Who would buy a book written by someone they never heard of telling them how to be successful? I am that nobody.
If I want to be technically accurate the title of this should be why I wrote two books I knew no one would read because What Next wasn’t my first book (if you read What Next you’ll find out what my first book was).
Let’s start with why I knew no one would read these books. The main reason is because I’m a nobody (I even have a chapter called A Bunch of Nobodies).
Try this scenario, you’re in a book store and see two books about success but only have enough money to buy one. Would you buy the one written by someone you never heard of and know nothing about, or the one written by the wildly successful billionaire who is known throughout the world? I read a lot of books like the latter and I couldn’t relate. Even if the author started with less than I did (which would be hard but not impossible) I still couldn’t relate.
Another reason I knew no one would read these books is related to the first reason — no agent or publisher would give me a second look and many wouldn’t even give me a first look. The main reason was — “who would buy a book like this from you? Nobody knows who you are.” I knew the stigma of self-publishing relegated me to obscurity (I’ve read self published books and I understand where the perception of low quality comes from) but it was my only option.
If those are the reasons I believed no one would read my books why did I write them anyway?
I wrote these books because I ask What Next, because I’m curious enough to wonder “what if,” adventurous enough to try to find out, and willing to take a certain amount of risk to see it through. These were the traits I saw in wildly successful people and I believe that if you can cultivate those skills, you too can achieve more than you ever imagined. The success I saw came from people who were often called crazy but did it anyway. I knew getting readers would be difficult but I did it anyway.
I wanted to write a book about success from a normal person’s perspective without setting the bar ridiculously high. That doesn’t mean that I don’t aim ridiculously high, it just means I’m realistic. That’s why I couldn’t relate to the books written by billionaires.
My belief that no one would buy my book has been somewhat proved correct as sales of What Next were not setting any records. Actually they were kind of slow. Alright, to be honest sales have been pathetic. But that hasn’t stopped me from deciding this: I’m writing another book. As Gary Vaynerchuk told me in an interview I did for my blog years ago, “If something (an idea) is sticking around for a long time it tends to get executed.” Well this new book has stuck around for years now and it’s time I execute.
What idea has been sticking around in your mind and when will you execute?