Ah, right, yes! I think there’s potentially a place for both. If I think about a promotion strategy, there’s something to be said for ensuring the book has a big initial print run/has a shot at the NYT bestseller list or similar.
On a parallel path, we should also aim for this to be a sustained seller, growing to sell hundreds of thousands or even millions of copies. Endorsements and podcast appearances can help, but nothing achieves that kind of momentum without also having word of mouth.
To maximize our potential surface area for those critical person-to-person referrals, you probably want to figure out how to distribute as many copies as humanly possible. If the Gates Foundation wants to buy 500 copies, we shouldn’t care too much that it won’t be the correct type of sale for the NYT chart—that kind of distribution pays back in other ways.
I focus on both upfront ‘pop’ and long-term sales because most book launch efforts are very short-lived. If they don’t sell well to start, they kind of flame out. If we have a plan for both short-term hype building and long-term sustainable and growing sales, we might be able to succeed at hitting big sales milestones even without a bestseller list appearance.
Ah, right, yes! I think there’s potentially a place for both. If I think about a promotion strategy, there’s something to be said for ensuring the book has a big initial print run/has a shot at the NYT bestseller list or similar.
On a parallel path, we should also aim for this to be a sustained seller, growing to sell hundreds of thousands or even millions of copies. Endorsements and podcast appearances can help, but nothing achieves that kind of momentum without also having word of mouth.
To maximize our potential surface area for those critical person-to-person referrals, you probably want to figure out how to distribute as many copies as humanly possible. If the Gates Foundation wants to buy 500 copies, we shouldn’t care too much that it won’t be the correct type of sale for the NYT chart—that kind of distribution pays back in other ways.
I focus on both upfront ‘pop’ and long-term sales because most book launch efforts are very short-lived. If they don’t sell well to start, they kind of flame out. If we have a plan for both short-term hype building and long-term sustainable and growing sales, we might be able to succeed at hitting big sales milestones even without a bestseller list appearance.