I’ve been writing on this blog for over 20 years. I’ve also released some open-source and a few apps. You have probably never heard of them.
But, when I decided to write a book in January 2024, I joined the Useful Books community, which stresses doing marketing and product design (on your book) up front. It’s paid off.
I opened Swimming in Tech Debt for pre-sales a week ago. On Monday, I woke up to being #1 in my category on Amazon.
In retrospect, these were the most important marketing moves I did:
- Pick an audience (tech team leads) and then pick a conversation about a problem that they regularly have (tech debt) and write the book that would be your solution to that problem (what you would say in that conversation). The goal is to be recommended by your readers when the topic comes up.
- Write in public and share it. I started in January 2024 and shared what I had in February and March. If I had not done that, the book would be 50 pages and finished in June 2024. It wouldn’t be as good and no one would have heard of it (see my previous projects).
- Increase the surface area of luck. I posted my chapters in all of my communities to get feedback. Gergely Orosz happened to see it and asked me to pitch for his newsletter that reaches more than one million readers (many in my target audience).
- Build an e-mail list. I used Kit (formerly ConvertKit). That list is the reason I reached #1 in my category today. They have been reading chapters and giving feedback all along, so I am very encouraged that they bought the book (because they know it best).
I am keeping the book priced low during pre-sales, I would appreciate if you would buy a copy. It will go to its regular price in a couple of weeks.