side quests 🛡️ (and first week book sales)

Hey friends 👋 

In this edition of the newsletter.

• how to estimate first-week book sales

• side quests

First Week Book Sales

I saw someone on Twitter looking to estimate first-week book sales projections. This seems like a sensible exercise, but it’s largely misguided.

I wrote a full explanation in the tweet below. BUT the key takeaways are as follows:

• Audience size will not be what truly defines the book's success

• I've seen someone create a bestseller with a private Instagram account and less than 300 followers

• Books, just like a fine wine, get better with age

Finally, when publishing with a bigger vision in mind, these first-week numbers are not what moves the needle long-term.

Side quests 🛡️

If you have ever played Legend of Zelda, you’ll know.

If you didn’t, you could complete optional side quests in the game.

They had no bearing on the main story or campaign.

But you would often get extra items useful to your main goal. I’ve loved this idea my whole life.

Every year, I have a side quest.

For example, when I was playing tennis competitively, I took up boxing 🥊 

My fitness was better than ever. My mental strength and resilience improved.

I took those lessons back to my tennis and had one of the best years of my career.

Recently, I spent a year experimenting with YouTube.

It’s made me a more confident communicator. This helps me immensely with my team and when talking to clients.

As Peter said above, a book can be a tremendous side quest for several reasons:

• growing your business

• self-discovery

• learning lessons that you can bring back to your main career

• becoming a thought leader

• telling your story

Will your side quest this year be a book? 🛡️

Patrick ✌️