One Week from Today

September 8, 2020

I'm glad that you've come to this newsletter for the content about what's next for higher ed. So, I hope you'll excuse this one message today focused on something personal and important to me: my new book, Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions.

Its publication day is one week away. If you haven't purchased the book yet, you can certainly wait to buy it in stores or online next week (hardcover, e-book, or audio). But what I really hope you can do—and encourage your friends, colleagues, and social media networks to do—is preorder a copy this week.

Here's why: Not sure if you saw Sunday's New York Times, but Frank Bruni wrote his column about the book. He said the "extraordinary access to the selection process" I got at Emory University, Davidson College, and the University of Washington allowed me to "present one of the most nuanced, coolheaded examinations of the admission process" that he has read.

The piece helped pre-sales—a lot. At one point on Sunday, the book was #2 among the "movers and shakers" on Amazon, right behind Bob Woodward's new book (also coming out from Simon & Schuster next week) and just ahead of a book by Netflix cofounder, Reed Hastings, that's out today.

Now, it's important to keep sales going this week, at both independent stores as well as online sellers. If stores see people are buying the book, they'll stock more of them. If the algorithms at Amazon recognize people are buying it like they did on Sunday, it will be recommended to even more people.

More sales tell my publisher that people are interested in this book and they'll do more to support it in the weeks ahead.

More sales this week can also help the book get on a best-seller list because pre-sales count toward the first week of those lists. Yes, I'll admit that being on a best-seller list is often a vanity project. But I also know from my previous books that it helps elevate the book into the national conversation because there's so much noise out there right now (and lots of books are coming out next Tuesday).

Who Gets In and Why is not just another advice book about how to crack the door of selective colleges. It takes you inside the admissions ecosystem—not only the rooms where the decisions are made, but also the marketing companies, the rankings, and the financial-aid consultants to see how so many people shape who gets in and why.

As the Library Journal said last week in a starred review, it's an "absorbing book" that I think is even more critical in an admissions year upended by the pandemic. It describes the field students will be playing on this year, even if some of the rules have changed.

I'll be back in your inbox later this week with more content.

Thanks for your time. — Jeff

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