How to get a million people to your book event
I reached a huge audience with my book promo—by accident. Here’s how you can do it on purpose
A few months ago, I wrote a wry little Reddit explainer for Quartz—part love letter, part gentle roast—and was stunned when Reddit’s comms team slid into my inbox.
They were very nice, and not mad exactly. Let’s just say one particular joke didn’t land.
What I wanted to reply was: “Oh my god, please don’t hate me. I love you. I’m obsessed with you. In fact, I owe Reddit one of the biggest wins of my career.”
Because when, in 2021, I hosted a Reddit AMA to promote my book, something like a million people tuned in.
I pulled this off as a Reddit newbie, too—which means the potential for people who actually know what they’re doing is likely much greater. What’s more, Reddit’s traffic has grown tremendously since I did my AMA. These days, it’s one of the 10 most-visited sites on the internet, with nearly 100 million daily active users.
Yet, when authors and publishers think about book promo, they often overlook it. They focus on newer, trendier platforms, assuming Reddit is old news.
Maybe that’s because Reddit has been around so long? God knows it isn’t as buzzy as TikTok. But it is a useful platform for reaching a massive, engaged audience, and it’s text-based, friends. You don’t have to love video to love Reddit.
So in this post, I’ll break down:
How you, too, can use Reddit AMAs to promote your projects
Why Reddit is an underrated tool for writers
How many books you may sell with an event that draws a million people, or at least how many I sold
I’ll also share the big ol’ dumb mistake I made, so you can avoid it.
First, let me explain how I blundered my way into this knowledge
The Reddit AMA wasn’t even my idea.
It was my PR person who suggested I do an official Reddit AMA about Edgar Allan Poe, the subject of my book.
At the time, I just about understood what an AMA is—a live “Ask Me Anything” session where users fire off questions in real time and you pick which to answer. I also knew there was a Poe forum, or “subreddit,” with about 3,500 fans. I’d mentioned it in my book proposal.
But I was not a regular Reddit poster. More a lurker.
So imagine my surprise when nearly a million people tuned in. What! Wild! Crazy. Here’s a screenshot I grabbed the morning after to send to my publisher. A few days later, the count climbed well past 1.5 million views, which is where I’m getting that very rough million-attendee estimate.
(If I’d been smarter, I would have grabbed more than one lousy screenshot—but hindsight is et cetera, et cetera.)
That’s a hopeful message, though, right? If a Reddit infant like me could manage this, so can you. And, frankly, you’ll probably do it better.
The thing is, Reddit isn’t just big—it’s growing. That 100 million daily active users number I cited above? It’s up 50 DAMN PERCENT from just a year ago. That’s incredible growth for a platform that’s been around for 20 years.
But it’s also not a coincidence, I’d argue. More and more, our society is organizing itself along fandom-based lines, and Reddit is a cornerstone of the fandom internet.1
It’s where people go to discuss their interests, hobbies, and obsessions.2 There are subreddits devoted to everything—from classic authors like Poe to fast-food menu hacks, historical reenactment, medieval manuscripts, and niche celebrity drama. Some of the biggest subreddits have millions of members.
All of which makes it a crucial connector if you’re trying to reach readers who already care about your book’s topic.
That’s exactly how I sold my book. As I’ve written before, I didn’t sell my book by marketing myself. I sold it by marketing my subject. I pitched my book to publishers on Edgar Allan Poe’s platform, not my own. And when it came time to sell the book to readers? I did the same thing.
This idea—fandoms as a business model—is now on its way to becoming conventional publishing wisdom.
Take 831 Stories, the romance startup Emily Sundberg covered last year. Their first release, Big Fan, is about a fan who hooks up with her former boyband crush—written by someone who got her start self-publishing fan fiction.3
And 831’s stated business model? Selling books to the large, readymade romance-novel fanbase and seeking to grow this fandom, too. I mention this approvingly!
Still, for individual writers and creators, identifying the fandom business model is one thing. Enacting it is another.
This is where Reddit comes in.
It’s not just a place to observe fandoms—it’s where you can actively engage with them. On Reddit, writers can step carefully into existing conversations, connect with readers who already care about their subject, and put their fandom business model into practice.
That makes it, potentially at least, a key piece of book promotion.
Worth repeating: You’re not trying to build an audience from scratch (say, on Substack). You’re tapping into an audience that already exists.
You might think of it like a convention (con) for your topic, but with exponentially more reach.
At a con, you can meet fellow superfans, make friends, talk about shared obsessions, maybe move some merch. Reddit offers the same opportunity, on a much bigger scale.
If you do it right, you’re not just promoting—you’re participating. Which makes all the difference, both for your experience and for readers.
So, how do you get started, how do you actually step carefully into these existing fan conversations?
👉 Enter the Reddit AMA.
Some quick AMA tips for maximum impact
Tip #1: Do an AMA about your subject, not yourself.
Many creators assume an AMA should be about them—but it’s possible that that’s the least effective approach.
Instead, your AMA could be about your topic.
Let’s say you’ve written a novel about an out-of-the-blue avalanche that killed 147 people in an idyllic Utah suburb in 2002 (made-up example).
You probably learned a ton about real-life avalanches while researching your book, right? You probably read firsthand survivor accounts, combed through old newspaper reports, learned how avalanche risk is measured and mitigated.
So instead of an AMA like:
📌 Hi, I’m a novelist, AMA about my book. (Fairly limited audience.)
You might try this:
📌 I spent years researching deadly avalanches—ask me anything about the science, the history, and what people get wrong about them. (Now you’re speaking Reddit’s language.)
This approach has two major advantages:
It broadens your reach. Now, you’re attracting people who are curious about avalanches—not just novel readers.
It makes you an authority. If people are engaged in your AMA, many will naturally want to read your book because you sound fascinating.
📌 This works even if there isn’t an obvious “fandom” for your topic. There may not be an Avalanche Fandom™—yet—but there are people who are fascinated by natural disasters, extreme survival, climate change, and forgotten tragedies.
Find the most compelling angle in your research and lead with that.
Tip #2: Go official, if you can (or get creative).
Official AMAs get massively promoted by Reddit, dramatically increasing your audience.
If you have a PR person, they can request an official AMA through Reddit’s corporate structure. If you don’t, you can still host an unofficial AMA in a relevant subreddit—just make sure it’s a lively, engaged community where your topic will resonate.
📌 You can also host AMAs off Reddit. The format works in lots of places, as Leigh Stein recently pointed out—your newsletter, Twitter, Discord, or a niche Facebook group. If Reddit isn’t the right fit for your topic, look to where your audience already hangs out.
Tip #3: Think about timing and peak interest.
I timed my AMA for October 7th, the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s death—a time when Poe interest spikes across the internet.
What’s the most relevant date for your thing? Is there a season, a day, even a time of day, when interest in your topic naturally rises?
If your book is about a forgotten shipwreck, the anniversary of its sinking might be that right moment. If your book explores a famous scandal, a new documentary or a fresh news story on a similar case could be an opportunity.
This is, of course, more art than science. Sometimes interest builds gradually, sometimes it spikes unpredictably. But thinking through timing is always worthwhile.
Tip #4: For the love of God, be intentional about your AMA description and links.
This is where I messed up. Instead of writing a clear, engaging description linking directly to my book, I fumbled and mumbled.
If I had framed my expertise more effectively, I probably would have sold more books. (More on that in just a moment.)
Your AMA description is the main thing people see, so it’s worth thinking through: What’s the most compelling way to frame your expertise? What will make people excited to ask questions? What’s the one goal you most want to drive?
📌 Consider how you use your one or two links.
If your goal is book sales, maybe only link to your book. If your goal is newsletter signups, maybe only link to your newsletter. There’s no one-size answer—it’s just something to be mindful of. Every link is a choice. Which one’s the most natural and valuable for you?
Okay, if you’ve made it this far, you’re probably wondering: Does all this actually move books?
Fair question. What was my AMA worth in terms of direct book sales?
📖 Low hundreds.
Believe me, I’m not claiming that’s an impressive number. I saw bigger one-day sales bumps from podcasts and local TV news appearances.
But the value of the AMA went beyond immediate book sales.
It led to podcast invitations.
It gave me material for posts like this one.
It allows me to talk up my ability to reach online fandoms in my new proposal—giving me a proof point that’s more than fluff or projection.
And (hopefully) it will help me do better the next time around, when I run this play again.
That last part is key. Reddit is much bigger now than when I did my AMA. That means your chances of success are substantially bigger, too.
So, if that sounds appealing, go get ‘em.
As always, thank you for reading. May your AMAs be lively and your promotions painless.
And hey, while we’re here—I haven’t forgotten about the deep dive I promised re: Mary Shelley’s awful and ecstatic marriage. That little note took on a life of its own, and it’s been so cool to see how many people are as fascinated by MS and PBS as I am. And my god, y’all—the DETAILS. The hot, hot MESS. Stay tuned.
Cat
Guess how many times the words “fan” and “fandom” appeared in Reddit’s S-1 (their initial IPO filing)? Four. I counted just now. Could’ve appeared many more times, but I’ll take it.
I realize, too, that Reddit has its dark side. It’s just not the point of this post.
For more on this, see Elizabeth Held’s fantastic NY Mag piece about the rise of fan fiction and her What to Read If newsletter.
Zan Romanoff, the Big Fan author, writes an engaging newsletter I’ve personally subscribed to for years, and my teenage nieces loved her earlier YA work.
I loved this post so much—so genius and helpful! And I love your voice!
This is brilliant.