We’ve sold two companies. We’ve sat across the table from buyers and negotiated the terms that decided what we walked away with. Those were hard. Selling a book was almost as hard. Some days, even harder.
Entrepreneur Like a MOTHER came out on September 22. After one week of sales, it’s a USA Today bestseller. Here’s what that number doesn’t show.
180 no’s in one month
We went after bulk buys the way we’d go after any B2B deal: corporate women’s networks, business organizations, firms, advisors. In one month we got 180 rejections.
That count only includes the people who answered. A lot more never did. Maybe they were busy. Maybe the book didn’t land for them. We’ll never know, and at some point we stopped checking the inbox to find out.
The publishing industry is broken. The people mostly aren’t.
There were stretches when our publisher was hard to reach. Once it was three weeks without a reply. Now they’re paying attention. That’s not a knock on anyone. Publishing teams juggle dozens of titles with thin staffs, and a first business book from two founders isn’t where the system points its resources by default.
Distribution is where it’s most broken. Everyone told us bulk orders through independent bookstores couldn’t be done. Go through Amazon. Go through the publisher. Skip bulk.
We did it anyway. Turns out, it can be done. It takes more calls, more follow-up, and more spreadsheets than it should. And independent booksellers, almost without exception, were generous, quick, and invested in helping us sell. The problem isn’t them. It’s everything built around them.
The Corner Bookstore in New York is a good example. Our bulk order kept getting stuck somewhere in the system. Instead of telling us to wait, the owner picked up the phone and made the calls himself. He kept calling until the order went through. Bookstore of Glen Ellyn outside Chicago? She opened an account with our publisher to make sure she could get our books. Offered to put the order on her credit card if that didn’t work.
What the list didn’t do
We’re not going to pretend the list doesn’t matter. It’s great. It’s going on everything. Tattoo pictures coming soon.
But it’s not the best part of this week.
The best part was who showed up. Family. Nieces and nephews. Friends from high school, from college, from the neighborhood. Old clients. Old referral partners. People we worked with years ago and hadn’t talked to since. Some of them traveled a long way to be in the room.
Victoria’s 86-year-old mom had a car that stalled and a long drive in traffic. She showed up anyway, ready to celebrate.
Every one of them bought the book.
And almost every one of them came with something extra: an idea, a contact, a pitch for how we could sell more copies.
A friend whose kids went to grade school with Beth’s kids pulled us aside to pitch us for a major speaking opportunity. Grade school.
The short version
We could give you a full lecture on the Kitchen Cabinet right now. There’s a chapter on it. We’ll skip it.
Here’s what we’ll tell you instead. The cold pitches got us 180 no’s. The people we’d stayed in touch with over thirty years got us on the list.
Every outreach you do pays back in spades. Not on your timeline, and rarely the way you expect. The note to the referral partner you haven’t called since 2019. The coffee with a former colleague. The email to the client who moved to a new firm.
So start doing it. This week, pick five people you haven’t talked to in a year and reach out. No ask attached.
Week two counts
If you haven’t bought Entrepreneur Like a MOTHER yet, now is when it matters most. Buy Entrepreneur Like a MOTHER
Buying for your team, your firm, or your group? Reply to this email. We’ll set up a bulk order through an independent bookstore. We know how now.
Come see us:
- Glen Ellyn, October 5: 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Park and Oak. $50, book included. Glen Ellyn Launch Party
- Barrington, October 7: 6:00 to 7:30 PM at Bellhouse Books, $40 book included. Bellhouse Books Host Beth Mazza and Victoria Sivrais
Thank you for showing up. We noticed every one of you. And we will work like hell to pay it forward.
