Some Great Books Miss Their Moment
Not every book that underperforms is a bad book.
Sometimes the cover missed the trend. The title confused readers. The launch landed at the wrong time. Or the algorithm simply chose another sibling.
Middle Child Books helps established authors introduce their overlooked backlist books to new readers—without pretending every book has always been the family favorite.
This Isn’t a Bulk Discount Site
Middle Child Books is for established authors with significant backlists: authors who are already selling books but have a title or series that never found the audience it deserved.
To list, you must have:
- At least 20 published books
- An established publishing business
- An overlooked backlist title or series
- Ebooks priced between free and $1.99
- Audiobooks priced below $4.99
This is not designed for brand-new authors trying to launch their first books. It’s for experienced authors who know a good book can still miss the boat—and would like to send one back for it.
You Choose Where Readers Buy
Middle Child Books hosts the listing. You choose the destination.
Your buy button can send readers to:
- Your direct store
- Amazon or another retailer
- A BookFunnel sales or download page
- A newsletter sign-up offer
- Any other page you choose
Want the simplest possible sale? Link directly to a retailer.
Want to build your audience while distributing a free or discounted book? Send readers to a page where they can opt into your email list.
You control the path and strategy.
Six Months of Discovery, Not One Quick Spike
There are plenty of ways to promote a backlist book.
A slow-drip Meta campaign at just $5 per day costs approximately $900 over six months.
A BookBub Featured Deal can cost hundreds of dollars for a single promotion and getting selected is never guaranteed.
Newsletter swaps can create a temporary bump, but the traffic isn’t always the right fit.
Dropping a book to free or $0.99 on a retailer can work beautifully, but visibility frequently fades once the initial promotion ends.
Middle Child Books gives your book a searchable home for six full months for less than $20 per title.
This won’t be a passive directory waiting for readers to wander in. If you know my work, you know the standard: Middle Child Books will be promoted every day through paid advertising and original content across multiple social platforms.
It isn’t a promise of instant virality. It’s another door through which the right readers can find a book they would otherwise never see.
Help Readers Find the Right Book
Readers won’t have to scroll through one enormous pile of discounted titles.
Listings are searchable by:
- Genre
- Major tropes
- Heat level
- Cursing level
Books belonging to the same series are connected within their listings, making it easier for readers to find the next book and continue reading. You can also list a complete series with one link if you wish, or do a single and series title (counts as two titles) to fit in different collections.
Once you have 10 or more listings, you’ll also receive your own clickable Author Collection, where readers can browse all your participating titles in one place.
Simple Six-Month Pricing
Start with five titles: $99
Five ebook listings for six months.
That’s only $19.80 per book for six months of advertised, niche, searchable discovery.
Add five more titles: $50
Expand in batches of five for $50 per batch, up to 25 active titles per pen name.
Add audiobook links: $50 per five titles
If an eligible book is also available as an audiobook for less than $4.99, you can add a separate audiobook button to the same listing. This is especially helpful if, like me, you have books in KU. Send the ebook to the Amazon listing, the audiobook to your direct store.
The $50 audiobook add-on covers up to five titles for the full six-month term.
Give the Overlooked Ones Another Chance
Your bestseller already gets plenty of attention.
This is for the book that keeps getting interrupted at dinner or left at soccer practice. Give your middle child six months to find its people.