I’m happy to announce that Personality Not Included was chosen as a book of the month by Soundview Executive Book Summaries. In case you aren’t familiar with them, they are a group that review thousands of business books a year and select two each month to summarize in both audio and downloadable PDF format for subscribers. It is a huge honor to be chosen and I’m thrilled to be among titles like Influencer, Meatball Sundae, and The New Age of Innovation. Check out their site to see how you can get a download and summary of the book - or if you already have a copy, be sure to read page 185 where I take my own shot at summarizing the whole first section of the book in just 60 words. The most profound ideas shouldn’t take long to explain. Hopefully I manage to live up to that truth.
Welcome to all of you BzzAgents who are making it to this site as a result of Frogpond campaign that I recently launched this week. I’ve been reading furiously trying to keep up with the nearly 2500 reviews and comments that you have left about this site and the book and contrary to what you might think, I don’t have a team of people to help read all of them so I’ve been going through all of them myself! From what I have learned so far, there are basically three categories of comments:
- Not interesting - for BzzAgents who are just not into business and don’t know anyone who runs a business or works in business … the book didn’t have much to offer.
- Like the book, but the website was confusing - many people read and enjoyed the excerpt (though many people wished for more content from the book to consume). Others thought it could be interesting, but were confused or turned off by the website.
- Loved it and bought it - this was my favourite category (obviously!) of people who loved what they read on this site or through the excerpts and said they would go ahead and buy the book.
I haven’t done a full analysis, but these categories seemed about equal in their spread (33% each). As I spent some time this weekend thinking about what to do to incorporate this feedback, I decided to focus on two things. The first was to correct some BzzAgents who thought the campaign was run by a big organization (it wasn’t … it’s just me). The second was to offer the second group from the list above more information to hopefully address their concerns and help them figure out if the book may actually be useful for them or someone else they know.
To that end, I redesigned the main section of the homepage to use a better description of what the book is all about. In addition, I’m releasing another book excerpt of material, available at www.personalitynotincluded.com/pnibonusexcerpt.pdf. This excerpt is the first several pages of Chapter 6 and should give even more of an idea of what the book is about. Happy reading and if you’re a BzzAgent and made it here, let me know if any of this helps!
Below is the update I sent to the Facebook Official Reader’s Group for PNI. If you have not yet become a member, I suggest you join as that group is where you can get exclusive first access to bonus content, invitations to events, and participate in a conversation about the book:
Hi everyone,
It’s time for another update on Personality Not Included! I hope you have all had a chance to pick up the book, and if you haven’t, there a few good reasons in this update to buy it now. Starting on next Monday, I am launching a BIG promotion for the book which includes a featured discussion on Slate.com, a new campaign with BzzAgent, and front table placement at ALL Barnes & Noble locations across the US for two weeks.
Everyone who buys a copy in the next two weeks (or has already bought a copy) will get a sneak preview copy of a bonus PDF to be released next week (just send me your order number). I’ll send it to those who send me their order details first, then release it to the entire Facebook group 24 hours later, and then publicly launch it on my blog two days later. Here’s the detailed update:
- PNI continues to sell well and has excellent distribution and placement. It is now making it outside the US (people have seen it in Hong Kong and the UK). If you see the book in a store, I would LOVE if you could take a photo and either tag it “pnisighting” on Flickr, or send me the photo and I can do it. I’ll be creating a gallery on Flickr soon.
- If you have the book and liked it, please POST A REVIEW! I created a promotion with a great incentive for you to post a review on Amazon.com. Read more at www.personalitynotincluded.com/backcover
- The Reviews & Buzz section of the website has been completely redone, including new sections for podcasts and video interviews: www.personalitynotincluded.com/reviews
- I am speaking at the IAB event in NY on Social Media next week (6/2), a Networking Event for Entrepreneurs in the DC area on 6/4, and doing a featured keynote presentation at the Speaker’s Dinner the night before BlogPotomac in DC. In the next two months I will be in SF, NY, Detroit, and Chicago.
- I participated in my first international event, speaking at mesh in Toronto last week and met a lot of wonderful Canadians (I’m partial to Canadians since I married one!). The book has had excellent media in Canada, being featured in the National Post and several other publications and should be in most local stores by now.
- I just launched the bonus content promised on the last page of the book, so for those of you made it that far, go to the URL mentioned on that page and you can download your very own printable diploma and be an “M.P.”
- A really exciting piece of bonus content I have been talking about for a long time is finally near completion and will come out next week. I’ll be using the same list of folks who let me know they have purchased the book to release this to, so be sure to let me know when you do get the book.
That’s it. Once again, thanks so much for being a part of this group. As I have said before, my intention with these updates is to share the latest about the book and to have a conversation with all of you about everything happening around the book. I promise not to spam you or send updates any more frequently than once every two weeks … and to continually offer you first access to bonus content and exclusive events.
Look for another update in Mid-June and please email me at rohitaustralia@gmail.com if you have any thoughts or suggestions about the book!