By Jennifer Braddock – Editor

Walk into any bookstore or scroll through a publisher’s fall catalog, and a pattern jumps out fast.

We think it’s important for independent bookstores to collaborate with “regular people” writers and small imprints like Best Chance Media.

Familiar faces are everywhere, from movie stars with memoirs, athletes with “life lessons,” influencers with brand-ready advice. Meanwhile, somewhere else, a regular person, such as a teacher, nurse, retiree, veteran, or parent, has spent years chiseling away at a novel.

Talent alone doesn’t level the playing field anymore. Authors without fame, wealth, or a built-in audience face tough competition with celebrities for attention from the Big Five publishers.

It’s comparable to showing up to a marathon where some runners get a ten-mile head start. Publishing has shifted focus. It’s now less about discovering voices and more about minimizing risk. To a corporate publisher, nothing feels safer than a recognizable name. This is especially true if the name has a million followers ready to buy on day one.

That doesn’t mean everyday writers lack skill, insight, or stories worth telling. The system they’re trying to break into is tilted. It is influenced by economics, algorithms, and marketing math. This tilt is against people who aren’t already famous. The odds aren’t zero, but they’re brutally small. Understanding why those odds look the way they do is the first step toward deciding how, or whether, to play the game at all.

  • Publishers have limited marketing budgets and usually prioritize their “big-name” authors. New authors are overlooked.
  • Social media, podcasts, newsletters, speaking events, and online presence are now crucial for book sales. The author is ideally positioned to manage these efforts. They will work in collaboration with the publisher.
  • Readers want to connect directly with authors, not companies. This means the author’s personal branding matters more than the publisher’s brand.

The typical Best Chance Media contract assumes that the author will:

  • Create and maintain social media profiles.
  • Arrange, or at least participate in book signings, podcast interviews, etc.
  • Handle direct sales at events, fairs, libraries, schools, etc.
  • Best Chance will be responsible for direct sales when it sponsors a table at an event.
  • Best Chance sells books to the author at a 40 percent discount. The author retains all profits from those sales.
  • Books sold by Best Chance result in a 50-50 revenue split.

Reality today: Authors who work with a publisher become their marketing department. This happens unless you’ve negotiated serious promotional help into your contract. Such help is rare for first-time or niche authors.

If you’re thinking about revising your manuscript submission strategy, it can also help to think about:

  • A basic marketing plan
  • A personal website
  • How to reach your target readers

If you have questions, ask Besty Bot. We want to hear from you!

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🚀 Got a story ready to share with the world? 📚✨ Best Chance Media is looking for fresh voices and bold ideas! 💡 We’re not just publishers—we’re partners. Let’s build your audience together. 🤝 👉 Submit your manuscript today and take your best chance! #WritersCommunity #IndieAuthors #BookPublishing #AmWriting #BestChanceMedia #AuthorLife #WritersOfInstagram https://bestchancemedia.org/2025/10/16/collaborative-marketing/

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Published by Alan O’Hashi, Whole Brain Thinker

I’ve been involved with community journalism since 1968 when I wrote for my junior school paper, the "Tumbleweed," through high school and college and then wrote for the "Wyoming State Journal." I put aside my newspaper pen and began Boulder Community Media in 2005. There wasn’t much community journalism opportunity, so I resurrected my writing career as a screenwriter. My first short screenplay, “Stardust”, won an award in the 2005 Denver Screenwriting Center contest. I've made a number of movies over the years. Filmmaking is time-consuming, labor and equipment intensive. I recently changed my workflow to first write a book and make a movie based on that content. - Electric Vehicle Anxiety and Advice - This is a memoir travelogue of three trips covering 2,600 EV miles around Wyoming (2022) - Beyond Heart Mountain - Winter Goose Publishers released my memoir in February (2022) - The Zen of Writing with Confidence and Imperfection - This is a book recounting how luck planed into my signing a book deal after a 15-minute pitch meeting. (2020) - True Stories of an Aging Baby Boomer - War stories about living in a cohousing and lessons others can learn when starting their communities (2021) - Beyond Sand Creek - About Arapaho tribal efforts to repatriate land in Colorado (PBS - TBA) - Beyond Heart Mountain - Based on my memoir about my childhood in Cheyenne facing overt and subtle racism toward the Japanese following World War II (PBS - 2021) - New Deal Artist Public Art Legacy - About artists who created work in Wyoming during the Great Depression (PBS - 2018) - Mahjong and the West - SAG indie feature which premiered at the semi-important Woodstock Film Festival (2014) Over the years, I’ve produced directed, filmed and/or edited several short movies, “Running Horses” (Runner Up – Wyoming Short Film Contest), “On the Trail: Jack Kerouac in Cheyenne” (Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival, Top 10 Wyoming Short Film Contest), “Gold Digger” (Boulder Asian Film Festival), “Adobo” (Boulder International Film Festival), “A Little Bit of Discipline” (Rosebud Film Series), and two feature length documentaries “Your Neighbor’s Child” (Wyoming PBS and Rocky Mountain PBS), and “Serotonin Rising” (American Film Market, Vail Film Festival). He also directed and produced the award winning stage play “Webster Street Blues” by my childhood friend Warren Kubota. Boulder Community Media is a non-profit production company dedicated to democratzing media in all their forms - large and small screens, printed page and stage by providing sustainable and community-based content. I mostly work with community-based media producers, organizations, and socially-responsible businesses to develop their content via – the written word, electronic and new media, the visual and performing arts in a culturally competent manner – I’m what’s commonly called a niche TV and movie producer. Along with all this is plying my forte’ – fund development through grant writing, sponsorship nurturing and event planning.

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