It has been six months since Learning Environment: Inspirational Actions, Approaches, and Stories from the Science Classroom officially launched. And if I’m being honest, the transition from classroom teacher to first-time author + education consultant has been a whirlwind—part celebration, part marathon, 100% learning experience.
Over the last three years, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get Learning Environment into the hands of as many educators as possible. I’ve sent countless emails, launched this Substack to build a platform, hosted over a dozen live and virtual events, and even experimented with Meta and Amazon ads to break through the digital noise.
Recently, I reached out to my editor at Beacon Press to ask how sales were trending. Below is a snippet of that exchange,
“We printed 2100 [copies], and we are currently at 642 copies shipped. POS sales are at 170 so far and we’ve sold 20 ebooks... The paperback is scheduled to publish in August and that’ll present another sales/marketing opportunity as we push for course adoptions... All of this is to say, the work continues and I expect your book will have a long life!”
On the surface, 170 copies sold is quite a bit lower than the “bestseller” dreams I might have let myself imagine during writing sessions. However, I also want to be both realistic and grateful.
Realistically, I’m a solo education consultant and former teacher with no major marketing machine behind me. Breaking through the noise of today’s world is a Herculean task. Yet, as an educator—a voice often drowned out by the daily grind of serving students’ needs—I am incredibly lucky. Most teachers never get the opportunity to share their story with the world, and for that, I am grateful.
Since reviewing and coming to terms with my sales numbers, I am beginning to define success differently. Here are three frameworks that are currently guiding me.
Conversations: I’m grateful to the people who reached out after hearing me on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show, after reading a post here, or after attending a book event. When you tell me a specific approach resonates with you, the “numbers” matter less.
Rumblings: I’ve been fortunate to develop proposals that bring my classroom work to other districts in New York State and beyond. These inklings of what may be give me hope for the educational consulting work I am so passionate about and pursuing with gusto.
A“Long Life”: As my editor noted, six months is just the beginning of the life of a book. With the paperback coming this August and the hardcover edition featured at the AERA conference this spring, the door of possibility remains wide open.
I’ve made peace with the data. Indeed, there is little I can do to force a sale, but there is much I can do to focus on impact.
Right now, my focus is getting this book into the hands of education professors—the ones working with pre-service and early-career teachers. I want Learning Environment’s stories to help shape young educators’ concept of what teaching and learning can be before they step into their first classroom. I know this book would have helped me when I was just starting out, perhaps even saving me some time (years, really) figuring out the type of educator I wanted to be.
So…if you know an educator who is teaching other educators, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share this book with them (professors, click here for a free examination copy)
Thank you for considering and being part of the “long life” of this book.
With Gratitude,
Jared
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