Nobody Buys Book #12 For The Plot

David Risley revisits an old Dan Kennedy idea with renewed relevance: an audience business can behave like a long-running novel, where people eventually return as much for the recurring character as for the next installment.¹

Kennedy’s framework breaks that personality-driven business into elements such as origin stories, recurring parables, distinctive beliefs, insider language, memorable accomplishments, opposition, and testimony. Risley’s more practical interpretation is not to manufacture a persona, but to stop sanding down the stories, opinions, flaws, and experiences already there.¹

There is some research behind the broader idea. A 2025 meta-analysis of 117 studies found that parasocial engagement with online influencers is associated with brand perceptions and purchase intentions, with characteristics such as expertise and trustworthiness helping shape those relationships.²

The newsletter also takes a detour into Risley’s platform-agnostic “AI Operating System,” giving the issue a second thread about making AI more useful through persistent business context. Both ideas are better developed in the original, which is worth reading in full.