On the latest Substack Writers Salon, I sat down with Tim Jacobs, The Publishing Edge, author of 19 books and more than 450 articles, and owner of JWC Publishing Tim’s path looks a lot like mine. He was the kid reading under the covers with a flashlight. He wrote his first book. He learned the business from the inside, and eventually he started publishing other people’s books. What began around 2010 as Jacobs Writing Consultants (Tim plus five editors doing editing and proofreading) grew into a full publishing company. We talked about publishing myths, distribution, marketing, and protecting your own writing while running a business. Here’s what stood out. 1. Followers are not buyers This is the myth that some authors fall for: I have 10,000 followers, so I’ll sell 10,000 copies. You won’t. I tell people that if you have 1,000 followers, you’ll probably sell three to five copies. People can love your content and still never buy your book. Tim added a layer I think matters even more: engagement beats follower count. He has seen people with 20,000 followers get two likes on a post, and people with 1,000 followers get hundreds of comments. The second person has a real audience. The first has a number. 2. The book that made $250,000 by being given away So if followers don’t buy your book, who does? For many of Tim’s clients, the honest answer is: they don’t sell it. They give it away. About ten years ago, JWC wrote and produced a book for a real estate brokerage in Fort Myers, Florida. Over six years, the firm printed 4,000 copies and handed them out to realtors, at conferences, and at open houses. The book brought agents under the firm’s umbrella, where they could start their own brokerages and pay fees on every transaction. The firm told Tim the book brought in more than $250,000. It cost them about $12,000 to produce. Give away 100 books, land four clients, and you’ve likely made far more than you would have selling those 100 copies. The book isn’t the product. It’s the proof that you wrote the book on your subject. 3. How Tim sold 2,000 copies in one summer with zero social media In 1996, Tim set out to write a fictional ghost story set in Connecticut’s Goodspeed Opera House. When he went looking for a history of the building, there wasn’t one. A friend pointed out that he now knew more about the opera house than anyone, so why not write the book he’d been searching for? He self-published it (through a printer he found in Writer’s Digest's classifieds) and released it in early summer. There was no Facebook, no LinkedIn, barely an internet. By the start of September, he’d gone through 2,000 copies. How? * Stores. He went shop to shop asking if they’d carry the book on a 50% split. * Free talks. He offered to speak at Rotary clubs and Friends of the Library groups at no charge, as long as he could sell books. They’d have paid him maybe $30. Selling ten books earned him around $200. * Free press. He’d open the local paper, find the reporter covering events, and call with a pitch: Would you like to interview the first person to write the full history of the opera house? Then he’d show up for the interview himself. Instead of buying an ad, he got a half- or full-page story with his photo, the cover, and the list of stores selling the book. None of that requires an algorithm. All of it still works. 4. Build a street team When I asked what works for him now, in our digital and AI-saturated moment, Tim’s answer was refreshingly analog: a street team. That’s six or seven people who act as the pillars of your launch. They’re the loud cheerleaders saying Did you see Tim’s new book? I just got it. That message lands very differently than the author saying please buy my book. His method for building one: * Go through your connections on LinkedIn, Substack, Facebook, wherever. * Find the people with the most engaged audiences. * Send each a personal message: I’m releasing my book on this date. I’d love a shout-out. Here’s the cover. I’m not asking you to buy it, review it, or even share a link. The team changes with each book. The people who help launch a horror novel won’t be the same ones who amplify a book on publishing basics. 5. Podcasts sell books, slowly Podcast tours are replacing traditional book tours. So I asked, "Do they actually sell books?" Tim’s take: yes, but on a longer fuse. At an in-person table, it’s immediate. We talk, you buy, we shake hands. On a podcast, a listener might check out your profile, absorb your content over a week or a month, decide you know what you’re talking about, and then discover you have a book. Don’t expect a dozen sales the moment the episode ends. Expect a slow build. 6. Where to print: Amazon vs. IngramSpark JWC uses Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, and Draft2Digital, and sometimes skips all of them when a client just wants 1,000 copies printed and shipped to their door. The difference Tim highlighted between Amazon and Ingram: * IngramSpark gets your book into the distribution channels bookstores order from, both indie shops and Barnes & Noble. That doesn’t guarantee a store will stock it, but it puts your book in front of buyers. Ingram also allows returns, which bookstores need. * Amazon doesn’t offer returns, which is why bookstores won’t order from it. Tim also chose Ingram for his latest family keepsake book because he wanted a cloth hardcover with a wraparound dust jacket. If you want bookstores or a premium hardcover, Ingram belongs in your plan. 7. Thirty minutes a day Then I asked Tim the question: how do you protect your own writing while running a business full of clients? His answer: he’s up between 4 and 5 a.m., and he doesn’t touch work until after 8. Mornings are for reading, a quick crossword and Wordle to warm up, and 30 minutes of his own writing. He started his newest family history book in July. By the time we spoke, he had surpassed 20,000 words and was nearly done. Thirty minutes a day. Your window might be late at night after the kids are asleep. The point isn’t 4 a.m. The point is a protected, non-negotiable block that belongs to your book before it belongs to anyone else. 8. Substack for relationships, LinkedIn for clients Tim spends about 45 minutes on Substack each morning: liking, restacking, commenting, replying, then posting his own note. He hasn’t landed a client here yet, and he isn’t trying to. Most of his business (around 80%) comes from referrals, with some clients from LinkedIn. I see the same pattern. LinkedIn is where clients find me. Substack is where community happens. And Tim pointed out something I love about this place: no one has ever pitched him in his Substack DMs. That’s also how this conversation happened. We’d been commenting on each other’s work, and I invited him on. He said that if a project isn’t the right fit for him, I’m one of the people he’d refer it to. Same here. My motto: competition is for losers. Collaboration wins. The short version * Followers aren’t buyers. Engagement matters more than follower count. * For nonfiction, the book can be a business card. Giving it away may earn you more than selling it. * Old-school tactics still work. Local stores, free talks, and pitching reporters sold 2,000 copies in one summer. * Build a street team of six or seven engaged people for each launch. * Podcasts are a slow burn, not instant sales. * Use IngramSpark if you want bookstore distribution or a premium hardcover. * Thirty protected minutes a day can produce a book. If Tim’s 30-minutes-a-day habit is the part that hit home, The Book Finisher Sprint ($9.9) is my do-it-yourself system for building that daily practice and getting your draft done. Connect with Tim * Website: jacobswc.com * Email: tjacobs@jacobswc.com * Find him here on Substack and on LinkedIn Thank you Susan, Marie Peace, and many others for tuning into my live video with The Publishing Edge! Join me for my next live video in the app. The Book Finisher is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit natashatynes.substack.com/subscribe
