The book that Inc. says “every entrepreneur should read” and an FT Book of the Month selection…How did the movie The Shawshank Redemption fail at the box office but go on to gross more than $100 million as a cult classic? How did The 48 Laws of Power miss the bestseller lists for more than a decade and still sell more than a million copies?How is Iron Maiden still filling stadiums worldwide … copies?
How is Iron Maiden still filling stadiums worldwide without radio or TV exposure forty years after the band was founded?
Bestselling author and marketer Ryan Holiday calls such works and artists perennial sellers. How do they endure and thrive while most books, movies, songs, video games, and pieces of art disappear quickly after initial success? How can we create and market creative works that achieve longevity?
Holiday explores this mystery by drawing on his extensive experience working with businesses and creators such as Google, American Apparel, and the author John Grisham, as well as his interviews with the minds behind some of the greatest perennial sellers of our time. His fascinating examples include:
• Rick Rubin, producer for Adele, Jay-Z, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who teaches his artists to push past short-term thinking and root their work in long-term inspiration.
• Tim Ferriss, whose books have sold millions of copies, in part because he rigorously tests every element of his work to see what generates the strongest response.
• Seinfeld, which managed to capture both the essence of the nineties and timeless themes to become a modern classic.
• Harper Lee, who transformed a muddled manuscript into To Kill a Mockingbird with the help of the right editor and feedback.
• Winston Churchill, Stefan Zweig, and Lady Gaga, who each learned the essential tenets of building a platform of loyal, dedicated supporters.
Holiday reveals that the key to success for many perennial sellers is that their creators don’t distinguish between the making and the marketing. The product’s purpose and audience are in the creator’s mind from day one. By thinking holistically about the relationship between their audience and their work, creators of all kinds improve the chances that their offerings will stand the test of time.
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I like all of Ryan’s books.
The tagline is: “The art of making and marketing work that lasts”. And it delivers.
Though I had a blast reading this book – seriously, what’s better to do than to read something fast-paced and witty to distract you from the horrors of life? – I do have a few issues with it. The author uses a lot of anecdotes of bands, musicians, TV shows, etc. that, if you’re not familiar with them, won’t help you at all. (I’m looking at everyone younger than thirty that missed the time of Seinfeld and Friends being hot on TV and why it was relevant at the time – I barely got the cultural references.)
It’s good, though. You’re told why something (like Seinfeld) worked and why people can (and do) still watch it today. There are no formulas. No magic spells to make your work a product that people will buy year after year. It’s basically a reminder that you have to do the work, do it to the best of your abilities and then do the work to get it sold (being a salesperson, doing the legwork, doing the marketing) before starting the cycle all over again.
I had hoped to learn something new from this book, but it basically rehashed everything my brilliant writing friends have been saying all along: you have to do the work, you have to find your fans, you have to be awesome.
I’d still recommend it to other creatives if they don’t have the time (or patience) to learn from their friends – or just want an authority in the field to tell them they’re doing the right thing.
This book is right up there with Benjamin Percy’s Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction. I plan to refer to it again and again for course guidance, like a compass.
Essentially, Holiday’s observations are organized into three categories: creating a work that endures, marketing to generate word of mouth, and the writer’s relationship with readers over time. His theories about why some books sell to generations of readers resonate, and he cites multiple examples to support his conclusions.
From the book on the time it takes to create a work that endures, “You can’t make something that lasts if it’s based on things, on individual parts that themselves won’t last, or if it’s driven by an amateur’s impatience. The creative process will require not only time and work, but also the long view. It doesn’t matter what the deadlines are or who is breathing down you neck – in a year, will the extra two days you spent seem excessive? In ten years, will spending ten extra days, or even ten weeks, seem like a long time?” (page 31)
On originality and trying to win fans away from established brands, “I’m always wary of any description that resembles, ‘It’s like __ but with __.’ I’m wary of it not only because it’s inherently unoriginal, but also because, again, it forces the creators to compete with the very dominant entitiy they are supposedly improving on.” (page 53)
On marketing and word of mouth, “No one has the steam or the resources to actively market something for more than a short period of time, so if a product is going to sell forever, it must have strong word of mouth. It must drive its own adoption. Over the long haul, this is the only thing that lasts.”
On platform, “In my definition, a platform is the combination of the tools, relationships, access, and audience that you have to bear on spreading your creative work – not just once, but over the course of a career.”
I like Holiday’s long haul philosophy.
If you are an artist, a writer, or a creative of any kind, and you haven’t read this book…you’re wrong. Get a copy and read it now. I’ve listened to it three times on Audible. Don’t be MySpace, be Iron Maiden.
Powerful realistic principles for creating long lasting impact. If you want help figuring out how to create and market a solid product this book will help.