One of my resolutions is to Ask for help. I don’t know why it’s so hard to follow this resolution, but it is – but I’m always surprised by how effective it is. I’m asking for your help with my book.
If you’re inclined to buy The Happiness Project, whether for yourself or a friend, it would be a big help to me if you’d buy it this week.
The Happiness Project has been bouncing around the New York Times bestseller list for fourteen weeks now. It has been as high as #1 (yay!) and is now at #8.
As you can imagine, this makes me extremely happy, for many reasons. One reason is that when a book is a bestseller, it’s often featured prominently in bookstores. Because people notice the book, they buy it, which helps the book stay a bestseller.
I don’t want to sound greedy, ungrateful, or unrealistic. I’m incredibly thrilled and moved that readers have responded so enthusiastically to the book, and I know that it can’t stay on the list however. But I’d love to hang on for another week or so.
For that reason, if you’re inclined to buy the book, it would help if you’d buy it this week. Why? Because when the New York Times tracks sales, it doesn’t consider overall sales, but just sales for a particular week. Even if two books sell the same number of copies over a period of two months, one might be a bestseller, and the other not, if one book’s sales were concentrated into a few weeks, while the other book’s sales were spread out in low, consistent sales each week.
If you read the blog, I hope you’ll consider reading the book. “Um, why should I buy your book,” some people have asked, “when I can read the blog for free?” Here are some reasons to read the book:
1. One smart friend who has read both said she thought the blog was process, the book was conclusion. The ideas in the book are presented in a more distilled, thoughtful way, and the book framework allows me to tell longer stories and explain more complicated ideas. I’m able to show how different ideas fit together, which can be tough to do in one blog post. The book goes deeper.
2. On the blog, I write about whatever subject interests me that day, so it skips from topic to topic. The book is organized by subject matter: Energy, Parenthood, Work, Marriage, Play, Spirituality, Mindfulness, etc. If you’re interested in particular subjects, you can focus there.
3. If you’ve been enjoying the blog, and you’d like to share it with a friend, you can give the book as a gift. You can’t give the experience of reading a blog as a gift, but you can give a book. Many people have told me they’re giving this book as a Mother’s Day gift. (Especially husbands! Who seem to inspired by the old saying “Happy wife, happy life.”)
4. In a book, you can more easily take notes about what applies to you and your happiness project. Underlining, highlighting, and taking notes in the margin allow you to engage with the material. (You can do this electronically, of course, but many people still find it easier to do with old-fashioned pen and paper.)
5. In the same way, the experience of reading a book is very different from reading a blog. You can’t curl up on the couch with a blog; you can’t read it on the beach or in bed or while you’re at your children’s soccer practice (well, you can, but it’s tough).
6. I’m much more forthcoming in my book than I am on my blog. I call my family members by their true names. I talk about juicy episodes that I’ve never mentioned here. I reveal a very major fact about my life that I’ve never discussed on my blog.
7. Many of my readers have written that they want to buy the book to show their support — a “thank you” for everything I’ve done for free. Which I very much appreciate!
That said, I’m also a huge fan of libraries. If you don’t want to buy the book, or can’t afford it, I hope you’ll consider checking it out from the library. I was so excited when a reader wrote me to say that The Happiness Project had the longest wait-list of any book at her library.
* I came across a very engaging blog, Kris’s Color Stripes, all about color. This doesn’t sound particularly engaging, but it really captured my interest. Color! It’s something I rarely think about, but spending some time reveling in color made me very happy.
* Many people like to sample a book before they commit to a purchase. You can…
Read a sample chapter
Listen to the audiobook
Watch the one-minute book video
Join the Facebook Page
Use the free Happiness Project Toolbox for your own happiness project
Buy the book!
