Let's talk about America...
An interview with New York editor Sarah Cantin, who spills the beans on US bestseller lists, what drives sales, and what's on her wishlist for the next few years...
Hi everyone, happy Sunday! I hope you’ve all had great weekends. I’m just back from a week in France, which was lovely. I read The Guest by Emma Cline - I hardly ever get time to read for pleasure any more due to my job, so it was such a treat (Emma is the author of The Girls, which you may know and which I’ve just started too. I’m also reading an early copy of The Year of the Dog by Sophia Money-Coutts, who writes this funny, smart Substack as well:
).Anyway, today I have a very exciting interview for you, with Sarah Cantin, an editor in the US. I thought it would be useful to get her take about how things work on the other side of the pond, and Sarah is someone I admire hugely. We share an author together and she has an incredible list of writers - more about her here and a snapshot below.
Sarah Cantin joined St. Martin’s Publishing Group in 2018, after a decade at Atria Books/Simon & Schuster. During her tenure at Atria, she edited a range of bestselling and critically acclaimed writers including Taylor Jenkins Reid, Lisa Jewell, Jennifer Weiner, Lucinda Riley, Carola Lovering, Karin Tanabe, and Sarah Pekkanen. Her list at SMPG includes some of those writers, and new ones, like New York Times bestselling authors Rachel Hawkins, Jessica George, and Emilia Hart, as well as critically acclaimed debut novelists Laurie Albanese, Mikki Brammer, and Katie Bishop. At St. Martin’s, she is acquiring big upmarket commercial fiction: book club fiction, domestic drama, historical fiction, psychological suspense, literary thrillers, and romantic comedy with a smart, high-concept hook. She is also interested in select narrative nonfiction that illuminates women’s issues and women’s stories, and accessible poetry that readers can turn to as a form of self-care.
Hi Sarah! Thank you so much for coming on The Honest Editor. To begin with, please can you tell us a bit about your role at St Martin's Press (part of Macmillan Publishers in NYC) and how it works?
As editorial director, I’m helping to shape and steer our hardcover [this is the US word for hardbacks!) fiction list. Practically speaking, this means reading alongside many editors as they’re considering submissions, thinking about our overall strategy as we approach acquisitions, and participating in all kinds of seasonal planning meetings as we march towards publication. I’m also an acquiring editor with a full list of my own, so I’m managing my own titles and submissions simultaneously.
You are based in the US - how does your role work with UK editors and publishers?
I love partnering with my colleagues across the pond! Many of my authors happen to be UK-based, or have major publishing deals with UK houses. In those cases, I’m often editing in tandem with my UK counterpart, we’re combining efforts when it comes to securing blurbs, and we’re sharing ideas for tagline, cover designs, and marketing efforts. Beyond that, I love building close relationships with editors whose tastes align with mine—we can give each other tips on hot incoming projects, and you never know when we might eventually share an author!
What do you think are the key differences between the UK and the US fiction markets at the moment?
I’m not an expert on the UK market by any means, but my sense is that the biggest differences are emerging in both retailer and consumer habits when it comes to format. With the right pitch and campaign, we find that we can still get decent hardcover distribution for a lot of our fiction, but getting those same novels out in paperback a year or two later feels much harder. There used to be this idea that a novel could have a second life in paperback, and that’s been harder and harder to achieve lately.
Our key retailers are ordering paperback quantities based on the first few weeks of sales for the hardcover edition. And unless a title gets picked for a special promotion, these paperbacks tend to not receive great store placement either.
On the other hand, digital audio has been going gangbusters in our market, and we’re seeing more and more readers convert to audiobooks. As a result, we at Macmillan invest in ensuring the highest quality audio production, and we really target audio-specific publicity, marketing, and retailer promotion.
What are the main drivers of success for novels in the US today? I know the book clubs can make an enormous difference.
Now more than ever, it seems like there’s no one driver of success, and no clear formula that guarantees a bestseller—which can be maddening as publishers, but which I try to see as exciting and liberating. Major book clubs (like Hello Sunshine, Read With Jenna, GMA, and Oprah) are fabulous for discoverability, but their impact on sales does vary from month to month and pick to pick.
A big retailer promotion—like the Barnes & Nobles Book Club selection (in hardcover) or a category pick (in paperback), or a huge Target buy—can really move the needle.
Being named on the monthly IndieNext list (the top 20-25 new releases nominated by independent booksellers nationwide) offers visibility and indicates strong grassroots support in the indie channel. Getting featured in the Goodreads newsletter gets a book in front of over 1M voracious readers. Special editions can generate both reader enthusiasm on social media and lead to a bigger order by a retailer. TikTok “buzz” is impossible to quantify but undeniably impactful. Subscription boxes (most notably, Book of the Month Club) can help their members find new authors, and their selections can serve as a shopping list for non-members who see their advertising.
On the publicity side, a brilliant New York Times or People magazine review or major “off the book page” coverage, an NPR hit, or national TV mention can certainly add to the feeling that a book is “everywhere.” Increasingly, I believe that a book’s sales trajectory can come down to perception—readers want to be in the cultural conversation, and if they keep seeing the same novel across multiple forms of media and at the front of multiple bookstores, they’re that much more likely to purchase it.
How do you as publishers cater for such a huge audience - obviously America is a much larger and more varied place than the UK?
The beauty of such a large market is that there are many different types of readers who are hungry for many types of stories. Only a handful of books a year can really reach that phenomenon status, where they’re read across all regions and demographics, and where the author becomes a household name. I believe that the key in our market is to correctly identify your reader from the outset, and craft a campaign that is surgically constructed to reach them where they are.
What are the major bestseller lists in the US?
The New York Times and USA Today are the most prominent, but there are other lists such as Publishers Weekly, which uses Circana Bookscan sales data. The independent booksellers’ regional bestseller lists are some of my favorites to watch—it’s so fascinating to see how certain titles are resonating in different parts of the country, or to see a book breakout in one region more than another.
Is there anything in particular that you look for in a new submission? What would you love to find for 2026/7?
These days, I’m really looking to get lost in a novel. I want to be transported. I’m reading all the time, in any spare moment I can rustle up, so a submission that can quickly pull me in and capture my attention is essential. I’m open to projects across categories; what matters to me is that I get to go on a journey I haven’t been on before. It can be to a place I don’t know well, a time period that isn’t our own, a lived experience outside of mine, all alongside a voice that is fresh and immersive.
To that end, I’m always interested in working with writers who can bring a new perspective to the industry—some of the books that have stayed with me most come from authors whose backgrounds are different from my own.
In all of the projects I pursue, I’m hoping to find some combination of rich themes; deep, embodied emotion; cleverly-executed high concepts that wink at the reader; and dialogue that reflects how real people speak to each other. I want stories that are fundamentally altered by the author’s choice of POV [point of view] or structure. Most of all, I want narratives full of heart—its messy, dark corners, and its endless capacity for redemption.
What can authors do to help themselves sell more books?
Figure out how and where to talk about your book. For the how: What’s your pitch? How do you articulate your inspiration? Understand the audience for your story and the books that it shares DNA with—the best way to help readers find your work is to identify what it has in common with other stories they’ve loved. For the where: Do you enjoy public speaking, or would you prefer to let your writing speak for you? Can you pitch essays about your topic, or perhaps start a Substack? Are you comfortable on social media, or does it feel inauthentic to you? Be honest with yourself about your strengths, and craft an approach that plays to them.
Above all, be a good citizen of the literary community—shop at your local bookstore (and talk to the booksellers!), attend readings, and support your fellow writers on social media and on Goodreads.
Every author is a part of the publishing ecosystem, and there are so many ways for to ensure that your contribution to it is a positive one.
Thank you so much for lifting the curtain, Sarah!
I hope you all enjoyed this interview, and if you would like to share it on social media or tell your friends, I’d really appreciate it. Thank you as ever for reading.
I’m also making a small change this week, which is that I’m adding a payment option. I really want to keep this Substack totally free and for it to be as helpful as possible, so this is ONLY if you want to donate towards it and help me to keep it running. There is no obligation at all - it’s just for anyone who might be enjoying the series and feels like doing so. The archive will remain free and so will all subscriber posts. I may occasionally do extra content for paid subscribers but this will not be that often. You can also gift a subscription now to anyone who you think might like it!
Thank you again.
Phoebe x
Thanks, really helpful - and always smile at more intrigue about the dark art of how things end up as bestsellers!
Another great interview, thank you! As a reader who almost always buys paperback, I'm surprised they are not as popular in the US.