I’m writing this to you as we fly over the Indian Ocean, about 90 mins away from Hong Kong (plane wifi didn’t work so on my 30-min stopover I’m posting it, pictured below).
I’m lucky to be working in Osaka, Japan next week, and was keen to explore the city before the gig started. First time visitor to Japan - hit me with any tips you have pls! One thing I need to figure out is where to watch the Australian Football League (AFL) final tomorrow, go the Brisbane Lions…
My next book, Work Fame is out in stores across Australia and NZ from Wednesday. I’ll miss seeing it the day it hits the shelves. A friend text me the other day and said, ‘Outside the book – how are you going?’, and I actually had to stop and think…. What have I actually been doing away from the book?? Working on the book launch has totally consumed my thinking, and even more so in the last 7 days as I try to figure out how to reach my BBHAG (Book Big Hairy Audacious Goal) of 1001 pre-orders (6 days to go!).
How 250 pre-orders became a 1001-star goal
Some context: Just over 101 days ago, I hopped on a call with the marketing team at Wiley and we spoke about the pre-order marketing campaign. Going into the call, I had a rough plan, and that was to copy what other authors do – create some enticing bulk book orders, share content about the book, etc etc (if you’re an author, you know the drill).
We spoke about pre-order goals. I had no idea what ‘good’ looked like, and I was actually quite surprised when they shared that, in the Australian market for a business book, they would be “ecstatic if you had 250 pre-orders”.
250?!
Immediately, I blurted out/declared, “I’m going for 1001 pre-orders!”
(Reader, I’m not sure where that number came from, or what I was going to do, but there you go).
The team were lovely and reassuring, “But Leanne, it’s okay, 250 would be amazing” but it was too late. I had locked in.
Why ambitious goals change what you notice
You’ve probably read the HBR paper on BHAG’s (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) and the magic around having these, is that it forces you to search for new solutions to hit your goals.
The other great thing about having a goal in general (big, or not) is that you start tuning/seeing ideas everywhere. you get your Reticular Activating System (RAS) working. You may not know what a RAS is – but the most widely used example of this is when you buy a new car, say a red Volkswagen. You start seeing all of these other red Volkswagen’s on the road. You’re surprised how many there are; when previously you never noticed them. That’s the RAS at work. There’s so much stimulus around, the brain can only focus on so much, so when you have a goal, it helps to direct your attention.
I was tuned into what other authors were doing differently. The most exciting for me, was watching Jia Jiang pre-launch his (most excellent I must say!) book, ‘Easy Discipline’. He created a simple website where he acknowledged each pre-order sale. Seth Godin also recently published the name of everyone who pre-ordered his latest book IN THE BOOK (that’s next level). Jonathan Goodman has an excellent Substack called ‘Diary of a Book Launch’. I started screenshotting ideas on my Ipad and storing them away on Notability.
When it came to land my concept, I’m a big believer that ‘How you do the thing is the thing’. Work Fame is about winning recognition, which is how I landed on the Wall of Work Fame concept. A simple way to shine the light on people who took action early by giving them a star for every book purchased. I bought my own book to kick it off, and we’re now at 493 / 1001.
The most popular tier has been the ‘Pick My Brain’ tier where you can buy 15 books for 45 mins of my time to answer anything / help you out on specific things. I don’t ever offer these publicly, but the conversations around marketing, positioning, ‘getting yourself out there’, offer creation and more, have been super fulfilling and rewarding to host. (Btw, there’s a couple of these 15 tier offers still available; and you can claim your call anytime between now and 30 Sep 2027).
Quite a few people in Brisbane have snapped up pre-orders this week, as there’s less than 30 tickets available to the Work Fame red carpet premiere party on 16 October (it’s a free ticket, if you pre-order). I’m hoping I can find my outfit in Japan…
So, has the campaign been a success?
On paper, you can say, the campaign was average (hey, I haven’t even hit the halfway mark yet with 6 days remaining!) BUT it’s been anything but…
In fact, it’s been exceptionally successful. SO much so, that Work Fame has broken the Wiley business book pre-order sales record for Australia and NZ and has a chance of knocking Steve Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO book off the #1 for Careers/Success in the Aus/NZ book charts next week if pre-sales continue. I have nothing against Steve, but that would be fun.
What’s also been truly amazing is how friends have galvanised behind the goal, too. One early day huge momentum shift moment was when Matt Stewart from The Custodian Way brought the star tally from 13 stars, to 113 stars when he locked down a 100-book pre-order.
Emma Boddington-Stubbs reached out to me late last week and asked if I wanted to hop on a call to brainstorm more campaign ideas for this week and as we continue into the first few months. The ideas are gold, I can’t wait to deliver them. There’s been a ton of sharing on socials, and commenting, thank you!!!
Six days to go: Can we get closer to 1001?
While it is sad that I’m out of the country the day the book hits the shelf, I’m hoping if you see Work Fame in the wild, you can take a snap, share it on the socials and tag me @leannehughes.
And if you do want to take up one of the pre-order offers while they’re still around, I invite you to jump in now. They’re gone in 6 days.
Can we get closer to 1001?
Watch this space.
🌴
Leanne “BBHAG’ Hughes
p.s. …And if you haven’t already, you KNOW what my call to action is today… Pre-order Work Fame!! It’s a terrific gift for anyone working in an organisation; at any stage of their career… or, it’s just cool to see your name lit up on the wall!
Ordered! Thanks for the reminder and the launch inspiration. Such a fab job. Celebrating you enormously Leanne.
Amazon email this week heralding an updated delivery estimate for Work Fame - Now Arriving Wednesday, 30 September 2026 ;)