Why shouldn’t my book “talk” to readers walking into bookstores?…

When you publish a book independently, without a publishing house backing you, you quickly realize how hard it is to stand out.

Online, you can build visibility, an audience, momentum.

But in bookstores?

Without someone supporting you, the book just sits there — quietly on the shelf, waiting… and sometimes disappearing into the warehouse.

That’s exactly what happened with my book, Tiebreaker: The Power of Networking, Communities & Personal Branding.

Reader feedback was always warm, and sales through my website were strong.

But on bookstore shelves — silence.

And honestly, it was depressing.

So I asked myself:

If I had already built a custom ChatGPT based on my book (Read the full story here: My Book Just Started Talking — Is This the Future of Reading?), allowing people to actually talk to it — then why shouldn’t the book itself “talk” to readers walking into bookstores?

And that’s where the innovative and exciting part comes in.

Together with Tzomet Sfarim (our largest bookstore cahin in Israel) — we created something new:

A simple QR sticker now takes readers to my custom ChatGPT. Add in some in-store promotion (plus a holiday discount campaign), and suddenly — the book is alive.

It speaks. It answers questions. It shares reviews. It reveals its ideas in a completely new way.

The book even “knows” you’re talking to it inside a bookstore!

But beyond my own book, this is really a story about thinking differently.

Even when you’re on your own — without a big publisher behind you — there are always creative ways to make an impact, form partnerships, and launch something innovative.

Never give up. Always think creatively.