Amy Collins on How to Find an Audience

In episode #95 of The Writing Coach podcast, I speak with author and book marketing expert Amy Collins.

Amy is the President of New Shelves Books, one of the largest book sales and marketing content providers in the US. She is a USA TODAY and WALL STREET JOURNAL bestselling author and as a former Book Buyer for a chain of bookstores in New York and Sales Director for a large publishing company, she has spent her career working with Barnes & Noble, Target, Costco, Books-A-Million, Wal-Mart, and is a trusted expert, speaker, and recommended sales consultant for some of the largest book and library retailers and wholesalers in the publishing industry.

In the last 20 years, Amy and her team have sold over 40 Million books into the bookstore, library, and Chain store market for small and midsized publishers. She is on the national advisory board for IngramSpark, is a board member of Author U, a featured columnist for THEBOOKDESIGNER, BookWorks, IBPA, and a trusted teacher in the world of small press publishers.  

She has taught and spoken at many of the publishing industry’s top festivals and conferences including Publisher’s Weekly’s BookCon, Oklahoma Writer’s Conference, Author U, AAPS, Dublin Writers Conference, BAIPA, PALA, St. Louis Writer’s Conference, Writers Digest indieLAB, Henderson Writers Conference, and many others.

When not in the office, her focus is on the working poor and poverty elimination, and she spends a great deal of time personally and professionally working with and training women from disadvantaged backgrounds.  A member of several charitable and political organizations, she donates not only her time, but a portion of her company’s profits to grant based charities that work to alleviate the cycle of poverty.

During our discussion, Amy describes:

• Why there are so many talented authors, but only a handful of successful authors
• How getting a job at a book store led to her 30-year career in publishing
• The role book buyers play at brick and mortar book stores
• Why not every idea needs to become a book
• The one thing she does every day to build her audience
• Her top tips for what authors need to do to find their audience
• And much more!

Listen now!