Ever wondered what would happen if someone combined your love of murder mysteries with a monthly dose of self-care? That’s exactly what Lou Emerson did when she created Cozy Read Books, a book subscription box that’s taken the mystery reading experience to a whole new level.

As a mystery author herself, Emerson gets it. She’s a self-described “mystery thriller lover, reader addict, obsessive” who watches all the true crime shows and binges the podcasts. But somewhere along her writing journey, she realized something was missing from the reading experience.

Breaking Down a Misunderstood Genre and Cozy Crime

When Emerson mentions cozy crime to the uninitiated, she gets the same reaction: 

“It’s murder. How can it be cozy?”

Fair question! But cozy crime isn’t about glorifying violence—quite the opposite.

“Basically, what we are talking about is a murder mystery without the onscreen violence or the on-the-page violence,” Emerson explains. “Think of Jessica Fletcher in ‘Murder, She Wrote’—an amateur sleuth investigating crimes that happen offscreen.”

The magic ingredients? No gore, no graphic scenes, just enough mystery to keep you guessing without giving you nightmares. Add quirky characters, small-town settings (often those adorable English villages), female friendships, and a sprinkle of dark humor, and you’ve got the perfect cozy crime recipe.

“It’s a read that you can read and go to bed and sleep fine,” she promises. “It’s a gentler type of murder mystery, and way more fun.”

How to Test Your Concept Without Breaking the Bank

Turning passion into profit takes more than just enthusiasm. It takes research. Emerson spent nearly a year developing her concept before launching.

“I probably spent about six to 12 months in the research phase,” she says. 

Luckily, as an author, she already had an audience to tap for insights.

“I was able to ask them, ‘If I paired a book with things that you open as you read, what kinds of things would you like to see?'”

The result? A monthly box featuring a carefully selected cozy crime novel, paired with 3-5 gifts tagged with specific page numbers. For example, when your detective makes herself a hot chocolate while pondering suspects, you’ll find a hot chocolate kit with instructions to open it right then. While she’s sipping, you’re sipping—creating a shared experience that bridges the gap between fiction and reality.

“I try to focus on the five senses,” Emerson explains. “What are the tastes of the book, what are the sights, what are the smells, what are the sounds?” 

These sensory elements inspire the gifts—everything from luxury bubble baths and scarves to candles, soaps, and cozy socks.

Each box also includes exclusive content: a mini-magazine with author insights, custom puzzles that tie directly to the story, and bookmarks you can’t find anywhere else.

Her Puzzle Challenge That Generated 475 Potential Subscribers

Need to build an email list from scratch? Take a page from Emerson’s playbook.

Instead of a traditional launch, she created an online “solve the mystery” challenge promoted through social media. Participants signed up for her mailing list, then spent a week solving daily puzzles on a website she built “in Mailer Light for nothing.”

“I hoped maybe I’d get about 50 or 60 people doing it, and it went wild,” she laughs. “By the end, I had about 475 people do this challenge.”

Everyone who participated received a discount code for the first box. When launch day arrived in October 2023, she had a ready-made audience of mystery lovers primed to subscribe and ended up converting about 1-2% of them.

Emerson notes that starting with a manageable number was actually a blessing.

“When you are doing those first fulfillments, actually having reasonable numbers that you can manage is helpful.” 

It’s given her time to refine processes while juggling “three boxes at a time”—the one just shipped, the one about to be fulfilled, and the one in planning stages.

What Running a Subscription Business Really Looks Like

Think running a subscription box business means neat shelves of inventory and a tidy fulfillment process? Think again!

“It’s chaos,” Emerson admits with a laugh. “I call it Christmas every month.”

Her entire house transforms into a fulfillment center during shipping week. 

“There’ll be one room that’s got all the folded-up boxes, and then I have to put them together. And then we’ve got another room where I’m wrapping the books.”

Unlike typical subscription boxes, where items are simply packed with decorative shred, each Cozy Read Books item requires individual wrapping with its corresponding page number. Books come with pleated wrapping and a wax seal featuring a little skull.

“It’s a beautiful thing when you receive it and a joy to unwrap,” Emerson says of the experience she’s created. “It’s definitely a vibe.”

Currently shipping to the UK, US, and Canada, Emerson has built an international customer base in less than six months, all while writing her own books and handling every aspect of the business herself.

Growth Strategies When Building a Sustainable Niche Business

With the fundamentals in place, Emerson’s next focus is growth and visibility.

“We are focusing on growth. That’s our next step. So shouting out loud and telling everybody we are here,” she explains.

She’s also refining her supplier relationships, prioritizing UK-based and small businesses, and striving for sustainability where possible. It’s a balancing act—keeping costs reasonable while staying true to her values.

For Emerson, success means creating something unique for people who need “that sort of reading me-time moment, but with a slight difference.”

How to Turn Multiple Interests into One Dream Business

Emerson hasn’t abandoned her writing career while building her subscription box business. In fact, the two complement each other perfectly.

Her favorite of her own books is The Only Way is Murder, the first in her Chloe Essex Cozy Mysteries series. Set in the coastal Essex villages where she grew up, it blends natural beauty with what she calls the “brash public face of Essex” (think UK’s “The Only Way is Essex”—similar to America’s “Jersey Shore”).

“Reviewers described the book as Bridget Jones meets Midsummer Murders,” she says. “It’s quite silly and funny in places. There’s a lot of that kind of British dark humor, and just a cracking mystery to solve at the end of the day.”

With two more books planned for this year, Emerson has created the perfect synergy between her writing and her subscription business, proving you don’t have to choose between passions when they can feed into each other.

For those of us who love a good mystery but could do without the nightmares, Cozy Read Books delivers the perfect blend of suspense, comfort, and interactive fun. As Emerson has proven, even murder can be cozy when packaged just right.