Don’t beat yourself up if you swallowed this non-advice. It sounds wise; like the kind of nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic that appeals to bootstrappers.
But then you realize that “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is a metaphor used to describe an impossible feat.
To dispense with the obvious objection, yes. You should write more books. But writing more without a plan or a platform is just feeding your work into a black hole. All you’re doing is proving that you can spin your wheels faster than the guy next to you while both of you are stuck in the same mud pit.
Or if you prefer, attempting a rapid release strategy without first building a core audience is like speeding into a brick wall. It’ll impress no one, and it’ll hurt a lot.
Related: Why Newpub Is the Only Way Forward
Next up: the sacred newsletter.
You know the old saw: “The money is in the list!”
No. The leverage is in the list. And only if a) that list actually wants to hear from you, and b) is primed to buy from you.
The problem isn’t that email marketing is useless. It’s that most newpub authors build their lists the wrong way. They give away a reader magnet—usually a novella they scrawled out in two weeks—to get signups from freebie hunters. Then they wonder why their open rates plummet and their sellthrough chart is a horizontal line.
An email list full of freeloaders is an anchor chained to your neck. It drags your launch numbers down and gives you a false sense of security while your career quietly goes under.
Want a better list? Ask for signups from paying customers. Or get them through audience engagement via social media, live streams, and podcasts. A list built on personal affinity, not bait, is the only kind worth having.
Speaking of social media, widespread misunderstanding of what it’s for has spawned this winner:
“Build your platform on Facebook/X/BookTok!”
No, build your platform; not a content mill for Big Tech algorithms to eat up and regurgitate without credit.
The idea that newpub authors need to dance on TikTok or grind out daily Twitter memes to build engagement is cargo cult behavior. It’s people copying surface-level behavior from successful influencers without understanding what’s happening under the hood.
Here’s a secret no Twitter influencer will tell you: Most successful people don’t know why they succeeded. Oh, they think they do. But in the final analysis, most of their advice is based on survivorship bias, not hard data.
The ones who make social media work for them are personalities first; authors second. That’s fine if you want to be a full-time entertainer. But if you’re a novelist with limited time and a finite budget, it’s death by a thousand cuts.
Also, have you seen what happens to authors who go viral for the wrong reasons? Yes, eDrama can boost your numbers. But the price is attracting a cavalcade of misfits, rageheads, and dopamine junkies—who will be no more likely to pay you than freebie hunters are. It sounds facile, but you find customers by looking for customers; not folks trolling for a free ride or the outrage of the day.
The main takeaway is that these platforms can be enormous time sinks. Even more insidious, they’re the easiest places to waste time while under the self-delusion of doing productive work. Use them tactically, not religiously. When you log on, know why you’re there, have a plan for engagement, and get out when you’re done.
Related: The eDrama Egg Timer
Let’s not forget this little gem: “You only get one chance to launch!”
That advice belongs in the mass tech grave next to the Nook and old copies of E.T..
In 2025, books don’t have launch windows. They have lifespans. The most successful newpub authors today know how to relaunch, repackage, and re-market a book multiple times over the years. If your launch flops, good. You got to road test what didn’t work. Go learn more ways not to release a book until you learn to succeed by process of elimination.
Because Amazon doesn’t care how old your book is. It cares if people are buying it now. In a happy accident, the same goes for readers. The idea that you need to break the bank and burn yourself out prepping a single launch week is a deadpub relic, passed down by people who still dream about shelf space at Barnes & Noble. You’re not in that system. Stop imitating it.
The foregoing is how not to get noticed in 2025.
So, what are some ways to get eyeballs on your writing?
Enough fire and brimstone. Let’s talk about what actually does work—and yes, some of this advice is hard. That’s the point. The easy path is a crowded dead end. The hard path is open and leads to opportunity—but only for those willing to take it.
One caveat before we proceed: If you just write for self-expression, and you don’t care about getting compensated for your hard work by selling the fruits of your creative labor, stop reading here. I mean it; no hard feelings. I wish you the best, but the fact is amateurs—who I love dearly—are not gonna get much out of what follows.
If, on the other hand, you want to be as good at the business as you are at the art, read on and learn what works.
1. Direct-to-Reader Sales
The smartest indies are ditching Amazon exclusivity and building their own storefronts. It doesn’t matter if you go with Squarespace, Shopify, or Woo Commerce. What matters is control.
When you own the platform, you own the data. You control the pricing, bundling, and delivery. You can upsell, cross-sell, and even offer subscriptions. You also insulate yourself from algorithm changes and sudden bans. If Amazon evaporated tomorrow, we authors with our own stores would keep making money. Would you?
2. Crowdfunding
Kickstarter and its clones have grown up. A few bad apples tarnished the model’s rep for a while back in the late 2010s, but now the stigma is gone. Readers no longer see crowdfunding as -begging; they see it as a doorway to early access and premium value.
The model is simple:
Build hype
Offer extras
Deliver excellence
Rinse and repeat.
The key here isn’t to “launch a Kickstarter.” The key is to build an audience that wants to support you at premium levels. That process starts long before you hit the launch button. And the best part abouut crowdfunding is that it kills multiple marketing birds with one stone. Every campaign gives you a wealth of product testing and market data that Amazon wouldn’t give you over its dead body. Just for showing up, you build prelaunch buzz, meet your paying audience and forge connections with them. Hitting your funding goal is just gravy after that.
That’s not to say crowdfunding is all upside with no risk. Just recently a bunch of publishers who were playing fast and loose on Kickstarter went belly up when a spike in costs meant they couldnt cover production. Word to the wise: Before you kickstart your book, learn the rules, know your fixed costs, and plan accordingly.
Nonetheless, if you’re not already thinking in terms of campaigns instead of “releases,” you’re already years behind the curve.
3. Collaborative Promotion
This is the secret sauce that almost no one teaches because there’s no course for it.
Ready?
Work with other authors.
That’s it. That’s the whole strategy.
In 2025, it’s not lone wolves grinding out Facebook ads who get ahead of the pack. Instead it’s networks of likeminded writers who cross-promote, share audiences, stream together, and generally raise each others’ visibility.
You don’t need a publisher. You need allies: specifically, authors working in complementary genres with overlapping readerships; pros willing to make deals and back each other up.
Nothing else scales as fast—or as honestly.
4. Material That Feeds Back to Your Books
Instead of wasting time on Twitter beefs, post stuff that leads back to your writing. That could mean:
YouTube channels with lore breakdowns or genre commentary
Podcasts where you discuss the topics your readers care about
Short stories or serialized fiction you publish on your own site or Substack
Deep-dive blog posts that speak to your ideal reader, not just other authors.
The key is to build interest in the author, not just make noise for the algorithm.
You are not a carnival barker. You are a storyteller. So tell stories in every medium you reach.
5. Vertical Integration
The smartest move you can make in 2025?
Control the reader’s whole process.
That means:
Direct sales and fulfillment; via Bookfunnel, etc.
Physical editions you control (print-on-demand or offset, depending on your working capital)
Ongoing reader access through Patreon, Substack, Discord, etc.
And, when you’re ready …
4. Branded merchandise.
In other words, stop thinking like a hobbyist. Start thinking like a publisher. Because you are one.
Related: Amazon vs. WarGate: 3 Times Is Enemy Action
Yes, the advice most authors have been fed since 2013 is outdated and downright counterproductive. It was meant for a moment in time that no longer exists—and even then, it only worked for a fraction of writers.
Today, the landscape has shifted under everyone’s feet, and the only ones who don’t fall are the ones who build a lasting model on a solid foundation.
Here’s the good news: You don’t need luck. Or a miracle. You don’t need a viral clip.
You need:
A product people want
A platform you control
A plan you can execute.
And you need people—other authors, and readers—who believe in what you’re doing.
Contrary to what the course shills will tell you, there are no hacks; no magic formulas. Just courage, commitment, and consistency.
So slaughter your sacred cows. Ignore the advice that doesn’t serve you.
And you will find readers who will love your books enough to pay you for them.
I’m not talking out of my hat, here. What I advise you to do, I do myself. Want proof? The crowdfunder for the 10th anniversary special edition of my first novel Nethereal is heading toward its final week on Kickstarter. To be crystal clear, the signed and numbered Nethereal deluxe edition and the all-new Kairosis bridge novella will not be released on Amazon. This campaign is the only place you will ever find them. When it ends, these limited exclusives will be gone forever. If you can live with the unresolved mystery of Jaren’s fate, more power to you. But if you want to know how he ended up post-Nethereal, go and back the Kickstarter right now.
I’m serious. It’s later than you think. I’ve done nine of these crowdfunders now, and there’s always a big run on the best items in the last week. All waiting does from ths point on is drastically increase the chances that the stuff you want will be sold out when you finally get around to it. And the cool part about Kickstarter is that when you claim a reward, you are pledging; not buying. Pledges aren’t collected until the campaign ends, so you can pledge right now and pay nothing. Not for 8 days, minimum. It won’t hurt my feelings if you leave in the middle this sentence to go and pledge on Kickstarter; honest. I have any number of ways to entertain myself while you’re over there. Trust me, I’ll be fine holding down the fort here. Go ahead.
And thank you for making trope checklist-defying, fun adventure fiction possible!