When “Bestseller” Doesn’t Mean What You Think

One author recently spent $16,000 to promote his book.

The result? He landed in the top 20% of Amazon rankings.

At first glance, that sounds like a success. But dig deeper, and you’ll find that in today’s crowded marketplace, the top 20% might only mean selling a few hundred copies. For someone who, like me, comes from a trade publishing background—where sales are measured in thousands or tens of thousands—that feels catastrophic. Yet for other authors, it might be a triumph.

And that’s the heart of the matter: success in publishing is not one-size-fits-all.

The $16,000 lesson

In The Authors Guild Bulletin, writer Michael Castleman laid out the numbers behind his campaign for The Untold Story of Books:

• $6,500 for 500 free copies (plus shipping)

• $6,500 for a publicist

• $2,000 for a marketing assistant

• $1,000 miscellaneous

• And hundreds of hours of personal outreach

The outcome? A modest spike in sales, respectable by indie standards but far from what most people imagine when they hear the words “bestseller status.”

Castleman distilled his experience into pragmatic advice for indie authors: lean on your personal network, push pre-orders early, choose festivals over bookstore tours, experiment with Amazon ads, and above all, keep going. Publishing is a long game, and persistence can pay off.

Defining success on your own terms

But here’s what I find even more instructive: success isn’t only about how many books you sell.

For some authors, selling 200 copies might feel like failure. For others, it could open doors. Castleman’s book might bring him invitations to speak at writing festivals, deliver guest lectures, or join panel discussions. That kind of visibility can extend far beyond the ledger of units sold.

I’ve worked with authors who measure success in entirely different currencies:

• A business leader who sells only a few hundred books but uses the title as a credential to win lucrative consulting contracts.

• A memoirist whose book sparks conversations that shift public awareness of an overlooked issue.

• A speaker who turns a modest launch into a platform for keynote engagements around the world.

• A novelist who simply wanted to hold a finished book in her hands—and did.

In each case, the number of books sold was the least significant metric.

A reality check for “bestseller” claims

It’s tempting to be dazzled by the word “bestseller.” It carries a kind of cultural magic, shorthand for validation and achievement. But the truth is messier. In the digital age, bestseller lists are fragmented, hyper-specific, and sometimes achievable with surprisingly low sales.

That doesn’t make the achievement meaningless. It just means we need to interrogate what lies behind the label. A book ranked #1 in “Writing Reference (History)” on Amazon might have sold only a handful of copies that day. Is that success? Maybe—if the author’s goal was visibility, credibility, or simply the thrill of the badge. Maybe not—if the goal was thousands of readers.

The takeaway

If there’s one lesson in all this, it’s that every author must define what success looks like for them. Is it sales volume? Prestige? Influence? A stepping-stone to speaking or consulting? Or the personal satisfaction of creating a lasting work?

None of these goals are wrong. But confusion—and disappointment—arises when we mistake one kind of success for another.

So, before you start calculating what it would take to buy your way to the top of an Amazon category, ask yourself:

• What does success look like to me?

• What am I willing to invest—money, time, energy—to achieve it?

• And how will I know when I’ve arrived?

Sometimes, the bestseller badge isn’t the win. The real win is what you choose to make of it.

If you’re an aspiring author, the best thing you can do before launching into promotion is to define your own version of success. That clarity shapes every decision—from how you invest your resources to which opportunities you say yes to.

This is the work I do with clients every day: helping them align their book with their bigger goals, so the outcome feels like a win—whether that’s a thousand readers, a keynote stage, or the credibility to open new doors.

Because in the end, a book is never just a book. It’s a bridge to whatever comes next.

Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay