Have I Earned It?
It’s launch day for Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers
Exciting!
Today is a big, exciting day for me. It’s also a weird, awkward day.
It’s exciting because the book I’ve been working on for a long time is finally out in the wild. Today is the launch day for Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers.
Before I get to the weird and awkward, I need to first say that I am very proud of this book. I’m obviously deeply biased, but I believe there are a ton of valuable and road-tested insights and strategies in the book for anyone who is in marketing, content creation, or thought leadership.
It’s an unconventional book about unconventional strategies, and whether it’s the print version or the audiobook, there are many fun and unusual elements that make Earn It different from other marketing or business books.
Weird and Awkward!
It’s weird and awkward because, as the person who has been writing about doing hard work, showing up consistently over time, and earning attention, today is the day I get to find out if I have “earned it” for you.
One of the messages in the book is that you can’t rush to short-term results with marketing and content. I’ve learned repeatedly that the path to success is to create unexpected and surprising value for the people you seek to reach, over and over and over again. If you earn attention regularly, you build trust. If you continue to create value, you build relationships. And when people have a need for your products or services, those relationships transform into customers.
Attention → Trust → Relationships → Customers
This Substack started just over two years ago and I’ve been trying very hard to practice what I preach. There has been no paywall, I’ve tried to give away as many valuable ideas and strategies as I can, and I’ve done my best to show up every two weeks with the goal of earning your attention.
So today is the awkward day that I ask you, “Have I earned it?”
Option A: Yes, Steve Earned It!
If the answer is “YES!” I would be honoured if you would buy Earn It today. Strong first-week sales will help booksellers promote the book more heavily, helping the ideas in the book spread further.
Here are some links to places you can buy Earn It today:
If I’ve really Earned It, it would be amazing if you could also share the book on your social media channels with a link to the book’s website. Here’s the book cover in case you want to share it 😜
Some potential copy you could use when sharing:
“Earn It is the most important book I’ve ever read”
“After reading Earn It, I will never be able to see the world the same way again.”
“I just bought copies of Earn It for my entire marketing team!”
If you’re more of a social video person, here’s some inspiration from my son Dawson and his roommates, Ryder and Toby (and yes, that is indeed a limited edition Earn It Toque…):
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And if I’ve really, really Earned It and you enjoy reading or listening to the book, one of the most valuable things you can do for a new book is to leave a review of the book on Amazon.
For whatever you can do to support the book today, thank you thank you thank you!!! 🎉🎉🎉
Option B: No, Steve Has Not Earned It!
And if the answer is “No, Steve, you have not yet ‘earned it,” that’s okay, too 😀
I’m not giving up! I hope that I will Earn It for you very soon. I’ll keep trying to create more surprisingly awesome value for you here and elsewhere. (And in case you’re concerned, this newsletter is not going to become endless book promotion.)
Thank You!
Even though sometimes writing a book can feel like a solitary journey, there are many segments of the journey that involve deep collaboration. This book would not have been possible without the help of a lot of phenomenally talented, experienced, and kind people.
Thank you to the entire team at Page Two and their partners. You are an unconventional publisher in all the best ways. I’ve learned so much from you! Special shout-outs to:
Jesse Finkelstein has become a friend and a tireless supporter of my journey from inception to today. Your passion and energy are contagious, and I couldn’t ask for a better publishing partner!
Peter Cocking designed the cover and the interior of the book. You constantly surprised me with how your creativity brought the ideas in the book to life at an entirely new level. The structure and design of the book are unconventional and call attention to how conventional so many other book designs are.
Rony Ganon, Caela Moffet, Ashley Rayner were the amazing project managers at different stages of the book. You all stayed on top of everything, answered so many dumb questions, and were incredibly helpful at every step of the process.
Scott Steedman, Steph VanderMuelen, Alison Stroble - the structural editor, copy editor and proofreader. Your ideas, suggestions, feedback and encouragement made Earn It so much better. The time, care, and attention to detail you all put into this project still blows my mind!
Felicia Quon, Madelaine Manson, Meghan O’Neill, Tessa Eisenberg, Leonni Antono, Viktoria Skaper–what a sales and marketing team! Thanks for all your support, advice, and advocacy for Earn It. As a first-timer doing this, it is a gift to have all your expertise to show me the ropes and guide me through the process.
Jay Korporal, the brightest and friendliest person in the office! I love coming to visit you all at Page Two HQ and Jay, your energy and enthusiasm always stands out!
Don Sparrow, the incredibly talented illustrator and comic book artist that Peter asked to draw all the images of shocked and surprised marketers on the cover and throughout the book. Your art brings so much fun and personality to the book!
Friesens printed the book and did a bang-up job with it. The colours explode off the cover in the best possible way - thank you!
Thank you to the teams at Raincoast, Macmillan, Ampersand, and Upstart and Crow for your support of the book and for getting booksellers excited about this unconventional marketing book! 🎉
Two of my favourite creative collaborators made the audiobook for Earn It a truly unconventional listen. Pedro Mendes and Gaetan Harris brought all their creativity to this project and made the audio version sound a lot more like a podcast than a traditional audiobook. (Biased again, but I think this is the future of audiobooks–more production, more creativity, more editing!)
The marketing of the Earn it might have been more fun than writing it, because I’ve been able to collaborate with some great, funny friends to make ridiculous videos on TikTok and Instagram with fake book marketers, a fake agent, and a fake social media coach. There are more collaborators coming, but for now, a big thank you to Steve Scarrow, Perry Pannu, Bob Kronbauer, and Jordan Kawchuk–I’ve had an absolute blast shooting these with you!
The book also would not have been possible without my adventures at Pacific Content. A lot of the strategies, ideas, and best practices emerged from working with phenomenal people at our weird little podcasting company, and many brilliant and brave marketers that we made podcasts with. A special shout out to my cofounders, Jenny Ouano, Chris Boyce, and Rob Leadley, and a big thank you to the entire Pacific Content team!
Enormous thanks to my whole family for supporting me through the last couple of years to get to today’s launch. In particular, my amazing wife, Debbie, and my dad, Courtney, were the recipients of many early drafts and much whining, and they always offered fantastic suggestions and feedback. Thank you!!! Cedar, Dawson, Charlotte, Alexa, Brian, Kerri-Lynn, Sydney, Benjamin, and Victoria–thanks for all your support! ❤️
Finally, thanks to all of you who read this newsletter. Earn It is about valuing the precious time and attention of those you seek to reach and connect with. It means a lot to me that so many of spend some of your precious time and attention with me here. Thank you!!!
Congrats! I dont remember how I found you, but i am a new follower. Pre-ordered and it arrives today!