The Pull of Trilogies

On multiple entry points and the movement they allow.

I keep coming back to book and product trilogies. I wasn’t entirely sure why, so I wrote this to find out.

Three can be magic. Sometimes two works just fine. Sometimes five. But there’s something about having multiple entry points that keeps surfacing.

When I only had one book and one offering, everything had to carry too much weight. The book had to be everything. The coaching had to serve everyone. Nothing had room to breathe.

Then I started thinking about trilogies as a way of providing different doorways into the same space.

Someone might find you through a book. Someone else through a workshop. Another person through a community. They’re all moving toward the same ever-changing center, just from different angles.

I tried to define what makes a trilogy work and kept hitting walls because it’s not strictly about three. I guess it’s about having enough options that people can find their way in. And having those options talk to each other.

Multiple entry points give people apparent choice. They can pick what feels right for their moment.

It adds substance too. Three things feel more established than one. More professional, maybe. Like you’ve thought it through, which you likely did.

I think the most interesting effect of trilogy-thinking, is the movement is allows. When you have different components, whether that’s books, offerings, or channels like a newsletter and social media, they start interacting. One feeds the other. People move between them naturally.

That’s when marketing turns into unmarketing. The work does the moving for you. It flows through you, around you, beyond you. We think we’re doing it, but really we’re watching things orbit each other. They give each other gravity. Once you see that movement, you can provide what else it requires instead of forcing something new into it.