a single source, nothing corroborates it
Warm the list in the gap before release
Fill the run-up with articles, tutorials and videos on the subject, then stage the reveal in steps the way a tour is announced, so each message converts interest into a decision. Point new readers at your single best essay as the entry point, and give away something structurally odd rather than another free ebook.
The method
- 01
Point pre-launch readers at your single best-performing essay as the introduction to the product
- 02
The day before launch, publish a preview post that walks through the table of contents, length and every bundled extra, so buyers arrive already sold
- 03
Fill the gap between announcement and release with a steady run of articles, tutorials and videos on the book's subject
- 04
Beat lead-magnet blindness by giving away something structurally unusual rather than another free ebook or email course.
- 05
Stage the reveal the way a band rolls out a tour: first the fact that something is coming, then the dates and locations, then tickets on sale, so each step converts interest into a decision.
What it returned
- 155
Preview posted the day before launch listing a 155-page, 34,000-word book plus resources, video tutorials and eleven interviews
- 6,000
Public teardowns of well-known apps' first-run experiences took him from zero to 6,000 subscribers starting November 2013
Readers directed to an article published the previous week as the best entry point to the book
Opened with a three-minute timelapse, sped up eight times, of him designing the book's landing page
Sources
- How to build demand before you launchJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · How to build demand before you launch · undated
- A first look at AuthorityNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · A Preview · 2013-05-20
- My new book: The App Design HandbookNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · The Timelapse · 2012-07-25
- How Samuel Hulick made over $37,000 with his self-published bookNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · User Onboard: Getting from 0 to 6,000 subscribers · 2014-06-09
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in email
- Move the audience you rent onto a list you own7 unconnected
- Hold the schedule you promised to hold5 unconnected
- Decide whether cold email is worth what it signals5 unconnected · contested
- Settle who the publication is for before growing it5 unconnected
- Open the list before the product is real4 unconnected
- Send each subscriber the thing they told you they want4 unconnected