I’ve been thinking about what I’ve been doing with this…<waves arms around> life thing here, and one thing that I know is that I’m happiest and most fulfilled producing long-form content.
When I retire from useful work and go into politics, I'll need to read it. This year, it's good value for the newsletter. So why not? Pre-ordered. Just don't wait for me to retire before starting 1 my year sub, OK?
But that's so sad about how few people read books. Yes, an LLM can answer any single question. But it still can't install a whole body of knowledge in my brain so that I know what questions are worth asking. That takes work (and may be the main reason why the work I do is still useful).
I have a hypothesis about why people who are willing to pay for a subscription or regularly read your work aren’t pre-ordering the book. It’s not just reluctance to pay. With 45k Substack subscribers, you’d expect at least a few thousand people to convert to pre-orders, but buying a book feels different: it creates a kind of psychological or even moral obligation to actually read it, ESPECIALLY if there's even a slight parasocial aspect, and that might feel like a burden.
A lot of people are perfectly comfortable reading 5,000-word essays, but committing to 100,000+ words in long form might feel overwhelming in a different way. I’m not sure how big this effect is, might be interesting to study how this dynamic contributes to the gap between massive exposure and relatively limited pre-orders. Maybe it’s minor, but it could also be a more important factor than it looks from the outside.
That makes sense. Reading and writing books are a big commitment. But people shouldn’t have to feel like they need to read the whole thing cover to cover quickly. You can take from a book what you want or go at your own pace.
I pre-ordered the ebook and audiobook and forwarded the email confirmations to the address indicated. When can I expect my upgrade?
following for answer
Does this count for non US preorders as well?
Shouldn't for my purposes but since I didn't exclude them I'll say yes, the offer is available.
Got it! Thanks!
What do I do after I pre-order the audiobook and ebook?
Sorry. I got it. Apparently I can't read well.
Previously preordered the audiobook. But now I’m also preordering the hardcover
I find it kind of shocking that an online footprint as large as yours is not sufficient to snag a few thousand preorders.
Can I preorder from my local bookstore instead of Amazon?
Yes just send proof
When I retire from useful work and go into politics, I'll need to read it. This year, it's good value for the newsletter. So why not? Pre-ordered. Just don't wait for me to retire before starting 1 my year sub, OK?
But that's so sad about how few people read books. Yes, an LLM can answer any single question. But it still can't install a whole body of knowledge in my brain so that I know what questions are worth asking. That takes work (and may be the main reason why the work I do is still useful).
... and haven't I seen something about LLMs helping to reduce populism? The mechanism is that hoi kakoi are less inclined to distrust it.
I preordered the hardcover
Waiting for that upgrade!
It should be up to date, if you didn't get it email again
Thanks a lot, it’s now upgraded.
Can I use an audible credit?
Yes, but read about audiobooks in general, it only counts if purchased with Kindle ebook too.
I have a hypothesis about why people who are willing to pay for a subscription or regularly read your work aren’t pre-ordering the book. It’s not just reluctance to pay. With 45k Substack subscribers, you’d expect at least a few thousand people to convert to pre-orders, but buying a book feels different: it creates a kind of psychological or even moral obligation to actually read it, ESPECIALLY if there's even a slight parasocial aspect, and that might feel like a burden.
A lot of people are perfectly comfortable reading 5,000-word essays, but committing to 100,000+ words in long form might feel overwhelming in a different way. I’m not sure how big this effect is, might be interesting to study how this dynamic contributes to the gap between massive exposure and relatively limited pre-orders. Maybe it’s minor, but it could also be a more important factor than it looks from the outside.
That makes sense. Reading and writing books are a big commitment. But people shouldn’t have to feel like they need to read the whole thing cover to cover quickly. You can take from a book what you want or go at your own pace.
I’m not preordering cuz I can’t read 😔
Will listen to the audiobook tho