Book Marketing: How I launched my first book like a startup

TLDR; I growth-hacked a book - that is now an international bestseller - without any traditional marketing.

Here are the 9 steps on how I launched my book Growth Hacking Reddit like a SaaS product.

My dad, holding the very first printed copies - a surreal moment.

And today's sales dashboard… Spain, Germany, US - wild!

Here is how I did it, and how you can market a book to reach a worldwide audience - on your own.

For me, it was using Reddit to create repeatable growth and sign deals for my SaaS - without getting banned.

I had done it myself for years. Thus, also developed and validated that this exact playbook worked to grow a SaaS for me. It was also something other entrepreneurs got curious about when I told them about it. Meaning it was not common knowledge, and I could sense a pull for it in the market.

Let's now expand the circle. Will other people really think the core concept is interesting? And can we formulate it in a simple form to spark interest?

The external validation on the playbook itself started with a LinkedIn post.

I got quite a bit of engagement, from experienced marketers asking questions and showing it (A) sparked their interest, (B) they spent time engaging and wanted to know more.

Also, when sharing the playbook with other founders, it worked for them too.

I turned the LinkedIn post into a Reddit post for bigger reach. This post went viral, with +400K views and tons of engagement.

Based on this feedback, I realized this was a playbook that could turn into something more - so I continued with step 4 - setting up a waiting list and landing page for my first book. A book that was just an idea up until this point. But an idea that was getting validated more and more with each step.

I now put together a simple landing page for the book to own the distribution. And yes - building (1) distribution first, then (2) product.

I also bought the domain growthhackingreddit.com and set up a simple landing page.

Why should you have a book landing page?

A dedicated landing page for the book is good to own SEO/AIO and rank for the term "growth hacking reddit". But also, it benefits you as it's:

• easy to link to when you join podcasts, or talk about the book

• collects social proof as you go - and make your book convert more

• allows switching from third-party distribution (Amazon) to owning it yourself

How to drive traffic to the book landing page?

I pushed this book landing page as a lead magnet from my own blog, YT videos, etc. Also, when joining podcasts and mentioning the book on social media, having the same link is convenient.

How to build the waiting list?

On the landing page for the book - I pushed for the CTA to "sign up for the waiting list" - and got around +150 signups before launching the book.

When I later finished the book (step 7), I then changed this CTA to "buy book" CTA and linked directly to Amazon.

Turn it into a structured blog post. Make it a bit longer form and use it as an outline for the book. Include CTA to waitlist. Gain visibility in SEO / AEO.

Record a YouTube video breaking it down. My video now has +13K views and counting.

The book contains more in-depth stuff, and I added a link to the book for anyone interested in a pinned YT comment.

Write the book (only if people care, else repeat 1-6).

OK, this step actually took some time..

And it was at times a pretty lonely and long journey. Quite similar to the early days of founding a SaaS company.

How to motivate yourself when it gets tough: The validation in previous steps here helped make it feel real, and in the slow times when it felt tough finishing the book, it really motivated me to see both how:

• the YouTube video gained traction each day

• the waiting list grew in numbers, and

• all the curious comments by people wanting to know more about my playbook - coming in on Reddit, Youtube, and LinkedIn

Proofreading the book: Yeah, I did this mostly myself, too - and had some help from friends and family.

How to publish the book: I decided to publish the book myself using KDP and Amazon.

The book finally made it - initially as an e-book, and soon I launched a printed version too.

This was honestly so cool - both being able to put it on my Kindle, but also getting the paperback from Amazon for the first time felt amazing. Here is me picking it up from the post office 👇

I launched the book to my waiting list! Also, added it to Goodreads, linked it in my YT video, and got it featured in top lists.

I joined a few podcasts and shared the basics of the Growth Hacking Reddit playbook - for example, SaaS Trailblazers.

The wheel started to spin on its own, organically, and the playbook is now growing on its own.

Influencers started sharing the playbook, which helped this organic part of growth. For example, Edward Sturm (with +50K subscribers on YouTube) and Natia Kurdadze (with +40K followers on X) both shared the playbook numerous times.

This helps build social proof - and also getting reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and nice comments were part of the flywheel. And I made sure to update the book landing page with these continously, which helped boost conversion rates.

And if you are looking to grow your startup faster using Reddit -> check out Growth Hacking Reddit - the OG guide to use Reddit (that we used to build a $1M SaaS).

Get your copy now 👉 https://growthhackingreddit.com/