Publishing a Book in 2018: An Update
European Straits #84
Dear all,
As it’s the last newsletter of the summer, I thought I would simply share an update on how the experience of publishing my book, Hedge, is going. As you know it was released on July 4 and so the book is now in its 7th week of existence.
First of all, if you don’t have your copy yet, you should get it fast as the price will go up early in September! Again, you only have to click on the relevant Amazon link depending on where you are: 🇺🇸US, 🇬🇧UK, 🇫🇷FR, 🇩🇪DE, 🇮🇹IT, 🇪🇸ES.
A few facts and figures: we’re closing in on 1,000 copies sold, with roughly 40% in the UK, 40% on the European continent, and 20% in the US. There’s definitely work left to do promoting the book in the US. After all, it was written in Silicon Valley. Attending Tim O'Reilly's was a super opportunity to talk about the book to potential American readers, but greater efforts are coming—and, by the way, you can certainly help in spreading the word 🤗
As for Amazon reviews, the fact that the book is distributed worldwide makes it difficult to have a consolidated view. Local Amazon websites only show local reviews as well as, in some cases, reviews from the US. But I’m monitoring that and all in all, 11 readers have shared feedback (all five stars!), among which 5 are in France 🇫🇷, 3 in the US 🇺🇸, 2 in the UK 🇬🇧, and 1 in Germany 🇩🇪. There are also 6 ratings and 2 reviews on Goodreads, where the average grade is 4.5 stars.
Beyond that, some have already taken up their pen to share detailed feedback and additional thoughts about the book. For those of you who read French, I suggest you have a look at Perrick Penet-Avez’s inspiring article, with links to many very interesting sources on topics covered in the book: Quelques notes en vrac à propos du livre Hedge: A Greater Safety Net for the Entrepreneurial Age.
Another detailed review (in English) was shared more recently by Temenos’s Ben Robinson: Re-imagining the safety net—a review of Hedge by Nicolas Colin. Check out the discussions on consumer finance and the future of social insurance by an expert in the future of financial services!
Yet another very detailed review was published by Stefano Zorzi of the startup studio Founders in Copenhagen (and the review was featured in Ribbonfarm’s most recent roundup, which is very flattering!). Here’s Stefano’s in-depth review of Hedge on his blog The Hiding Hand, which includes discussions of the new working class, ‘exit unions’, and upgrading the tax system.
Last but not least, my friend Martin Schmidbaur of Milltown Partners has contributed a tweetstorm about the book. The fact that Martin has been involved in the long writing process makes the tweetstorm all the more interesting—and, again, I’m very grateful to him for his continued support! Here’s the thread: Having spent some time with @Nicolas_Colin on his new book Hedge...
Let me add two quick pieces of news, both related to Hedge in some ways. First of all, I’m very glad to be joining the World Economic Forum’s Digital Leaders of Europe Board. It’s a great honor to have been nominated to join such a prominent organization, one that is deeply rooted in Europe and is spearheading the forward-thinking approach that we desperately need on this continent. I’ll be working more specifically on building a pan-European entrepreneurial ecosystem (a of The Family’s strategy) and will share news as this important work goes on in the weeks and months ahead.
Second, I am now a proud Forbes contributor and will publish 5-7 short pieces a month on the intersection of policy and tech, focusing on Europe. Here are the first two issues:
Finally, we’re approaching the period in which I will be out in public and speaking about the book a lot. Here are a few dates that you can take note of depending on the city you live in:
🇫🇷 On September 13 I’ll be speaking about Hedge in Paris as a guest of Wemind, a portfolio startup of The Family that specializes in providing insurance to freelancers. Here’s the link (in French).
🇨🇭 On September 19-20 I’ll be in Geneva and then Zurich as a guest of Ben Robinson’s (again, read his review of the book). Here are the details about the two events: Geneva and Zurich.
🇫🇷 On September 27 in the morning I’ll be interviewed about the book on stage in Paris by Henri Isaac and Nicolas Vanbremeersch. It’s part of a cycle called “Aux Sources du Numérique”.
🇩🇪 On October 2 we’ll have a meetup regarding the book at The Family’s office in Berlin. I’ll keep you posted about the details!
🇫🇷 On October 3 I’ll be in Paris again, this time to officially launch the book at The Family’s local office. More to come!
🇩🇰 On October 11 I’ll be in Copenhagen by invitation of Stefano Zorzi (who, again, wrote a review of Hedge). Here’s the link about the event at Founders’s office.
🇺🇸 I’ll be in the Bay Area for a week starting November 5 for various talks at large tech companies and other venues, as well as recording podcasts. Let me know if you’re based there and if you would be interested in hosting a talk about Hedge! (By the way, I’ll travel to the US again in early 2019 to visit New York, Washington, DC and perhaps Chicago and Boston.)
🇮🇱 Then I’ll travel to Israel later in November (to Tel Aviv and then Jerusalem), following Emmanuel Bismuth’s reaching out to me. If you live in Israel and work in tech and/or policy, write us a message to potentially organize more talks and meetings!
🇦🇹 I’ll be in Vienna on November 27-30 to participate in the , with probably one or two events on the side dedicated to Hedge.
🇮🇹 I’ll be in Italy (Rome, then Milan) the week starting December 10, at the invitation of my friend Raffaele Russo. More details to come!
🇬🇧 It goes without saying that many events will happen in London, where I’m based and where I’m discussing possible meetups and talks with various organizations. I’ll share more about those in the coming weeks!
Warm regards (from Normandy, France),
Nicolas