6 ms·

Rework: The new business book from 37signals

43 points by nreece 17y ago

tptacek 17y ago
I wish I could market a product as well as these guys can market a part-time book project.
- sachinag 17y ago
  You just need to turn your "security for Startups" presentation into a nice set of 20 separate blog posts over the course of three months. Don't blog about your products; blog about your expertise and let people find your products. (There's a reason they keep a separate product blog to SvN.)
- patio11 17y ago
  They'll probably write a bit about that, I'm guessing. (Though I expect that they'll probably elide one key detail: great marketing for the product you release next starts about six years ago.)
gcheong 17y ago
Interesting they decided to take the route of going through a publisher instead of the self-publish route as they did the first time around.
- dsplittgerber 17y ago
  Possible reason: They didn't want to deal with publishers insisting they're "unproven" with their first book; better to do it on your own if you're sure about your fan base etc. Now, they have proven success and can demand much better terms.
  - runevault 17y ago
    There's also the alternate argument of doing it yourself the first time just to help build your community, then once you've pushed that as far as it can go, use mainstream media to help push you to the next level, since they have connections you likely can't get in any sane amount of time.
- aditya 17y ago
  They said wanted to write a best-seller, so they literally sold out. :-) More here: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1441-announcing-our-new-book-deal http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1441-announcing-our-new-book-...
cjoh 17y ago
Comes with its own scratch & sniff axe body spray cover.
AndrewWarner 17y ago
Jason is going to do a live audience interview about it on Mixergy soon. Hit me up if you have idea for how I can make the program more useful for you.
- revorad 17y ago
  Try and get some interesting numbers out of him :-)
  - dshah 17y ago
    If there's anyone that can pull some numbers out of Jason, I think it's Andrew. Look forward to the interview on Mixergy!
    - AndrewWarner 17y ago
      Thanks guys. Last time he came to Mixergy he gave some numbers, but not as many as I tried to get. This time, I'll work a little harder to convince him.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
whereareyou 17y ago
I wonder if the black background on their book's icon at the bottom is supposed to be there or not. Since it's a PNG and everything else has a transparent background I am guessing it is a mistake. Silly little detail..I know...but I am a designer so this stuff jumps out at me. I can't wait to read the book though. http://37signals.com/images/icon-crumple.png http://37signals.com/images/icon-crumple.png
- spicyj 17y ago
  What's the problem you see? Looks fine to me.
  - pavs 17y ago
    He is probably using ipad and saw the blue flash icon.
  - mmelin 17y ago
    The background of the icon is #000 but the footer background is slightly >#000, something like #111 or #222.
Tichy 17y ago
What do they mean by "pick a fight"?
- mcpherrin 17y ago
  They mean you should read the book to find out. Making bold and outlandish claims is a typical way to get people to look at your product.
- steveklabnik 17y ago
  It's probably a variation on 'opinionated software,' if I had to guess. http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch04_Make_Opinionated_Software.php http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch04_Make_Opinionated_Softw...
- aamar 17y ago
  They mean drawing inspiration from the competition by taking a strong stance about what they're doing wrong; make their approach your enemy: http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch02_Have_an_Enemy.php http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch02_Have_an_Enemy.php

43 points by nreece 17y ago

tptacek 17y ago

I wish I could market a product as well as these guys can market a part-time book project.

sachinag 17y ago
You just need to turn your "security for Startups" presentation into a nice set of 20 separate blog posts over the course of three months. Don't blog about your products; blog about your expertise and let people find your products. (There's a reason they keep a separate product blog to SvN.)
patio11 17y ago
They'll probably write a bit about that, I'm guessing. (Though I expect that they'll probably elide one key detail: great marketing for the product you release next starts about six years ago.)

gcheong 17y ago

Interesting they decided to take the route of going through a publisher instead of the self-publish route as they did the first time around.

dsplittgerber 17y ago
Possible reason: They didn't want to deal with publishers insisting they're "unproven" with their first book; better to do it on your own if you're sure about your fan base etc. Now, they have proven success and can demand much better terms.
- runevault 17y ago
  There's also the alternate argument of doing it yourself the first time just to help build your community, then once you've pushed that as far as it can go, use mainstream media to help push you to the next level, since they have connections you likely can't get in any sane amount of time.
aditya 17y ago
They said wanted to write a best-seller, so they literally sold out. :-) More here: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1441-announcing-our-new-book-deal http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1441-announcing-our-new-book-...

cjoh 17y ago

Comes with its own scratch & sniff axe body spray cover.

AndrewWarner 17y ago

Jason is going to do a live audience interview about it on Mixergy soon. Hit me up if you have idea for how I can make the program more useful for you.

revorad 17y ago
Try and get some interesting numbers out of him :-)
- dshah 17y ago
  If there's anyone that can pull some numbers out of Jason, I think it's Andrew. Look forward to the interview on Mixergy!
  - AndrewWarner 17y ago
    Thanks guys. Last time he came to Mixergy he gave some numbers, but not as many as I tried to get. This time, I'll work a little harder to convince him.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]

whereareyou 17y ago

I wonder if the black background on their book's icon at the bottom is supposed to be there or not. Since it's a PNG and everything else has a transparent background I am guessing it is a mistake. Silly little detail..I know...but I am a designer so this stuff jumps out at me. I can't wait to read the book though. http://37signals.com/images/icon-crumple.png http://37signals.com/images/icon-crumple.png

spicyj 17y ago
What's the problem you see? Looks fine to me.
- pavs 17y ago
  He is probably using ipad and saw the blue flash icon.
- mmelin 17y ago
  The background of the icon is #000 but the footer background is slightly >#000, something like #111 or #222.

Tichy 17y ago

What do they mean by "pick a fight"?

mcpherrin 17y ago
They mean you should read the book to find out. Making bold and outlandish claims is a typical way to get people to look at your product.
steveklabnik 17y ago
It's probably a variation on 'opinionated software,' if I had to guess. http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch04_Make_Opinionated_Software.php http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch04_Make_Opinionated_Softw...
aamar 17y ago
They mean drawing inspiration from the competition by taking a strong stance about what they're doing wrong; make their approach your enemy: http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch02_Have_an_Enemy.php http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch02_Have_an_Enemy.php