How the Founder of Morgan James Publishing Hit USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestseller With Performance Driven Thinking

Authors Unite Success Story — Estimated read: 7 minutes

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At a Glance

  • Author: David Hancock (with co-author Bobby Kipper), founder of Morgan James Publishing.

  • Book: Performance Driven Thinking: A Challenging Journey That Will Encourage You to Embrace the Greatest Performance of Your Life (Morgan James Publishing, 2014)

  • What Authors Unite Did: Coordinated Bestseller Campaign driven by email marketing and paid ads.

  • Results: The Wall Street Journal Bestseller List and the USA Today Bestseller List (achieved while the WSJ list was active; prior to its November 2023 discontinuation). Note that the book was originally published years before the campaign!

  • Performance-Driven Thinking: A Challenging Journey That Will Encourage You to Embrace the Greatest Performance of Your Life

Who David Hancock Was Before The Campaign

David Hancock isn’t a first-time author. He’s the founder and chairman of Morgan James Publishing — one of the largest and most respected hybrid publishers in the world. He took Morgan James from a startup to a $10 million business, was ranked #44 on Fast Company’s “Fast 50” Companies, named a Finalist in the Best Chairman category at The American Business Awards, and cited by NASDAQ as one of the world’s most prestigious business leaders.

Morgan James has published thousands of titles, signed multi-book deals with marketing icons like Jay Conrad Levinson and Rick Frishman, and is widely recognized as a pioneer in hybrid publishing. David himself has co-authored more than 17 books, including Guerrilla Marketing for Writers, The Entrepreneurial Author, and the title we’re discussing here, Performance Driven Thinking.

David Hancock is a leading authority in the publishing and book marketing industries. Authors Unite was proud to be asked to run David Hancock’s BestSeller Campaign.

What He Wanted From The Campaign

Performance Driven Thinking was co-authored with Bobby Kipper, a leadership and motivational expert with three decades of experience. Performance Driven Thinking was originally published by Morgan James in 2014. The book lays out a framework for understanding what drives high performance: the interaction of desire and will, the entitlement-based obstacles that block performance, and the practical steps to become a Performance-Driven Thinker.

By the time David engaged Authors Unite for a bestseller campaign, the book had been in the market for several years. Most launches happen at first release — drive sales velocity during launch week to hit lists, then watch the book’s commercial life unfold over time. David wanted to do something less common. Authors Unite ran a major bestseller campaign for a book that was already established but had never received the coordinated launch effort required to hit mainstream lists.

The goal was to demonstrate that the framework in Performance Driven Thinking was still relevant — and to put a major bestseller credential on a book whose message had only grown more important since its original publication.

What Authors Unite Did

Authors Unite ran the coordinated bestseller campaign for Performance Driven Thinking, built around the same two core levers we use for every campaign:

Email marketing at scale. Driving thousands of qualifying retail purchases concentrated into a single reporting week requires high-volume, high-conversion email infrastructure. Authors Unite ran the campaign’s email work.

Paid ads. Coordinated paid advertising designed to compound with the email-driven sales velocity and ensure purchases were concentrated during the target reporting week.

That’s the work. Email marketing and paid ads, executed at the scale and timing required to move Performance Driven Thinking onto USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.

It’s worth noting that David Hancock and Bobby Kipper had everything else: the book, the framework, the publishing infrastructure, the credibility. What they specifically needed was the campaign mechanics to drive concentrated launch-week sales. That’s what Authors Unite delivered.

The Results

The campaign delivered concentrated sales velocity during the target reporting week. Performance-Driven Thinking hit:

  • USA Today Bestseller List

  • #5 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list — at the time, both major mainstream bestseller credentials (the WSJ discontinued its weekly bestseller lists in November 2023, but the credential was earned while the list was active and remains valid)

The fact that David hit both lists with a book originally published years prior demonstrates something specific about what coordinated bestseller campaign mechanics can do. The book itself was strong. The framework was still relevant. The credibility was already there. What was missing was the concentrated launch-week sales velocity — and that’s exactly what the campaign provided.

The bestseller credentials have continued to compound. David has since published additional books (The Babylon Blueprint, The Babylon Blueprint for Authors, Performance-Driven Giving) and is now widely credentialed as a “Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author” across his speaking, consulting, and publishing work.

In David’s Words

“Working with Tyler Wagner and his team was incredible. They helped us hit #5 on the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller lists — even with a book originally published back in 2014! Tyler delivered exactly what he promised, coached us on how to market effectively, and proved that our message is still relevant today. Huge thanks to Tyler for making it happen.”

— David Hancock, founder of Morgan James Publishing

About Performance Driven Thinking

Performance Driven Thinking: A Challenging Journey that will encourage you to embrace the greatest performance of your life. The book not only explores what makes high performers different but also equips the reader with the skills to apply those principles. Co-authored with Bobby Kipper, founder of the National Center for the Prevention of Community Violence, the book examines the interplay of desire and will, the obstacles posed by an entitlement mindset that block performance, and the practical mental shifts that turn intention into action.

The book has been used as a framework for leadership development, personal performance coaching, and business strategy across industries.

Could Authors Unite Do This for Your Book?

If you have a book that’s already in market but never got the launch it deserved — or you’re preparing a new release and want it positioned for mainstream bestseller credentials — let’s talk about whether your situation is a fit.

Book a call with Authors Unite to discuss your launch.