the results are in
how many copies of Self Care did I sell with my gonzo Instagram campaign?
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At the beginning of 2024, I pulled a prank on Instagram. I wiped my entire grid of content and then announced that I had decided to leave book publishing, to go work for a female-led wellness startup called Richual.
My followers who’d read my novel Self Care immediately got the joke and started playing along in the comments (Love, light, girlboss, gaslight ✨🫶).
My followers who’d never read Self Care… let me know they’d never read Self Care by sincerely congratulating me on my big career move and wishing me all the best.
I decided to make my next post even more outrageous, to signal that this was satire.
In the caption, I wrote:
it’s a privilege to work for a startup like RICHUAL that prioritizes women’s health for its employees by mandating gravity method colon hydrotherapy and letting us pay for it ourselves so we have AGENCY in our wellness journey
Eight weeks later, I filmed a video in my car in my chiropractor’s parking lot, announcing that I’d been fired from Richual for speaking publicly about my employer-manded colonic hydrotherapy.
I guess my year of acting conservatory training really paid off because I was so believable that my friend’s husband asked her if I’d really lost my job.
Because I’d wiped my Instagram grid completely, Instagram registered this video as my “first” reel ever and the algorithm rewarded me handsomely.
The video went viral and was viewed 1 million times. My comments section is filled with men explaining freedom of speech to me. 🇺🇸 It was honestly the most fun I’d had in a long time.
I was invited to appear on multiple podcasts to discuss my marketing stunt; I also referenced my viral campaign in the pitch deck I made to sell my novel If You’re Seeing This, It’s Meant for You.
But how many copies of Self Care did my weeks-long prank sell?
I just got my royalty statement from Penguin Random House and after the paywall, I’ll show you.