Book Update #8: Turning Up The Heat 3 Weeks to Launch

In 21 short days, the 4-year project of bringing Building a Second Brain to life will come to a conclusion. 

We will find out once and for all how much potential this idea has to enter the mainstream conversation around what it means to be productive and creative in today’s world.

We have confirmed about 5,000 pre-orders so far. But I estimate the true total is quite a bit higher if we count those who didn’t submit their receipt to us. This is an outstanding outcome already and starts to put us in the running for the most important bestseller lists at The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Thank you to all of you who have stepped up and made a pre-order. Your commitment to making this book a success means everything to me. 

And it’s not over yet! We have a new version of the website, including a treasure trove of pre-order bonuses based on how many books you pre-order. 

In this update, you’ll hear about new international publishing deals (and why they’re so meaningful to me), my latest interviews about Building a Second Brain, our first London meetup, and a special request for you.    

New international publishing deals

I recently announced international publishing deals in several new countries, including Italy, the Czech Republic, and Brazil. These countries join Taiwan, China, the UK, and several others I’ve not officially announced. This means the book will launch in at least 10 countries and languages, a stunning development that is unusual for a first-time author writing about a new topic. Very promising!

The Brazil deal was especially meaningful for me. My mother is Brazilian, from São Paulo, and I spent many summer and winter breaks there from the time I was a toddler. Portuguese was the language my mother spoke to me as she rocked me in her arms, and it lives in a special place inside of me, like a language of the heart.

My grandfather Nehemias Spereta Vassão was a journalist in São Paulo and spent decades writing for Quatro Rodas, a prominent automotive magazine. He had left his small, sleepy inland town to get an education and enter a creative, knowledge-based line of work in the big city. And that decision reverberates across the generations of our family. We had the opportunity to receive an education, travel to other countries, and enjoy a high standard of living because of his courage.

I remember hearing stories of his escapades covering the release of new car designs for the magazine. He would go undercover and sneak into closed racetracks where they were being tested, trying to find some secret details or perhaps take a surreptitious photo of the new model. 

He was once shot at by guards as he tried to flee. His example demonstrated to me that journalism was more than sitting at a desk and reading. It was a process of engaging deeply with the real world and going where few others dared to go. I often think about my own writing in terms of reporting “from the field” on underappreciated frontiers of personal development.

Nehemias passed away a decade ago, but I feel so proud to be able to see my book available in Portuguese in the bookstores he would have walked past on his way to work. Brazil is a country with tremendous problems but also tremendous potential, and I am certain that having a Second Brain will unlock that potential for many.

Book press tour

We’ve also begun releasing the first interviews as part of the press tour for the book:

• Propane Fitness Podcast: I talked about how Second Brains are especially relevant to coaches, trainers, and others who bill hourly but have trouble scaling their businesses
• The Louis & Kyle Show: I shared why we are all content creators now and what that means for our careers
• DISCO’s Live Learning Empire Series: I recapped my journey of building a business around “live learning”
• Creative Elements: I talked about how to listen to signals from your environment to tell you what to do next in life and at work

I’d appreciate it if you shared any of these on social media or with anyone you think might benefit.

I’m currently in London filming multiple interviews with YouTubers, creators, and other experts in the field of productivity and knowledge management. We’ll be releasing those soon, but in the meantime, you can watch a sneak peek on Ali Abdaal’s vlog of our visit to his studio: