When Rebecca Hamilton first entered the publishing world, she noticed a pattern that has repeated itself every time a massively successful series appears. Whether it was Twilight, Fifty Shades of Grey, or any other title that broke through the noise, authors were often the first to publicly criticize the very books millions of readers adored. The complaints usually sounded something like:

• “The writing is bland.”

• “The characters aren’t complex enough.”

• “This relationship is unhealthy.”

• “My book is objectively better, so why isn’t mine selling?”

But here’s the uncomfortable truth many authors overlook:

Readers, not authors, decide what becomes a bestseller.

And when millions of readers embrace a book, dismissing it doesn’t just keep authors from understanding why it succeeded, it also distances them from the very audience they want to reach.

This is a mistake we repeatedly inside the Six Figure Author Coach community, and it’s one of the biggest reasons ta...