I Gave Away 2,000 Copies of My Book. Here's What Happened.

A few years ago I found myself connected to Sheryl Sandberg. Former COO of Facebook. Author of Lean In. One of the most recognizable business leaders in the world.

We did an interview together.

I will tell you exactly how at the end of this issue. First, let me show you the math behind the strangest marketing decision I ever made.

I launched The Art of Resilience in June of 2021. Since then I have given away roughly 2,000 copies.

Spread that over five years and it comes out to about 300 to 400 books a year. Some went to speaking events, where I hand out 50 to 100 at a time. Some shipped to clients. Some went to people who showed genuine interest. A few went to schools. A ton went out as seeds for prospecting and as thank you gifts. Every month, 10 to 25 books leave my office.

Why would anyone do that?

Because giving is the best form of receiving. Think about it. People do not throw away a book that shows up in the mail with their name on it. They read it. Then they send a note. "This was inspiring." "I'm putting this in my book club." "We'll consider you for our next event."

Sending books has a high return. Very few authors do it. They never set up a system. They get lazy. They do not see an immediate return so they quit. And here is my favorite excuse. "I need to get paid for every book. I need to sell it."

Cool. Here is what giving away 2,000 books has brought me back.

Three to five speaking opportunities per year. Each one pays roughly $5,000 to $8,000 depending on the setting. That alone is $15,000 to $40,000 a year. Then add the clients who came from a book landing on the right desk. Then add the referrals those clients sent.

Now the cost side. Each book runs me about $5. By the time it ships, $8 to $9. Over five years I have spent about $12,000 doing this.

I have made that back at least ten times over. And that number does not even count the credibility a physical book puts behind my name every time I walk into a room.

The point I'm trying to drive home...

Seed your book everywhere it might fit.

Send it to prospects. Send it to podcasters. Send it to event planners. Send it to anyone who might promote it. Then think bigger. Bedside tables at hotels. Coffee shops. A dental office waiting room. Literally anywhere people sit and wait is a place your book could be working for you.

Get your book out into the world. It brings back opportunities you cannot predict. And honestly, an email from a stranger who read it and felt something is pure gold.

Here is the part that drives me wild. Authors will spend $50,000 or more writing a book and cannot consider spending $5,000 to $10,000 learning how to market it and leverage it. So the copies sit in a garage collecting dust. A month after launch they decide their book is old news.

Old news. Have you read How to Win Friends and Influence People? Still selling. Think and Grow Rich? Still selling. Start With Why? Still selling.

Yes, those are classics. But think about what those authors did not have. They had no email list software, no podcasts, no LinkedIn, no print on demand. You have every tool they lacked and most authors use almost none of it.

You want proof that giving books away builds empires? Robin Sharma quit his law career at 25 and self-published his first book at a Kinko's copy shop. His mother edited it. He stored 2,000 copies in his kitchen and gave them out to family, friends, and colleagues. His second self-published book got noticed by the president of HarperCollins, who discovered it in a bookstore. That book was The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. It has sold millions of copies in dozens of languages, and it built the platform that later launched The 5AM Club.

Two thousand copies in a kitchen. Handed out one at a time. That was the seed of the whole thing.

A finished book that sits in boxes is a project you did not actually finish. Writing it was the start. Getting it into hands, year after year, is the real work. So many people start projects and never take them to the finish line. They get bored. They fear failing. They fear succeeding. They worry about what people will think. So a great book sits there doing not a whole lot.

Which brings me to this week's guest, who literally wrote the book on finishing.

This week I sat down with Jan Yager, sociologist and author of more than 73 books, including How to Finish Everything You Start. She has spent decades researching why people abandon their projects, and her research uncovered 22 distinct causes, from doing too much at once to the one that surprised me most, fear of success. If nobody ever sees your finished work, nobody can judge it.

Watch the full episode here: https://rising-authors.com/podcast

Now, About Sheryl Sandberg

I connected with someone who worked under Sheryl Sandberg. I sent them my book when it came out and her and her colleagues joined the run for refugees when we did our campaign. No pitch. No ask. Just the book and a note. That copy opened a door I could never have knocked on directly, and it led to me connecting with Sheryl herself.

Here's the full interview: https://youtu.be/nLbR2wuDvJc

One book. Nine dollars, shipped. You never know where a copy lands or who it puts you in the room with.

One More Thing

Everything I just laid out in this issue is about to become a service.

I'm launching a beta version of a book pack and ship service. Here is how it works. You ship a set of your books to our warehouse and we take care of everything else. Imagine your book showing up to a prospect, a client, a podcaster, or someone you really want in your corner, packaged like a Harry and David gift box. Not a padded mailer. A gift. Imagine what that does to your opportunities over time.

I'm running the beta for two groups. Authors who are launching, and authors who already have books and need help seeding and prospecting.

We are still working out the kinks and the details. I like to measure whether authors actually want it. So if this sounds like something you would use, DM me and I will put you on the waitlist.

If you need support building your author brand and showing up online and prepping for your book launch. Message me

Hussein