In 1850, 30,000 people met a singer at the docks who most of them had never heard sing. In this episode, Steve J Larsen breaks down P.T. Barnum’s launch formula, the same 1800s model behind a 950-person event and Ryan Lee’s 4,000-copy first week.

In this episode:

• How P.T. Barnum sold his own book by bundling it with circus tickets
• The Jenny Lind story, step by step: farewell concerts, local shops making Jenny Lind products, 40 reporters, ticket sales before she landed, and a poem contest
• “The product sells itself” is a myth. If you’re quiet, you’re invisible.
• Make the market fall in love with the idea of your book before they can read it
• How to make your launch feel like the readers’ launch, not yours
• The $7 ticket auctioned for $200, and how book bundles (1, 10, 100, 1,000 copies) set your price anchor
• Why you need at least 6 weeks of buildup before launch
• The internet is a set of distribution channels. What you put in them is the marketing.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:40 The 2019 question that sent me to the 1800s
02:00 Finding Barnum’s launch formula
03:00 950 people using a 170-year-old model
05:00 How Barnum sold books with circus tickets
06:40 Ryan Lee: 4,000 copies and bestseller status in under 2 days
09:30 The Jenny Lind story
14:00 No product sells itself
14:50 Make the other market jealous
16:50 Get other businesses into your launch
18:00 Make them love the idea first
20:40 Sell before it arrives
21:00 The poem contest: make it their launch
25:00 The $200 ticket and book bundles
28:00 30,000 people at the docks
29:00 How we used it for Ryan Lee’s launch
31:00 Give yourself 6 weeks of buildup
32:00 The internet is distribution, not marketing
34:20 1,000 copies in week one: our base goal

Links:
Become one of our authors (start with an author interview): https://thestagebook.com
See the StageBook funnel: https://stagebookbook.com
Record a question for the show: https://thewealthyauthor.com