3 secrets, 2 links, 1 book

Reader,

The Strathdee cheering squad watching my dad win Gold at the Maryland Pickleball Senior Olympics this weekend.

3 Secrets
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​1. Get mentioned in other people’s books

A sneaky way to get a trusted source to recommend your book.

What better way to convince a reader your book is worth it than a recommendation from an author they already trust?

In fact this is the #1 way I build my bookshelf.

This takes time, someone has to read your book, then later write a book of their own that mentions it.

A way you may be able to speed up the process:
​Qwoted has a whole section on their website dedicated to submitting your book as a source for other authors to use in their writing.

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2. Pirate your own book

Paulo Coelho (writer of The Alchemist) actively used BitTorrent to pirate his own books. In 2006, he began uploading digital versions of his work to file-sharing networks.
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He found that whenever he pirated his works, the paid versions did significantly better.
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As one author puts it “Obscurity is a bigger threat than piracy.”

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3. The truth about Amazon Advertising for authors in 2026

Advertising adds fuel to the fire but it rarely starts one.

Based on our own data, 1 in 100 books may move more than 100 copies in any given month as a direct result of Amazon Ads WITHOUT any additional marketing.

Line up 1,000+ real Amazon orders from different shoppers at launch and your ads will perform MUCH better than a cold start, although as we all know – that’s easier said than done.

If your goal is to win clients, the math might work.

But if your goal is to make a living from your writing, I’d put your budget into more grassroots strategy.

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2 Links

1. Maya just wanted her logo as a PNG, not a JPG. She dragged it into an online converter, waited through a progress bar, and got back a file that downloaded as a ZIP for some reason. The second site demanded her email and a “free trial.” The third silently converted it to a PNG that was somehow still 4MB and faintly blurry. Forty minutes later, she discovered FileForge could do the whole thing with a right-click and quietly closed all eleven browser tabs. Download the free chrome extension here.
2. BTB183: Millions of Books Sold: Eric Ries on The Lean Startup, Incorruptible, Book Launches, and Reader-Driven Growth. We’re back with Eric Ries, entrepreneur, startup thinker, and author of the bestselling books The Lean Startup and Incorruptible. With millions of books sold and ideas that have influenced founders, executives, and organizations around the world, Eric joins us again to share how he approached building not just successful books, but movements around ideas. Listen here.​​

1 Book

​Losing my Virginity. Entrepreneurship for the rest of us.

The book that has inspired my own journey in life more than anything.

Richard Branson seems to actually ENJOY his life as an entrepreneur vs. the hustle or just absurd culture of the Zucks and the Musks.

A billionaire that seems like a genuinely good human.

5 stars.

Alex
​BeforeTheBestseller | ShelfLife​
alex@getshelflife.com
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