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When a Book on Mental Mastery Goes Viral—And What That Means for Indie Publishing
Imagine this: You’re an NFL player in the middle of a playoff game, stadium roaring, millions watching, and instead of pacing the sidelines, you crack open a book.
That’s exactly what Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown did when he was spotted reading Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life by Jim Murphy during a high-stakes matchup.
The moment? It went viral. The book? It catapulted from the deep abyss of Amazon’s rankings—523,497th place—to the #1 bestseller overnight.
For a small publisher like us, this is the kind of story we love. A book that wasn’t backed by a Big Five publisher, that wasn’t riding a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, suddenly became the most sought-after title in the country. Why?
Because it resonated. Because people saw a top-tier athlete turn to a book—not just for inspiration, but as a real-time tool for focus and performance. And that simple, authentic act made Inner Excellence a must-read.
Author Jim Murphy, who probably never imagined his book would be the center of an NFL meme, said, “I knew that he was reading the book and he had the book. I saw it on the sideline recently so I thought, ‘Oh, that’s really cool.’ I didn’t know he was bringing it to every game and reading it after every drive. So that’s really neat.”
It’s proof that the right book in the right hands can create a movement—even if that book starts with no buzz at all.
If you’re sitting on a manuscript that challenges the norm, sparks introspection, or offers an untapped perspective, this is your sign: Your words matter. Your book could be next.
Let’s talk. Let’s publish. Let’s create another indie success story.
