OVERVIEW

It’s been over six years since I wrote Thrive in early 2018. Since then, I’ve given many formal presentations of the book, used the ideas in hundreds of coaching calls, and cataloged many anecdotes that I would have included in the to-be-written second edition.

I have also learned a lot about the self-published book industry, starting with the amount of effort it takes to get your book into written form (half the battle) and then navigating the Amazon marketplace (the other half of the battle). In the end, I decided not to publish a formal second edition. Instead, I am creating a series of blog posts that contain a favorite story that has emerged about each chapter over the past six years. At the end of this series, you’ll effectively have the whole Revisited Edition – for free!

More than 5,000 copies of the book have been sold when you add up the sales from all three formats: hardcover, Kindle, and audiobook. Somewhat surprisingly, the sales in each channel are about even. I’ve learned that there are three separate tribes:

• Hardcover – “I read with a highlighter, and I love going back to look at my notes.”
• Kindle – “I read on the train, and I have every book that I’ve ever read with me.”
• Audiobook – “I listen while I drive, and the pain of the commute disappears.”

Many people have also told me of a small-but-mighty fourth tribe: those that have the hardcover and read it while I am narrating it out loud (the audiobook) simultaneously. These folks feel like they retain the material longer if they see it and hear it at the same time. Which tribe are you in?

One thing most readers seem to share is their love for short & sweet. You’ll see it in the reviews and in the Kindle statistics – most people read the whole book – which I attribute to its 100 total pages, partitioned into short chapters of 7-8 pages. Word to the wise: you can write a longer book, and people may buy it, but they probably won’t finish. What the readers want: get to the point!

Of course, one reader quickly humbled me when he mentioned that he had bought the book. “I didn’t know you lived in Alaska. Me, too!” He would have known this by reading page 0, where I dedicate the book to my teacher in an Anchorage elementary school. Now that is short & sweet!

To receive a copy of the Revisited Edition of Thrive at the end of this 14-part series please click here.