Conscious Accomplishment is 1 year old

Learnings and reflections

It’s been one year since I published my book Conscious Accomplishment: How to Use Personal Achievement for Spiritual Growth.

I thought this was a good time to sit back and reflect on what’s happened and what I’ve learned

Before I get into the good stuff, I have a favor to ask.

Reviews are the single biggest way a book like this finds the people who need it. If you read the book and enjoyed it, taking 2 minutes to write a review on Amazon is the most generous thing you can do for it.

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I wrote Conscious Accomplishment because I wanted it to exist. It was the book I wished I had when I started my consciousness journey. And when I couldn’t find it, I eventually decided to write it myself.

Although I believe the book’s topic — how westerners can effectively integrate spiritual development while thriving in modernity — is a big, juicy open question for our society, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Spiritual development is still a pretty fringe thing amongst the high-achiever crowd. Most people with my background still just want to make bank and focus externally.

Well, one year later I’m happy to report that I’ll be appearing on Oprah to discuss the book, the Dalai Lama has asked me to study with him, and a well-known tech billionaire has decided to privately become my benefactor.

...I kid, I kid.

So how’d it really go?

The Real Numbers

I sold roughly 1,100 books in the first year.

This wasn’t the instant blockbuster I’d hoped for, but it also isn’t something to sniff at. Apparently fewer than 5% of self-published books ever sell more than 1,000 copies.

Based on the consistently amazing feedback I’ve gotten from total strangers, I think it has legs to keep reaching people.

How I’m Feeling

Honestly, pretty damn great.

It feels incredible to put your all into something and know you did an excellent job. I know I created something valuable because of the overwhelmingly positive feedback from readers. I still get a text or DM from a reader like the ones below about every other week sharing how the book has impacted them, which feels awesome.

My hypothesis was that the freedom log practice would be the biggest game changer for readers. Interestingly, I’ve actually received more positive feedback on how transformative the repatterning process has been.

One cool thing about having a book out there is this sense of possibility. It feels like an always-on lightning rod for connecting with people and opportunities. I guess you could say this about any product, service, or company, but I think there’s a level of intimacy with a very personal book that just hits different.

Taking My Own Medicine

My original plan was to market the book throughout the year. Then, three months after launching, I was struggling so mightily with my health that I decided to table everything and just focus on getting better.

This wasn’t an easy decision. I’d just spent years working on this massive project, and now it was go-time! It was definitely not the ideal time to become an internet hermit…

However, deep down I knew stepping away from most of my business activities was where life was calling me. I needed to stop fighting reality and just accept where I was at. Once I finally did, I felt so much better about everything.

And guess what?

The book kept selling even though I barely promoted it at all for eight months. Maybe after all these years of excessively ordering shit, the Amazon gods decided to show me some favor.

Lessons for Authors and Aspiring Ones

Selling books is hard, just like everyone says.

I launched to an email list of 30,000+ people and figured I’d be the exception. I wasn’t. Far fewer people bought from my email list than I expected.

Maybe fewer people buy books these days? Or the topic wasn’t as compelling as I thought it’d be? I’m not really sure, but I no longer believe a big email list gurantees selling a lot of books.

The math doesn’t work, and that’s okay.

Most self-help books exist to feed a coaching or consulting business, which makes the Herculean effort of publishing a high-quality book worth it. I didn’t go into it with that kind of master plan. I spent two and a half years on this because I couldn’t not write it. It’s just the thing I felt most energized to do.

If I look at the opportunity cost through a purely financial lens, writing this book was a very expensive project. But it’s what my heart was drawn to, and I’d make the same choice again. Beyond the intrinsic reward of helping people and the few clients I’ve gotten from it, the biggest value it created was helping me become a MUCH better writer and communicator. It feels a little fluffy, but I’m trusting this will serve the greater arc of my life and career.

Treat your first book as a first act.

I think a lot of aspiring authors put so much pressure on themselves to knock it out of the park from the beginning. Thanks, James Clear...

Writing my first book was an incredible process for building the musculature required to write something good, and that in itself was a worthy pursuit because I see the communication of spiritual ideas to be a cornerstone of my life moving forward. I’m sure I have more books in me, and who knows what seeds may still blossom from this one!

What’s Next

Now that I’m starting to feel better, I plan on actually doing some of the marketing I originally intended. That’s one cool aspect of writing a book with an evergreen topic. It’s always there to point people to, and it keeps helping others long after you’ve written it.

I’ve started working with a few readers in a 1:1 coaching capacity to go deeper on some of the book’s concepts. This has been really fun and inspired me to create an immersive learning experience. Right now I’m working on a cohort-based course that goes deeper on the core concepts, and builds on them with new things I’ve learned over the past two years. If you’re interested, let me know.

Three Ways You Can Help

• If you haven’t read it yet, grab a copy here.

• If you have read it, please leave a review on Amazon. It takes two minutes and helps the book reach the readers who need it most.

• If you’re interested in the cohort-based course, just reply or message me directly. I’d love to learn what would be most impactful for you and share some early outlines.

Thank you for reading and for being part of this first act!

Love,

Scott