Category: Promotion
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From 0 to 3,000 book sales
I recently found out I’d sold over 3,000 copies of Creative Doing in under two years. My goal is to promote the book until I sell 10,000 copies, a number which represents the point where people are discussing it via word of mouth. I am well on my way towards it. I have been putting…
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On my 366th day at Figma
Today I ran a distribution workshop for the editorial team. To prepare, I also dropped in a dozen thought starters for promoting two posts in a distribution workshop I run. I also promoted a blog post for a feature that our team announced today. I was particularly hands on with this promotion and we tried…
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Stick around until you find the lightbulb moment
While Marques Brownlee is well-known for his influence in technology now, his first YouTube video wasn’t even about tech. It was a video of his golf swing, and a request for analysis. Marques eventually started filming tech tutorials though, and he saw a lightbulb moment a dozen videos in, when a video of him installing…
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Polished packaging vs. punk packaging
Last night, Donald Glover announced Atavista, the finished version of an album he had previously released. He released the original version, entitled 3.15.20, with no announcement at the beginning of the pandemic. On the original version, songs had timestamps for titles (e.g., a song might be entitled, “24.19”), making it more difficult for people to…
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Apple’s bad ad
Two words you don’t see together very often: Apple apologizes. Recently, Apple released a new commercial intended as a sequel to its iconic 1984 commercial. Instead, it completely fell flat. It’s not just that Apple made a misstep, which seems to be happening more often lately. It’s more that its usual defenders aren’t as vocal,…
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Be your own co-founder (or publisher, or distributor, etc.)
The most effective way to get something done is to do it yourself. Rely only on yourself, and pick up all the skills you need along the way. Scope things down. Paul Graham writes, “I’m skeptical when people tell me they’re very determined to make their startup succeed, but they can’t find a technical cofounder.…
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The database stance
Early into my career, I worked as an apprentice with Ryan Leslie. He saw social media algorithms shrink organic reach, he observed how every tour he went on required a press run, and he decided there was a better way. In marketing, these practices are known as renting an audience. He resolved to build direct…
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Find spaces to talk about your ideas
Promoting your work actually makes an impact. Anne Trubek notes, after publishing 90 books, “I can trace a pretty, if not completely, clear line between an author’s marketing prowess and effort and sales.” There are a lot of people who would probably want to learn more—as soon as they are aware of it and can…
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Notes on promotion, at the book fair
Printed Matter’s New York Art Book Fair is made up of 36,000 square feet of books and the people who print and publish them. If you like books, or art, it’s a great place to be. Events are great temporary spaces and occasions to bring a group of people together (known in marketing as activation).…
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What can you point to?
In Studs Terkel’s Working, a steel mill worker named Mike Lefevre says, “Picasso can point to a painting. What can I point to? A writer can point to a book. Everybody should have something to point to.” Sometimes, the work isn’t as concrete as a building. If your contribution was suggesting a change in direction…