
How I got a blank book to the top of the Amazon charts - davidw
http://realbusiness.co.uk/news/how-i-got-a-blank-book-to-the-top-of-the-amazon-charts/page:1
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mryall
TL;DR:

After being dissatisfied with his earlier publishing efforts, Shed Simove
found a cheap printing house online and used Amazon to sell his books
directly, rather than going through a traditional publishing house.

Once he had the book printed and available on Amazon, he enlisted the help of
a PR firm to start convincing journalists to write about it and media to talk
about it. Together with some good photos and a Youtube video, his sales ended
up taking off.

Lessons for hackers: technology is helpful, but marketing is more important
than you think it is. Get in touch with people who can help.

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shasta
Your TL;DR misses the most important part of the summary: the book was titled
"What men think about apart from sex" and the blank pages were the punch line.

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StavrosK
I don't think that's very important, though, is it? I've seen these books
years ago, one example was a blank book called "What men know about women".
His book wasn't even that original...

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nandemo
I think it's rather important. It's the equivalent of spending years writing
(say) a MMRPG that turns out to attract only a handful of customers, then
giving up and writing a fart app that goes on to sell a whole lot.

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chopsueyar
lowest common denominator

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relix
The most important piece of info is missing imo. How much did he spent with
the PR firm? It seems it was the whole key in this story, and it's a good
lesson for us.

I personally have no idea how much a PR firm costs, or what the lowest amount
they take is. Is it $5k? $10k? Or more like $50k? Anyone here have suggestions
of cheap but value-for-money PR firms, especially useful for bootstrappers?

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zandorg
I asked a guy from a PR firm about this at an event at my local University.

He said getting stories in local newspapers costs about £2000. National press
(meaning in the UK, not the USA) costs more. But it costs way less than the
$20k I thought it did.

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tomwalker
That is a made up number

I have had national level press at a cost of £0

Journalists will listen to you if you have something worth hearing

~~~
zandorg
I read that Viaweb spent $20k on national press.

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ad80
Good idea to increase sales of his previous books. It would be good to know
the PR costs, but I guess it must be a few thousand british pounds.

The point I like most out of the story is that there is still space to get
viral with really limited budget. Creativity and having a plan is key.

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revorad
This is the answer to yesterday's "Why can't I make as much as I make?".

~~~
ignifero
That's also a good title for a blank book

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dmd
I'm just impressed that my NaNoWriMo book, which consists of two words
repeated over and over, has sold 19 copies.

[http://www.amazon.com/Hipster-Posturing-ebook/product-
review...](http://www.amazon.com/Hipster-Posturing-ebook/product-
reviews/B001JQLUC6/)

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allwein
Now I'll be _really_ impressed if he manages to get the Kindle version into
the top 50.

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Peroni
TL;DR: I hired a PR firm who came up with a creative idea to get this novelty
product some press coverage.

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ignifero
I think he could launch a whole series of notebooks with smart/funny covers.
Or someone else could. I don't think it's just the PR in this case. This guy
has a good product idea

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elvirs
with consumer getting crazier every passing day it becomes harder to guess
what people will buy and what not.

