How I Cheat Myself Out of Book Sales - And Why I'll Keep Doing It
A Literal Literary Loser Refuses To Win
I read a great book a couple of years ago, “Spite: The Upside of Your Dark Side” by Simon McCarthy-Jones. It talked about how people blinded by spite make decisions that go against their own best interests just because they want to undermine someone else. It was really well written and convincing. Since then, I’ve gone out of my way to try to analyze my actions to make sure I’m not doing that.
I don’t think I’m doing a very good job of it. Let me explain:
As I’ve written in the past, in addition to fiction, I also write non-fiction, primarily about education in New York City and America at large. I also have two non-fiction books out, “Getting into NYC Kindergarten” and “Getting into NYC High School.” But my biggest money-makers are the open to the public workshops I host, as well as the one on one private consults.
I promote my books, my workshops and my consults via my website and on social media.
The latter is where the problem starts. I belong to a lot of NYC parenting Facebook groups. I post about my books and my workshops and my consults on lots of NYC parenting Facebook groups. (Also about my articles and my instructional videos.)
Because getting into schools in NYC is an illogical, impractical, and near-impossible process, parents in NYC parenting Facebook groups are constantly posting questions asking for help with the process. My fellow school consultants (or their many proxies) respond within minutes: I can help you with that, DM me! You should speak to (X) company, here is their website! I’m a tutor, please reach out! (Followed by oh, so many happy emojis.)
I don’t do that. When a parent in an NYC parenting Facebook group posts a question, I… answer it. When that parent then DMs me, I try to answer their question, as long as it’s not too involved. Sometimes I’ll link to one of my free videos, or an article I’ve written that goes into greater detail.
I could say that I do it because I’m a good person who genuinely wants to help people. I could say I do it because I believe information yearns to be free and something as important as finding the right school for your child shouldn’t requite a $20,000 consultant. It’s why I write the how-to articles and produce free how-to videos.
And that’s all true.
But I also do it out of spite.
I do it because I don’t want people spending $20,000 to find out answers that are publicly available, as long as you know where to look. I do it because I find the consultants who have minions available 24/7 to recommend expensive services no matter what question a desperate parent asks, annoying. And I do it because I want to stick it to them.
Even at the expense of my own profits.
I wrote the books “Getting into NYC Kindergarten” and “Getting into NYC High School” specifically because I wanted to give parents who didn’t have a spare $20,000 lying around options. For a $45 per family workshop ticket, or a $9.99 book, you can get all the information you need. You have my word on that.
But, here’s the thing: Odds are, if you ask a question on an NYC parenting Facebook site, you’ll also get the information you need from me… for free.
I do it because I’m a nice person. But also because I want to stick it to those consultants who are constantly promoting themselves in a way that - I’ll admit it - I don’t have the balls to do.
So I undermine them. And I undermine myself at the same time. That’s spite.
Do you still have any doubts why I’m a literal literary loser now?
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Wondering just what could be so complicated about applying to NYC schools that folks are willing to hire consultants to help them? Here is just one example: