You can spend a year writing a book.. and still launch it to crickets.

Here's why.

Asking a stranger to buy your book is a big ask. They don't know you. They can't see inside the book. And you want money up front.

So you launch.. and it's quiet. The page just sits there. You keep checking. Nothing moves.

Think about it like a swimming pool.

Asking a stranger to buy is like yelling at someone to jump into the deep end of a cold pool. They don't know how deep it is. They don't know if it's freezing. So they stand at the edge.

Nobody jumps in the deep end on day one.

But almost anyone will dip a toe in the shallow end.

That's the whole job of the first two chapters.

You give them away for free. All it costs is an email. That's the shallow end. A tiny yes that's easy to say.

And here's where it gets fun.

There's a quirk in how the brain works. When you start something and don't get to finish it, it tugs at you. The unfinished story sits in the back of your head and won't quite leave you alone.

So those two chapters get the reader going.. and then leave them hanging. That little itch to find out what happens is doing the selling for you.

There's another one underneath it too. Once someone says one small yes, the next yes comes easier. They've already started reading. In their own head, they're a reader now. Buying the rest is just staying who they already are.

So when launch day comes, there's no cold pool to jump into. They're already standing in the water.

I set this up recently for an author.

Leads are coming in for under a dollar each.

And the part I really like.. some of them are buying the book straight from the follow-up emails, before the launch even shows up.

That's about as good as it gets.

A reader who's two chapters deep doesn't wonder "should I buy this?" They wonder "where's the rest?"

Get them in the shallow end first. The deep end takes care of itself.

Try it on your next book launch.

Or have me build it for you.

🚀

​- James