Last week I asked you to be among the very first people to pre-order my new book Building a Second Brain….and boy did you deliver!
The book quickly climbed the bestseller charts in the early morning hours last Tuesday, hitting the #1 spot in all 3 of its categories on Amazon.
We peaked at #65 across the entire Kindle store, which means for a brief moment it was the 65th best-selling ebook in the world! It was so thrilling to wake up and see that “Best Seller” badge in the corner.
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Cracking the Top 100 in the Kindle Store is a stupendous achievement. Almost unheard of for pre-orders of a book 9 months out from the release date. We’re already receiving a flurry of interest from foreign publishers, potential distributors, and corporate buyers alike based on these results alone.
I don’t actually know how many pre-orders were made since only the publisher has access to the backend details. But my very rough estimation is that there were approximately between 4,000–5,000 in just the first week!
Which means…we are already halfway to our goal of 10,000! I honestly can’t believe it. It took a couple days to fully sink in. I was driving home from the gym on Thursday afternoon and all the anticipation from so many months of work, wondering whether people would respond to this first launch, hit me all at once in an overwhelming wave of relief and gratitude.
Thank you so much for stepping forward and taking such massive, decisive action at this pivotal moment. It means everything to me.
And if you haven’t secured your own copy, our first and best pre-order bonus is available only for pre-orders made in the next week (up until Nov. 30): an invite to join the first-ever virtual workshop in which I’ll teach the entire Building a Second Brain Method in just 3 hours.
It’s taken 5 years, 12 cohorts, and countless iterations on this material for me to feel confident I know what the essential parts of Building a Second Brain are. Only now that the manuscript is locked and loaded can I distill what normally takes 5 weeks of intense, live cohort learning into a single 3-hour workshop.
Today we’re unveiling the new buildingasecondbrain.com website, which includes links to everywhere you can buy the book (including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Indiebound). We’ll add others as they become available.
All you have to do is pre-order the book (in any format and from any sales outlet) before Nov. 30, 2021, and follow these step-by-step instructions for how to submit your proof of purchase and reserve your bonus:
We’ve received a lot of questions about pre-orders, and I’d like to address the most common ones.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. I PRE-ORDERED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND MY ORDER WAS CANCELLED. WHAT GIVES?
All pre-orders made through Amazon UK were cancelled this week. I had no advance warning of this, and I’m sorry for the confusion. This happened due to some imminent, very exciting news that I will share as soon as it’s official.
If you miss the Nov. 30 deadline to get access to the virtual BASB workshop, don’t worry – your pre-order will still qualify for access to the workshop recording when it’s eventually released. And in the coming months we will release a wide range of pre-order bonuses for purchases from 1 to 1,000 books, and any pre-order will qualify.
2. WHY CAN’T I PRE-ORDER THE BOOK IN MY COUNTRY?
Our ultimate goal is to make this book available in every country in the world we can. I’m determined to make that happen, but it will take time.
The publishing industry is a vast, complex network of relationships, distribution and sales channels, contractual agreements, and licensing rights. Each publisher purchases rights to a certain country or region, and then is only allowed to sell it in that region.
The reason we opened pre-orders so early, primarily in the U.S., and focused on Amazon is to climb the bestseller lists, make a splash, and use the momentum from that initial wave in negotiations with foreign publishers, which are ongoing.
By purchasing the U.S. Kindle or hardcover versions from any retailer, you are adding to that snowball of momentum and giving weight to my literary agency’s negotiations on my behalf.
Basically, we are focusing our efforts on the biggest book market in the world, the United States, to prove to publishers and distributors around the world that there is existing demand for this book. As soon as we have a way to distribute the book in your country, we will.
3. WHY CAN’T I PRE-ORDER THE BOOK THROUGH MY PREFERRED RETAIL OUTLET?
We are also determined to make this book available in every possible channel we can. From online book sites to corporate chains to small independent shops.
I know many of you prefer to buy through a small, local, and/or independent bookstore, and I fully support that. Currently it is available for sale through Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Indiebound. Other outlets take more time to begin making pre-orders available, but I will keep updating the BASB website as others come online.
For our purposes, all sales of the book through any channel and in any format matter. So I’ve decided that we will honor any and all pre-order incentives (subject to deadlines and quantity limits) regardless of where you purchase the book.
4. WILL YOU BE RELEASING AN AUDIOBOOK VERSION?
We are also committed to translating the book into every format available, including audiobook. But I want to record the audiobook myself, with my own voice, so that will also take some time.
It also depends on the sales momentum of the ebook and hardcover versions. Showing signs of success there will help us secure better terms and distribution rights for the audiobook as well.
In summary…
Thank you for making this sales spike happen – and for keeping it going!
You’re helping us bring the Second Brain movement to as many people as possible – in an accessible format for everyone.
More updates soon,
Tiago
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