Help me extend the reach and impact of We Have Never Been Woke

Up to now, We Have Never Been Woke has been a smashing critical success. It’s also been commercially successful. It missed some of the bestseller lists because those are determined by first week sales and, in my case, the book had a decent but not gangbuster first week but then built rapidly —seeing a growth curve that’s starting to look exponential (even as most other successful titles have strong first-week sales and then rapidly drop off). All good things.

To everyone who picked up a copy of the book for themselves or even bought multiple copies to give them to others, thank you so much! Info on how to buy the book from your preferred vendor and your preferred format is here.

For those who’ve already invested in a copy, I hope you find the book to be accessible, compelling and insightful. So far, the feedback from readers in comments and emails has been very warm.

Ultimately, as a scholar, my primary concern is not necessarily to maximize profits — it’s to have as many people as possible read and engage with the book and its content. On that front, there are several ways that you (yes, you!) can help expand access and interest for We Have Never Been Woke to those who don’t yet have a copy. This post will walk through some options. Most of the suggestions just take a few minutes and cost nothing. However, at scale they can make a very big difference in enhancing the impact and reach of the book.

Request We Have Never Been Woke for your local public library

Public libraries are great places where people of all ages and from many walks of life end up gathered together. Books available at public libraries can reach many constituencies that I might not otherwise interact with through other means.1

Most contemporary public libraries have websites allowing you to search their existing catalog – and if they don’t yet have a particular book, but folks in the community want the library to have that book, there’s usually a quick form that can be filled out to request that a text be added to the collection. Librarians are often quite responsive to these requests.

To illustrate what the process looks like: the closest public library to me