“I’m telling you, it was the kitten.”

How Product Hunt (and @GlassholeKitty) made my book launch a success.

I don’t want to brag, or anything, but…

I think I’m Product Hunt’s biggest fan.

(Except for, maybe, @EricTWillis)

But a big fan nonetheless.

I was excited that Ryan Hoover had written a 2014 Year in Numbers post—but I didn’t see my name the first time I read it. When I saw it… !!!

So when I decided to write a book on marketing—and promptly realized that subject was too broad—I asked myself, “what would I really enjoy writing about?”

It wasn’t too hard a question to answer. I’d already written:

Shining in the Product Hunt Limelight

and

10 Things I’d Do Differently if I Were Launching Fittr on Product Hunt Again (and the One Thing I’d Never Change)

both about the amazing experience I’d had launching my startup, Fittr, on Product Hunt.

So I decided to write a book about how to launch successfully on Product Hunt. And then I would launch it on Product Hunt.

I got so nervous, I made about 8 covers for the book and asked around social media which one was best. The cover with @GlassholeKitty front and center won by a landslide.

“Kittens sell books.” I was told.

See? Doesn’t the mad urge to buy something just surge through your veins? This kitty is a weapon of massive consumption.

The book did well.

It shot up to the top of the Product Hunt charts—I’d prepared for the launch, and there was no overtaking The Manual. One of my friends met the gang from Venture Assembly (#2 on the charts) that night at a networking event.

“Ha!” my friend apparently said to them, “I helped edit Number 1!”

Dear Venture Assembly,

Your product is a really great concept and will be incredibly useful for everyone in tech. I wish you all the best.

Sincerely,

Kiki

P.S.- Please don’t hate me.

This is how it ended up:

592 votes now. Wow. To be fair, previous to the e-mail it had around 450, then 550, and 40 points have rolled in here and there since.

So you might want to know how the book sold.

This chart is for the drama.

I’ve left out the scale depicting dollar sales because I’m shy about money.

But break down the timeline and it looks like this:

This is actually a little skewed. Payhip, the wonderful service I used to distribute and sell the book, is based out of London, so their day ended several hours before Product Hunt’s in Pacific Time. Therefore the upward curve should be steeper, and so should the drop-off.

The Things I Got (Besides Money) from My Product Hunt Launch

1. A podcast interview with The Daily Hunt
2. A podcast interview with Build and Launch
3. Another podcast interview, coming soon?
4. I was invited to 2 invitation-only Slack groups
5. More than 12,000 viewed my book site.
6. Leo LaPorte read my book title on Triangulation! (7 mins.)
7. My Klout score shot up (I’m beating my father!)

Number 6 was actually the most fulfilling (though the interview wasn’t in the best light). However, I received wonderful responses from my readers, and good feedback for the next version—coming soon on Kindle, with bonus chapters.

When I told my Facebook followers that my book had done well, one of my friends said,

“See? I’m telling you, it was the kitten!”

Fin.

So I also have this theory that you can predict traction numbers based off the number of votes you recieved on Product Hunt and I’m collecting data. If you’ve been on Product Hunt and would like to contribute in exchange for good karma and a link on Medium to your startup—please email me. kikischirr@gmail.com

Feel free to e-mail me for other reasons, too.

And in case I haven’t plugged it enough, buy my book.

Thank you,

~Kiki