Write Useful Books: A modern approach to designing and refining recommendable nonfiction

by Rob Fitzpatrick

When folks started asking how to preorder my new book, instead of whipping up a landing page, I decided to try this alternative opt-in technique. There is no landing page or website for the book. Just a few photos and an email address! I sent out a few tweets telling people to email me if they were interested, plus one post each on Facebook and Instagram, for a total of 358 likes, 9 shares, and 25 comments. In 24 hours, 90 people had emailed to request a pre-sale link. And more keep coming in. It’s a lightly manual process, but it also means that I get to read every email folks send. Which brings me to the two best parts. First, if you think getting waiting list signups feels good, getting actual emails with personalized messages from people who are excited to buy your thing is NEXT LEVEL. I’m hearing from folks I haven’t talked to in ages. People are asking to buy multiple copies as gifts for friends and coworkers. Second, when it comes time to launch, I plan to actually reply to all of the emails that folks sent in. I know that my emails will reach their inboxes because they’re being sent by a human. Plus, my message will show up as a reply to an email that they sent ME, which is safely prioritized as “not spam” as well as being more likely to stand out in their inbox.[37]