I sold [X] books every day since launch

Indeed, the sales numbers are finally in. I got them yesterday evening. For a brief moment, I thought about keeping them to myself. Because they’re not great.

You might recall that my publisher warned me about this. He said that organic sales — people randomly stumbling upon the book in physical stores — would be very slow, and that I, as the author, needed to put significant efforts into active sales.

Unsurprisingly, he was right.

I’ve written extensively about my struggles with audience building on social platforms. The sales numbers reflect my digital invisibility. Since launch, I’ve sold almost exactly one book a day. This includes the 30-ish books I sold at Dutch Design Week.

178 books total, between October 2024 and April 2025.

Yesterday evening, I was very disappointed.

This morning, I woke up feeling motivated, and some of the disappointment had already dissipated.

I’m not one for superstition or everything-happens-for-a-reason reasoning (hehe). But I do believe that everything checks out one way or another. My book underperforming (quite badly), as much as I’d love to have seen it differently: it checks out. It makes sense. People simply don’t walk into random bookstores to buy a book they’ve never heard of that’s tucked away in a corner. The universe works, and I didn’t beat the odds.

Perhaps I unknowingly anticipated the disappointment.

Two weeks ago, I locked myself up in the same cabin I’d been in to finish the book. This time, I recorded a MasterClass-style course covering the entire book. It’s over 8 hours of video material in total — unedited, of course.

I’ll be releasing one or two episodes on my YouTube channel every week for the coming months, starting next week. In total, I estimate it’ll be around 40 videos, one for each chapter in the book. I might also release a full 2- or 3-hour course, but that’s not my priority right now.

Here’s a sneak peek.

If ever the NOS needs a new anchor, I’m ready.

My editing workflow in DaVinci Resolve. Note the multi-angle setup in the, well, sort of the top left window. But not entirely left. I’m pointing at it now, but you can’t see my mouse.

The actual setup in my cozy cabin (which I highly recommend if you ever need to do some deep focus work or have some time completely offline). The lady renting them out is the kindest person you’ll meet. Check out her website here.

That’s all for now. Take care and enjoy the sun.