Release Year, Not Release Day

Why the first weeks tell you nothing about whether your book will last.

I released The Art of Unwriting last month and watched the numbers like they would say something. You have nothing else to measure it with anyway, aside from a few reactions. Downloads went up during the release, but a few weeks later they didn’t.

The first day tells you almost nothing. Neither does the first week or month. A book needs time to find what it’s looking for.

It’s common that someone downloads it, reads three pages, puts it down. Someone else finds it six months later because a friend mentioned something. Another person reads it twice, lets it sit with them, and only mentions it to someone a year later.

The book is moving through ways that don’t show up in your dashboard. Recommendations, conversations, someone mentioning it to others months later. It might even become the discussion of the month within book clubs.

Two years after release is a more interesting check-in moment than your release day. In that sense, speaking of a release year might be better than calling it a release day.

By then, there might be a moment to pivot if needed. Does it need a relaunch? Is it worth getting in touch with a publisher? Would you pay a freelancer to set up some ads? You’ll know better whether the book is sustaining itself or whether it needs something else from somebody.

In the meantime, you’re making it easier for the book to move. You’re sharing fragments and participating in everything the book is already doing.

Anyone can manufacture a spike in downloads in the first weeks. Some money for ads or an influencer with followers doesn’t require deep quality.

The “work” seems to be helping the book sustain itself at some point. Helping it keep attracting new readers because it’s just so bloody good. You simply remain available to what the book is drawing toward itself.

Two years is a reasonable wait before you know anything. Could be longer, could be shorter. But what unfolds before that is mostly invisible. The book is finding its people. They’re finding each other.