The past few months have been quite busy, as we near the release of our first book Speak Human: Out-Market the Big Guys by Getting Personal. Today, I thought I’d share a few notes on what it’s about, the release date, and a few other details.
The cover for our upcoming release: Speak Human
Why we’ve written it
Over the past 10 years, we’ve met a lot of people who struggle with marketing their companies. Many try to apply big-business techniques without avail. What few realize is that small companies have great advantages over larger ones when it comes to marketing. This book looks at what exactly those are, and reminds small business owners that the solution is closer than they may realize.
If you like ideasonideas, you’ll probably like Speak Human. It has the same kind of conversational approach; meanwhile, I’ve worked to keep it as sensible and “big picture” as I can. There are plenty of jargon-filled books out there and ones that talk about marketing in a prescriptive fashion (i.e. “Get a Twitter account!). This one is instead concentrated on how to connect with the right people over the long run.
Where it’s at
Speak Human is currently going through its final edits. We’re really happy to have Hans Saefkow and Tom Biederbeck lending us a hand with this part of the project! We expect the book to be available for purchase in early November at very latest.
The book is pretty thick, with a page-count around the 280 mark. We’ve chopped a lot out of it though, and as a result we think it’s a pretty tight read. It will be available for purchase on Amazon — and hopefully some other sites — for $22.95 ($24.95 Canada). If you’d like a copy, you can add your name to the list at www.speakhuman.com and we’ll notify you once it’s available for purchase.
Eric, the cover is clean and crisp, I like it. Interesting that you’ve chosen blood red for the color of the cover.
August 24, 2009 at 8:08 am
Three words: Can not wait!
August 24, 2009 at 8:13 am
Looks great though the chair brings the last few years of Canada Trust’s marketing campaign to mind, but I don’t mean that in a negative way at all. Also: props for using Underware’s Dolly type family
August 24, 2009 at 9:27 am
Thanks for the positive feedback!
The cover has taken a lot of thought–and I’m happy to have it nearly complete. The color was largely selected because it stands out well in Amazon’s “You might also like” area, where book covers are reduced to small thumbnails. We made it more of a crimson tone to increase contrast with the type and avoid any overly arresting overtones (i.e. stop-sign).
Funny–I hadn’t realized that Canada Trust was using a chair as well. I suppose it was inevitable that there would be a little overlap. We did search for a less cliché image, but almost everything has been used in one way or another.
Well, I should get back to it. As noted, it’s getting a lot closer, and we’re convinced it will be worth the wait.
August 24, 2009 at 11:06 am
Two words: Cannot wait.
August 26, 2009 at 12:27 am
I can’t wait for the book either, I love your writing. But the cover immediately reminded me of David Rakoff’s book Don’t Get Too Comfortable
August 27, 2009 at 10:37 am
Thanks Lisa–Glad you’re looking forward to the book.
I looked up David’s book, and agree: the covers are pretty similar. I’m not really sure how to approach this. It seems like with book covers it’s hard to hit upon a design that doesn’t resemble another out there in some way.
The shame here, is that we felt it was a rather unique treatment. We even thought, “who else would possibly want a chair on their book cover?” (Sigh.)
August 27, 2009 at 10:53 am
Wait, I thought there was going to be some sort of contest for the book cover design …
August 28, 2009 at 9:23 am
A contest might be nice–perhaps I should invite Tim to take part. It would give him a lot of exposure to the design community.
August 28, 2009 at 10:01 am