Why Your Book Won't Sell: The Real Truth

12 Mar 2025 · 2 min

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1:58

TJ Walker argues that for most authors a book alone no longer creates fame or large sales; instead books typically monetize an existing audience. He advises prospective authors to build a substantial following (email list, blog readers, social media) before writing, citing James Clear as an example who built a large mailing list over years then wrote a bestselling book.

Chapters

Most of them kind of regret it now. This is still back in the day when people would fill up. You know, they buy the 2,000 copies, it's in their garage, five years later they're moving and their spouse is screaming at you idiot. Now we have to throw them all away because it's, it's really, really hard to sell a book. That's, that's kind of the bottom. And what my advice and it's changed recently. I'll tell you, the advice I've given people before is don't write a book until you have a significant following tribe of people who like you, care about you, respect you. And you know, the classic model is someone like a James clear of atomic habits. He didn't just start writing books at age 20. He wrote a fantastic, fantastic in depth 2000 word article, blog post and email newsletter. Every 10 days or so for four years, he built an email mailing list of between 500,000 and a million people. Then and only then did he write a book. And now it's sold, you know, 30 million copies. Fabulously wealthy and set for life. And I always ask people like, who's going to buy your. And if you look at any best selling list these days of nonfiction, pretty much everybody on the list is a famous celebrity. It's a Howard Stern, it's a Sean Hannity, it's a politician who's running for president. People who are already in the media have millions of followers on Twitter, Facebook, millions on their, on their YouTube channel. So my recommendation for the last, you know, 20 years or so has been a book isn't going to make you famous the way it could. You know, 45 years, it could be Wayne Dyer, be a nobody, go on the Tonight show, one appearance or go on Oprah. Boom, you can become a best seller and make your career. These days I see books as ways of monetizing a relationship you have with an audience already. That's my advice.