Millions of Books Sold: Eric Ries on The Lean Startup, Incorruptible, Book Launches, and Reader-Driven Growth | Before the Bestseller 183


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.

In this episode, we explore how Eric applied startup principles to book publishing, audience building, and idea development long before The Lean Startup became a bestseller. We discuss testing ideas through talks and feedback loops, treating readers as customers, building communities around a message, the lessons he learned from traditional publishing, his record-setting Kickstarter campaign for The Leader’s Guide, and why saying “yes” to small opportunities helped create momentum. Eric also shares his perspective on books as tools for creating legitimacy around ideas, the difference between audience size and audience connection, and why practice often matters far more than people realize.

Tune in to hear how Eric Ries turned an idea into a movement and why reaching more readers often starts with serving the ones already paying attention. 

Go to www.incorruptible.com to discover more about the book and access the limited-time pre-order bonuses. 

Visit your local bookstore to pick up a copy of Eric’s books and support independent booksellers.

Check out Eric’s books on Amazon here:

Incorruptible – https://a.co/d/0cWIpo70

Take a second to follow, review, or share this with someone who might find it useful. Your support helps more people discover the show.

Get the popular weekly book marketing 3-2-1 and get access to our $299 Amazon Ads course when you subscribe to our newsletter here: https://getshelflife.com/category/newsletter/

Head to our new website for more content and updates: www.getshelflife.com

If you’re interested in connecting further or have any questions, feel free to email me at Alex@getshelflife.com

Alex Strathdee
BeforeTheBestseller | AdvancedAmazonAds

Recent PoDCASTS

3 secrets, 2 links, 1 book

Reader,Today is a big day… 3 Secrets1. Today is a big day…because Amazon just added the ability to directly advertise your audiobook with your Amazon Ads. Before today, if someone clicked on your ad and bought an audiobook, there was no way to know it came from the ad. Now you can send people directly to the audiobook product page. Now you can see exactly how many audiobook orders are coming from those who clicked on your ads. For some authors, audiobook listeners might make up as much as…

LISTEN NOW

tips to sell 3 million copies from Mark Wolynn (It Didn’t Start With You)

September 2026 My team says these need a format upgrade. Let me know what you think! This week on the pod, we had Mark Wolynn talking about how he sold 3 million copies of It Didn’t Start With You. He left us with so many book-marketing gems that it was hard to pick just 3… 3 | Book-marketing secrets 1. “I wrote the book as a manual for my students” “I lived and breathed and sat in the ditches with this material.” Time and time again, this is what I hear from top selling self-help…

LISTEN NOW

Subscribe for a copy of Before the Bestseller and level up your book marketing today!

Fill out the form below, and you’ll receive your copy shortly.