You’ve been told you need a massive platform, a literary agent, and a viral TikTok moment to become a bestselling author. And if you’re like most aspiring authors, you’ve probably Googled “how to become a bestselling author” and landed on Reddit threads where strangers argue about whether Amazon bestsellers even count.
Let me clear a few things up.
I’m Laura Di Franco, and I’ve published 109 Amazon bestselling titles through Brave Healer Productions. Not one or two lucky breaks. One hundred and nine, with over 3,000 authors across 25 countries. And I can tell you from the other side of all those launches that bestseller status is not magic. It’s not luck. It’s a system. One you can learn, and one that works every single time when you commit to it.
But before we get into the how, let’s talk about what “bestselling author” actually means. Because most people get this wrong.
What Does “Bestselling Author” Actually Mean?
When someone says “bestselling author,” your brain probably jumps to the New York Times list, or maybe USA Today or the Wall Street Journal. Those lists track tens of thousands of book sales across bookstores and online retailers in a single week. Landing on one requires a massive, coordinated sales push, and for most authors without celebrity-level platforms, it’s not a realistic first goal.
Then there’s the Amazon bestseller list. Amazon ranks books within categories, and those rankings update hourly based on sales velocity. When your book hits the top 100 in any of your selected categories, you earn a “bestseller” tag. You can choose up to three categories for your ebook, and three for your paperback, so a well-positioned book could be a bestseller in six categories at once.
Some people say, “Amazon bestsellers aren’t real bestsellers.” I hear that criticism, and here’s my honest take? Of course it’s real. It’s a stage of your author journey, and everyone who achieves it should be proud. Not everybody pulls off a bestselling launch. The real question is what happens after the launch.
I’ve watched authors hit bestseller status, and then they keep talking about their book. They network. They build a community around their topic. They land speaking gigs, TEDx talks, podcast interviews, and new clients. They create entirely new income streams. Some of them partner with collaborators and build new businesses. So when someone asks, “Is an Amazon bestseller real?” I want to know exactly what isn’t real about new clients, new stages, and new revenue that grew directly from that book?
If your goal is the New York Times list, you’ll need tens of thousands of sales across multiple channels. That’s a goal for people with celebrity or influencer-level platforms. But if you’re a healer, coach, or wellness practitioner who wants to build a community and grow a business through your book? Amazon bestseller status is the launchpad. And it’s absolutely achievable.
Your Bestselling Author Roadmap: From Idea to Launch Day
So how do you actually become a bestselling author? Here’s the path, broken down into steps you can start today.
Write a Book Worth Reading
This might sound obvious, but it’s where most authors need to spend the most time. And I don’t just mean getting words on a page. At Brave Healer Productions, we approach writing as a self-development journey. We call it Brave Story Medicine, and it’s what makes our authors’ content so compelling.
When you do the inner work while you write, when you get honest and vulnerable about your experience, the book itself becomes more authentic. Readers feel the difference between a book that’s been carefully constructed and a book that’s been courageously lived. The authors who do that deeper work write better books, period.
Invest in Professional Publishing
If you’ve ever researched self-publishing vs. working with a publisher, you already know that going it alone means mastering a lot of skills on your own. You need to handle the editing, design, and formatting, and if you’re not already an expert in all of those areas, the learning curve can eat up time and money quickly. Plus, the results just don’t look professional, because they’re not. Readers notice typos. They notice poor attempts at cover design.
You can’t think of editing, interior layout, and cover design for your book as luxuries. They’re necessities, and a publishing partner can take care of them for you so you can focus on what you do best. Cutting corners will almost always cost more in the long run, whether that’s in lost credibility, poor reviews, or a book that doesn’t sell.
Work with a Publishing Partner Who Knows the System
Writing a great book is one thing. Knowing how to position it for bestseller status is something else entirely. Category research, keyword strategy, launch coordination: there’s a whole layer of publishing knowledge that most first-time authors don’t have yet. And they shouldn’t have to figure it all out alone.
A good publishing partner brings the system. They’ve done this before, they know what works on Amazon, and they can tell you where authors typically stumble, so you don’t have to learn the hard way.
Build your Launch Team Before You Finish Writing
Your book launch team is the group of friends, family, colleagues, and community members who will show up on launch day and buy your book on Amazon during a focused window of time. That concentrated burst of sales in 24 to 48 hours is what moves the Amazon algorithm.
So how do you build your launch team? First, you set up a form to collect their information. This can be as simple as a Google form to get names and email addresses. Then, write an invitation and share the link to your form everywhere: email list, social channels, personal text messages, DMs. You should also create a list of people who already know and trust you, and send them a personal invitation to join your launch team.
As you build your launch team, I want you to remember that it’s not just about selling books on launch day. The relationships you create during this process become the foundation for everything that comes after: the speaking gigs, the new clients, the partnerships. The launch team is where your long-term business building starts.
Choose Your Categories Strategically
Once you know how many people are on your launch team, you can match that number to the right Amazon categories. Pop over to Publisher Rocket, research the keywords and categories for your book, and it’ll tell you exactly how many sales you need to hit the top 10 or number one in a given category.
If your category only requires 50 sales to rank, and you’ve got a hundred people on your team? You’re in a strong position. That’s not gaming the system. That’s smart publishing.
Execute a Strategic Launch
On launch day, you wake up and shout your book out to the world in every way you can. But because you’ve already built that personal list of names and emails, you and your team can make sure your people are getting into action. A focused effort, a short window, everyone buying together. That’s what moves the Amazon algorithm. That’s how you watch your book climb to bestseller status in real time.
My first book, Living, Healing, and Taekwondo, didn’t become a bestseller in its first go. But I republished it later, built a real launch team, and did everything right the second time. I watched it hit Amazon bestseller status, and I felt so proud of the community I’d built around that book. That was the moment I knew this could work every time.
My second solo book, Brave Healing, A Guide for Your Journey, was where it really clicked. I did the same thing: built the community, invited people in, coordinated the launch. Amazon bestseller again. By book two or three, I stopped wondering if it would work and started knowing. The system was repeatable.
Keep Promoting After Launch Day
Many authors stop after launch day. They hit bestseller, celebrate (as they should), and then go quiet. But the real business building happens after the launch. Keep talking about your book. Keep networking and building a community around your topic.
We’ve had authors go on to deliver TEDx talks. We’ve had authors create new income streams, build new partnerships, and land clients they never would have reached otherwise. The bestseller launch is the beginning, not the finish line.
The Mindset Shift Most Authors Miss
Almost every author we work with deals with imposter syndrome. “Who am I to write this book?” I hear it constantly. And I always say the same thing: everything has been written before, but not by you. It’s your unique voice and message that will be the life-changing moment for one of your readers. That is why you need to push through the fear and share your story.
And all of them do. All of our authors push through a certain amount of purpose-driven fear, hit that publish button, and realize that more than their mom and their best friend are going to read this thing. And sometimes they have a little bit of a freak out about that. (We call it Post-Traumatic Publishing Disorder around here, maybe only half-joking.)
This is part of what makes us different as a publishing company. We cater to healers, and we understand how to facilitate the healing journey, the self-development journey, and the awareness journey. Most publishers hand you a finished book and wish you luck. We know that people have freak-out moments during this process, and we know how to hold space for them to feel that and move beyond it.
If you’ve read The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks, you know exactly what I’m talking about. We see it all the time. An author hits a milestone and then suddenly wants to pull back, second-guess the whole thing, and hide. We help them move through that upper limit instead of getting stuck under it.
The authors who do the inner work, get vulnerable and honest in their writing, and treat the process as a path to healing and growth, write better books. They connect more deeply with readers. And yes, they sell more copies.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books do you need to sell to become a bestselling author?
It depends on your category. In some Amazon categories, you might need as few as 50 sales in a single day to reach the top 10. In broader categories, that number could be much higher. Tools like Publisher Rocket let you research exactly how many sales are needed for each category so you can plan accordingly.
How long does it take to become a bestselling author?
The writing process varies, but a typical timeline from manuscript to bestselling launch is about six to twelve months when you’re working with a publisher. The launch itself happens in a concentrated window of 24 to 48 hours. Most of the work is in the preparation: writing a strong book, building your launch team, and selecting the right categories.
Can a first-time author become a bestseller?
Absolutely. Many of our authors are publishing for the first time, and they hit bestseller status because of the launch strategy, not because of a pre-existing platform. A solid launch team and smart category research make up for a lot of what people assume you need.
How much do bestselling authors make?
This varies widely. Amazon bestseller royalties depend on your book’s price, format, and sales volume. But the real revenue often comes from what the book opens up: speaking gigs, consulting clients, workshops, courses, and other business opportunities that flow from your authority as a published author.
What’s the difference between a bestselling author and a best-selling book?
A bestselling author has published at least one book that hit a bestseller list. A best-selling book refers to the title itself. In practice, the distinction doesn’t matter much. Once your book achieves bestseller status, you carry that credential forward as part of your author brand and professional identity.
Your Bestselling Book Is Closer Than You Think
If you’ve read this far, you’re not just curious about how to become a bestselling author. You’re serious about it. And you should know that the gap between where you are now and where you want to be is smaller than you think.
You don’t need a massive following, and you don’t need a literary agent. You need a story worth telling, a team to help you tell it well, and a community of people who want to be part of something bigger.
At Brave Healer Productions, that’s exactly what we help you build. From your first draft through your bestselling launch and beyond, we’re in it with you.
Ready to talk about your book? Schedule a free discovery call and let’s see what’s possible.
Big love, Laura
