Thank You For Your Support

I have four books out about American whiskey. Three are available in both print and electronic editions, one is electronic only. Click here to learn more.

Although you can buy the print books directly from me, most of my sales come through Amazon. As you can imagine, this is my busy season. Amazon reports sales daily. They should peak this coming week but have been very gratifying so far.

I'm about as small as a small business gets but in my marketing career I have worked with many giants. There are some ways in which all businesses are alike, regardless of size. One is new products. I don't care how much testing and analysis you do, you never really know how well a new product will be received. Some of the biggest companies in the world have had spectacular new product failures.

You just never know.

In addition to wondering how well Bourbon, Strange would be accepted, I wondered what effect the new book would have on sales of Bourbon, Straight, my first bourbon book, now more than 10 years old. That Bourbon, Straight is still selling at all after so long is unusual. Part of that is because I am the publisher and have kept it in print. I'm not sure a conventional publisher would have understood that since bourbon is still booming, new people become interested in it every day. Bourbon, Straight has continued to sell and has sold more in the last few years than it did when it was new.

Obviously, I intended Bourbon, Strange to have a family resemblance. I wanted to signal potential readers that while it is a different book, it is the same kind of book. I calculated that there was value in that but also risk. I was concerned that people looking for a bourbon book would gravitate to the new one and that would hurt Bourbon, Straight sales.

Thankfully, that hasn't happened. Numbers-wise, the sales of Bourbon, Strange appear to be entirely new. Sales of Bourbon, Straight haven't suffered at all. If anything, they've been enhanced. I have found over the years that when I launch a new product it tends to help everything else in the portfolio so I should have expected that, but as I said before, you never know for sure.

That's a lot about me, here is the part about you. Thank you. I appreciate your support more than you can imagine. In addition to the books and newsletter, my recent private and public tasting events have been successful too. Those are very direct forms of feedback. There is no buffer between you and me. I'm happy with that arrangement and gratified that so many of you have made me part of your bourbon adventure.

May it never end.