Notes on Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday

I've been a big fan of Ryan Holiday's work for almost a decade now. I purchased his book Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts a while ago and finally got around to reading it recently.

I was pleasantly surprised by how widely applicable its content is; I thought initially it would be focused more on books/written work, but it covered so many other fields beyond that including entrepreneurship/business in general as well as other fields like music and design. I liked how it built off the idea of the Lindy Effect (which I first learned about in Antifragile, another book I love and learned so much from), which explains how classics grow stronger with passing time.

My biggest takeaway was, "Great things are timeless and take time" and to be patient and focus on the long term. My second biggest takeaway was that if you invest some amount of time and effort in building and creating, you should invest at least as much time and effort into marketing and promoting and giving your work the best chance possible.

Overall, it was another very enjoyable, educational, and inspiring book by Ryan Holiday, and I highly recommend it. Below are some more of my notes and takeaways.

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Intro
Lindy Effect
Classics grow stronger with passing time

Part 1 the creative process
From the mindset to the making to the magic

The work is what matters
Motivation to create a classic, create the best product ever. Timelessness as priority. Study the greats and emulate them. 

Ideas are not enough
Critical part is the work not the idea
Must have a purpose for why you need the outcome

Great things are timeless and take time
Patience. Focus on long term. Focus on the things that don’t change. 
Art can’t be hurried. Must be allowed to take its own course. 

Short term versus long term
Test early test often

Part 2 positioning
From polishing to perfecting to packaging
Outside editors critical for feedback 
Polish and perfect, test and retest
Write to think
Write press release of new feature before building it
One sentence, one paragraph, one page. Write what you will do at these three lengths. This is a blank that does blank. It helps people blank. 
Know who you are aiming for

The positioning, the packaging, and the pitch
Positioning is what project is and who it’s for
Packaging is what it looks like and called
Pitch is the sell and how it’s described and what it offers

Part 3 marketing
From courting to coverage, pushing to promotion
Marketing critical and you have to own it
Word of mouth
Give your stuff away for free and even on piracy sites

Part 4 platform
From fans to friends and a full fledged career
Build your own platform of diehard fans
Build an email list
Control your own channel
Spend as much time promoting your work as creating it if not more
Don’t give up too early. Marathon not sprint
Build a body of work: start the next one
Collaborate with others to swap audiences
Keep reaching out to new fans

References:
The Warrior Ethos by Pressfield