I just got off the phone with Hay House. Apparently what happened is that they had the books shipped directly from the printer to their distributors when they should have stored the books in their warehouse for a few weeks. As I understand it, this problem was caused by a lack of internal coordination. I.e. the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. It was a mistake plain and simple.
Consequently, Amazon received their order of several thousand books much earlier than they should have and naturally started shipping them. But it wasn't just Amazon. Apparently other distributors, including brick and mortar chains, also have the books now. I haven't been able to verify this yet, but as far as I know, the book may already be on the shelves in many bookstores, both in the USA and Canada.
Anyway, this obviously derails the timing of my launch plans, especially since the 400+ blogger review copies only started shipping this week, but all I can do is roll with it.
I already switched all the links on StevePavlina.com to reflect the fact that the book is now available. I'll officially announce the book's launch in my blog and newsletter next week. I could do it today, but my traffic is lower during the weekend, so it's best to wait until Monday.
The book's Amazon sales rank is 972 as of this moment, so it's already in the top 1K. Certainly not bad for a book that snuck out the door unexpectedly.
Anyway, enjoy the book! I wonder who will be the first to post an Amazon review.
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