Exploring ideas #2 - Applied Reading Co: Getting the most out of the books you read
For voracious readers who struggle to retain and apply the knowledge gained from books
I’m presently reading ‘The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching’ by Thich Nhat Hanh. It’s a deep and insightful book on how to live a more fulfilling life.
When I read, I’m liberal in marking up my books with a pen. If you pick up an old book lying on my shelf you’ll find it full of underlined passages and notes scribbled in the margins. It’s my way of trying to digest all the new information and retain a portion of it.
I was doing the same thing with my copy of The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching this morning, when I realized that there is so much to unpack in each paragraph that I wasn’t truly grasping or retaining even a fraction of it. I also had no idea how I was going to implement my ‘learnings’ in a structured manner to actually improve my life.
This episode got me thinking that there has to be a better way to learn from books. Luckily, most of us have experienced that better way already - in school, and more so in college. There is a clear system of read → practice (homework) → discuss → implement (practicals). And if you’re anything like me, you probably remember what you learned in college years ago (9 for me!) better than what you read in a book last week.
Why does that system of learning have to stop at college?
Idea #2 - Applied Reading Co: Getting the most out of the books you read
(The name is a work in progress)
Company purpose:
Help readers retain knowledge better and actually implement learning through: a) practice b) a cohort and c) systems.
Problem:
Reading on its own isn’t good enough for learning for two reasons:
Retaining knowledge is difficult
Implementation drops off as soon as you are actually done reading the book
In fact, research has shown that exposure to information, without actually practicing or applying that information, can lead to an inflated sense of confidence and a feeling of mastery in a particular area. This illusion of competence makes you feel like you have learned and even received the benefits of this newfound knowledge, without any practice or implementation.
Remember when you read Atomic Habits, felt like you were now going to crush the world, and did nothing with that information?
Solution:
I believe cohort-based classes that convert books into workshops offer an interesting solution.
These classes would look like a cross between a book club and a college course, focused on practical, real-world learning. We could take the best elements from college learning - read → practice (homework) → discuss → implement (practicals) -, combine them with modern learning methods, and setup students up with a system to track and implement what they’ve learned.
Here’s how an Atomic Habits class would look, for example:
Cohort of ~20 students + one instructor
3 week course:
2 sessions a week - 1 open-ended discussion, 1 homework discussion
1 ‘homework’ a week - this is just a practical implication of what you’ve learned (eg: record all your good and bad habits for 3 days)
Course ends with a ‘capstone’ project that involves setting up a system you can use going forward to implement learning (eg: setup your habits for the next 3 months, and a tracker them helps you maintain them)
Post course tools:
Online community to continue discussion with your cohort (Slack channel)
Dashboard where you can track progress socially with the cohort (social habit dashboard on Google Sheets, Notion, or web app)
This example might seem simplistic, and some books may require more unpacking than others. For example, James Clear already provides practical guides to tracking your current habits and implementing new ones in Atomic Habits. In this course, the focus would need to be more on readers’ follow through.
However, a course on the book I’m currently reading, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, would require the readers and instructor to spend time understanding the dense material, and converting it into a practical manual on how to live that you can actually action (I know I need this).
Why now:
Self improvement isn’t a new industry. The market is ~$40b globally and already ~$2b in India and expected to double in the next 5 years.
The major change we have seen recently, particularly in India, is a shift towards upskilling via cohort-based online courses: GrowthX helps you become a top 1% growth leader, The Product Folks have multiple product and design upskilling courses, Stoa is the new online MBA. Indians have realized (or even remembered) that:
Learning can continue beyond college
Learning happens by implementation
Learning in groups is fun!
Market potential:
Target Users:
Our target cohort is Millennials and Gen-Zers between the ages of 21-40 living in tier 1/2 metros, in the high income bracket, who are digitally native.
Some comparable TAMs include:
iPhone users in India = 11 million users, ~60% between the ages of 21-35
Users of WeWork or other co-working spaces = 13 million users
TAM seems to be close to ~10 million users
TAM:
Top down:
The lazy approach is took look at the total Indian self-improvement market of $2b as our annual revenue TAM. A 5-10% share of that yields a $100-200m revenue SAM.
Bottom up:
If you consider our TAM of iPhone users and/or the co-working population in tier 1/2 metros, you come up with the following TAM and SAM revenue:
If we use a Rs. 5000 course fee, our SAM looks like it’s somewhere between $50-$100m at a 5-10% market share. A reasonably sized pool to go after.
Competition/alternatives:
Competition exists in two forms:
Existing self-improvement via books - if users don’t feel the urgency of this problem, or feel like they’re getting what they need from books already, it’ll be hard to get them to ‘pay to read’
New digital upskilling programs like GrowthX, Growth School, and Stoa - these bring with them tangible value of pay jumps via upskilling
I believe our solution offers an improvement to 1, and slots itself adjacent to 2.
A combination of a lower price point and time commitment vs. upskilling programs, along with a wider variety of possible topics to focus on, will give Applied Reading Co room to operate in a segment that is slowly getting crowded.
Business model:
Cohort based classes like those conducted by GrowthX and Growth School cost Rs. 30-40k for a 5-8 week course. These programs, and others by the likes of Stoa, are generally one-time programs that lead to better economic outcomes for students by way of improved job prospects. Therefore, they can charge the premium fees they do.
A program like ours would function better with:
A low entry barrier to the first course with a Rs. 5000 price per book/cohort for 3 weeks / 6 sessions
A community component with tools to keep the users engaged beyond the first cohort
Multiple recurring ‘purchases’ for each new book + course combination depending on what the user wants to learn more about
Vision:
I don’t know if this could be a venture-backable business yet, but if you successfully execute this ‘phase 1’ concept, you end up with:
Multiple cohorts of ambitious users in the high income bracket who are seeking to improve themselves, integrated via a community, and
Workbooks and coursework for a range of reads across business, productivity, self-improvement, investing, mindfulness, and so on, that become digital assets on their own
There are multiple ways you could upsell these assets:
Launch premium ‘master classes’ at higher-tier prices that are hosted by the authors themselves
Host events like readings, and in-person book clubs
Become a launching pad for new authors launching books in the learning and self improvement segment
I haven’t even scratched the surface yet.
Conclusion:
Learning happens best by doing. Converting a book into a series of practical exercises to work on along with a cohort of other learners to hold you accountable, could change the way we learn, retain, and implement knowledge from books.
Thank you, but what do I do with this information?
Am I taking something that’s supposed to be a leisurely pastime and trying to over optimize it?
Are you part of a book club that you’d like to turn into a workshop?
Does this already exist?
Would love to hear your thoughts.
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