Wrapping up a month or so of promotion for “Human Software”, it’s time for me to take a little break and take stock.
My intention was to give “Human Software” a little push and see what happened. I can tell already that a few things are working out like I expected and few things aren’t. I did a small book tour in the UK, I created a bit of a scene on LinkedIn with a blog post or two, I rejoined Insta and Facebook to see what that would do (surprise surprise, not much), I had a lot of conversations with a lot of people and so I’ve learned quite a lot about myself and the book.
I can also tell very clearly, that as intended, Human Software is not a business book. It’s if anything a wake-up call and I’m getting that signal loud and clear particularly from some of the enlightened leaders in our industry. What’s also becoming clearer to me is that the book has at least three separate audiences. This is surprising and very cool as it appeals to all of them in slightly different ways.
🛠️ Engineers seem to relate to Beth and her daily struggles to keep her and her family’s head above water. She does this while under the constant threat of redundancy and being replaced by younger, cheaper consultants and/or A.I.
🤵♀️ IT leaders relate to Chrissie and her need to do right by her bosses, as well as her reports. She also needs to concentrate on her mission and her ambition. The book throws into focus the ethical dilemmas she faces. She wants to make humane decisions while protecting what she believes are the firm’s best interests. In many ways, IT leaders and consultants have struggled the most with the picture the book paints. Bear in mind that this is not a cosy business manual like “The Phoenix Project”. It’s confronting. It’s a fantasy story with what I believe is an important message. If you are an IT leader and the book doesn’t ethically challenge you and serve as a warning, then I’ve definitely failed as a writer.. or perhaps you don’t give a crap in which case you’ll be fine and keep doing what you do!
⛵ Aside from those two, there is another audience. The non-IT people who don’t have the visceral experience of supporting software systems 24/7/365. These readers have enjoyed dipping their toes into the techie world and coming away with a good story. It gives them something to think about as A.I. continues to dominate the narrative about how we work and how we treat each other at work.
Ok, but what about the Sales?
My sales target for my debut is to sell 500 copies in my first year. That would means that I could officially call myself an author. The measure for this being the full membership criteria for the Society of Authors.
Breaking that down, I set myself a goal of selling a hundred copies by the end of the launch month of October. As it turns out I’m going to be a little shy of that. So far I’ve sold about 80 copies of the book and distributed about another 30-40 review copies. I’m pretty pleased with this! Every sale feels like a massive win. While I could have probably sold a few more, I need to play the long game. I could have probably sent a lot more review copies out, but honestly I ran out of energy!
I honestly thought that LeanPub would be the #1 platform for me but it seems that I was totally wrong. I’ve sold fewer than 10 via Leanpub. Main sales come via Amazon, and most of those are the paperback rather than the e-book. Draft2Digital provided a couple of sales, and I’ve also had a couple of sales via bookshop websites such as Waterstones in the UK.
All in all, it’s been a good start and I’m looking forward to the grind beyond 100 sales to 200 to… let’s see where we go. I do feel like we’re at the very beginning, and I’ve had some very encouraging feedback and reviews.
For the moment, though, I’m looking forward to stepping away from social media and the promotional side for a week or two to recharge. Perhaps I can stop hitting that KDP Dashboard every five minutes.
So What’s Next?
Many thanks to all my wonderful readers and reviewers thus far. I’m really encouraged to carry on writing and carry on promoting the book in the fullness of time. As my wonderful wife and published author Claire reminds me continuously, “it’s a marathon, not a sprint”.
To celebrate the end of “launch month”, I’m going to take it a bit easier. What do you think that looks like? Well, I’ve started working on the screenplay for “Human Software”, of course! Plus, I already have a couple of ideas for the new book – or books…
Alongside that I’ll also be looking for a new day job. While I love writing, it doesn’t begin to pay the bills, so I have to keep it as a side project. I’m open to (ideally contract) DevOps IC roles and, at a push, team lead/technical product owner roles. I honestly prefer being an experienced IC to anything else.