I outlined my strategy for the Inner Workout book launch in a previous report:
1. Lean on my existing community.
2. Take a crescendo approach to promotion.
3. Lean on experts to do the heavy lifting in their areas of expertise.
Today’s report is all about the crescendo* approach to promotion and the results it got me.
*For the non-musicians, a crescendo is a musical term where you play softly and increase the volume over a period of time.
Starting with a bang
If we’re getting technical, I got loud before I got quiet. I told my nearest and dearest as soon as I found out the book was available for pre-order in early November, but I didn’t share the link publicly until my 30th birthday on November 28. I invited people to pre-order via both newsletters, on Instagram, and on LinkedIn.
The book became a #1 new release in one of the Amazon categories, which, honestly, isn’t that impressive of a feat. It was still a fun little milestone. Happy birthday to me!
Getting quiet
And then…I didn’t share publicly again until February.
My original plan was to pick up promotion in January, but my publicist said that starting promotion 6-8 weeks pre-launch is the sweet spot. I leaned closer to six weeks.
Most of us have heard the insight that people need to hear about something seven times before taking action. I wanted people to hear about the book enough times to pre-order but not enough times to get bored with the book conversation before it even launched.
So, unless you were a subscriber to The Process Report, you weren’t seeing me sell the book.
Whisper campaign
In February, we launched the burnout season of Inner Warmup. I talked with brilliant guests, opened up about my most recent brush with burnout, and shared how the concepts from the book helped me heal. The season provided a ton of free value while soft-selling the book.
February is also when I started linking to the book in every Self-Care Sunday newsletter and focusing on the book launch here.
The name of the game here was awareness building.
Getting loud
I turned up the volume on March 5th. Daily LinkedIn and Instagram posts. Reposting Stories. Podcasts appearances. I even posted on my personal Facebook—something I rarely do—one week before launch and the day off launch.
It really built a buzz that was honestly overstimulating to me at times. I was fielding tags, DMs, and comments on too many platforms. It was a good problem to have, but I had to double down on my digital wellbeing practices.
The promotion noisemaking came to a head during launch week, with six podcast guest appearances, social posts, emails, a Chicago launch event, and a virtual launch event.
The result? 353 books sold in the first week, which includes pre-orders.
I wasn’t sure how to ground this number. Should I celebrate? Be disappointed? One on hand, I haven’t sold an Inner Workout product to that many individuals since our Kickstarter campaign. On the other hand, bestselling books sell 5,000 - 10,000 books in their first week.
Then I did some digging and saw a stat (can’t find the source) that most non-fiction books sell 250 - 350 copies in the first year. Inner Workout exceeded that in a week! And there’s still plenty of room to grow into my goal of Inner Workout being a book that has legs.
Thoughts on pre and post launch strategy, what I’d do differently, and what the heck happened in Q1 to come in future Process Reports, but I think this is enough for today!
Let’s process together
Add me to your support system for business coaching and consulting
Find business community in the Lifestyle Business League
Get on the waitlist for group coaching through Begin Within
Invite me to speak at your organization
Take care with the Inner Workout Book