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Reader, The San Diego Library hosts weekly swing dancing lessons. A friend suggested we go try it out. After breaking my brain trying to understand the 6-count footwork, I left the room and went exploring… andddd stumbled upon The Harvey Rare Book Room, which I didn’t even know existed… Amazing! A genuine excuse I could give my dance partner not to keep dancing. Obviously I HAD to explore it!
who knew we had the world’s smallest book here in the San Diego Library! and so I present to you the world’s smallest book (yes it’s that little speck next to the dime)
Today’s 321 is inspired by my recent interview with 12-MILLION-copies-sold author of Surrounded by Idiots, Thomas Erikson. 3 Secrets: 1. How Thomas moved his first 10,000 copies After rejections from dozens of publishers, Thomas self-published Surrounded By Idiots. He paid for everything himself, printing 2,000 copies in the first run. His plan was to hand them out 1, 2, and 5 at a time to the clients he did team consulting with. He personally handed out books until he reached 10,000 copies in the wild in his home country of Sweden. Word of mouth took over, which carried him to 1.5 million readers across Sweden (which only has 10 million people). It was then that US publisher, Macmillan approached him to bring the book stateside. 2 big takeaways Thomas shares from his own author journey:
Thomas shared a fun way to come up with an eye-catching title. Ask AI to make an annoying version of it! As Thomas mentions in our chat, I first thought he was a huge bully based on his book title! How egotistical can you get?! but, as does happen more often than I’d like to admit, I was so very wrong in judging the book by its cover. Point being, his title is polarizing to the point where you have to pick up his book and figure out what it means. Thomas says to spend time brainstorming annoying versions of your next title as a way to make it stand out. 3. Don’t start a podcast This one is actually inspired by a recent chat with one of our authors. “2026 is the year I go all in” followed by a list of their various planned marketing activities which included launching a whole new podcast. “Why do you want to start the podcast?” I asked. “To promote the book!” they said. To make it clear, launching a podcast is almost like launching a whole new book. If the book doesn’t have a huge fan-base yet, all you’ll do is create this whole other thing you now have to figure out how to market too. “Build it and they will come” does not apply to your podcast. Good reasons to launch a podcast: This also goes back to my 3 reasons rule. When you’re just getting started, if you don’t have 3 ways a marketing activity can pay off, don’t pursue it. If you start a podcast for the right reasons, you’ll stick with it through those first 3 years when no one is listening except your mom. (Thanks Mom!) 2 Links
1 Quote What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure. with love and sincere appreciation,
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