It’s been almost a year since we published REWORK, a book that violated a lot of the publishing industry’s conventional wisdom…
Conventional wisdom: Books targeted at entrepreneurs generally don’t sell very well or usually end up on the bottom shelf.
REWORK: Written specifically for starters and small business people.
CW: For the price point of our book, it must be at least 40,000 words. Readers want something bulky that’s got lots of content.
REWORK: We chopped the final edition down to 27,000 words (from 50,000+). You can get through it in just a few hours.
CW: Business books don’t have illustrations.
REWORK: Each essay accompanied by Mike Rohde’s artwork. (Mike explained the process in these posts: part 1, part 2.)
CW: The copyright page goes at the beginning.
REWORK: The copyright page is at the end. And there’s no foreword either. That lets readers get right to the meat of the book.
CW: The back cover should be filled with a lengthy explanation and blurbs.
REWORK: The back cover is as pretty as the front cover. A few key points and that’s it.
CW: The format should be long chapters.
REWORK: Filled with short essays, most just a page or two.
CW: A business book should use business-y language.
REWORK: Plain language throughout (and even some cursing).
CW: Books don’t have commercials.
REWORK: Coudal helped us created great trailers and even a Karl Rove “attack” video that helped get the word out about the book.
Things turned out alright. Last night, 800 CEO READ named REWORK business book of the year. 800 CEO READ said, “If you are an aspiring business book author or publisher and want to know what a truly exceptional business book looks like, REWORK is the example…[It’s] the best-conceived and designed book of the year.”
REWORK has now sold over 110,000 copies in the US and remains on the New York Times’ Hardcover Business Best Sellers list. It’s also been translated around the world. And best of all, every day we get letters from readers who tell us they’ve been inspired by the book. Thanks to everyone who purchased the book and has taken the time to write us. And thanks to 800 CEO READ for the award. Also, we have to give credit to our team at Crown for giving us the slack to run with these ideas.
We hope REWORK’s success shows that 1) business books don’t have to be like business books and 2) you can fight back against the “it’s the way we’ve always done it” mentality that homogenizes so many books (and plenty of other stuff too).
Slobodan Manic
on 20 Jan 11Saying Rework changed my life is not an understatement here. There’s no one or nothing I have quoted as often as Rework. Every business decision I’ve made since reading the book involved a “is that how they would do it” dilemma.
Made a few friends read it, nothing but praise as well. Congratulations on winning the award and thanks for this master-piece.
Slobodan Manic
on 20 Jan 11Of course I didn’t mean “not an understatement” :)
Overreaction is the word, sorry about the error and double comment.
Vojto
on 20 Jan 11Good job with the book. Changed my life? Probably not. I don’t agree with everything, and if anyone does – well I wouldn’t work someone who agrees with everything in a book/whatever.
Slobodan Manic
on 20 Jan 11To make myself clear, I don’t necessarily agree with every single thing in the book, but with “Rework way of thinking” – definitely yes
LouMobs
on 20 Jan 11I am halfway through the book. After spent over 20 years in the corporate world, Product Management Director, VP of Marketing for software companies … I love you book.
It is refreshingly honest, taken as a Smörgåsbord it has tremendous value.
I did read all the negative comments in Amazon …. all I can say is …. bullcrapers!!!
You told many people their job is superfluous!!! and they don’t like it. Tell them to get a life and get another job.
Keep doing what you are doing.
Shavkat
on 20 Jan 11I’m so glad for you about the nomination, guys! I read Getting Real five years ago, and right now I am completing the reading of REWORK. I was thrilled when reading these books. And I was happy, because I found support for some of my ideas in your books and got new ideas.
BTW, Ruby on Rails is really great too! :)
Americo Savinon
on 20 Jan 11Congrats. I have probably read the book +7 times and every single one of them I learn/re-learn something new.
It’s like watching the Simpsons over and over… you just don’t get bored and laugh every single time.
Mitchell Beer
on 20 Jan 11I finally had a chance to open Rework over the December holiday. I finished it in about three hours, and its impact has been really interesting—it isn’t so much that it fundamentally shifted our direction, more that so many specific points in some of the very short chapters got around and under the way we >>think<< about our direction.
In less than a month, I’ve probably told a dozen or 15 colleagues and clients that this will be the first business book they’ve seen that doesn’t take weeks to get through. Then I’ve told them how great the content is.
And now I can start pointing people to the Karl Rove ad. That’s got to be a good thing.
Natalie Keshlear
on 20 Jan 11I really loved the book. It gave me the kick in the ass that I needed.
zenna
on 20 Jan 11But certainly no awards for modesty
mike
on 21 Jan 11The cursing was the worst part. So neanderthal.
Gregory Hernández
on 21 Jan 11You’re welcome.
TJ
on 21 Jan 11Great book! I loved it.
Walt
on 21 Jan 11Next step for you guys is a reality TV series, sorry to say.
Can’t wait to see your Super Bowl ad.
Nick Pan
on 21 Jan 11I think Rework is the mark of a new Era of business thinking. Lets cut the crap and be creatively productive.
Tom
on 21 Jan 11Mike: Agree with you 100% about the cursing that marks an otherwise very professional group. Really unnecessary…...I mentioned this a while back and got cursed at for pointing it out. I guess I got too close to the truth.
Barry Christianson
on 21 Jan 11I think you did alright in terms of copies sold etc, but I have to say, although I found the info contained in the book invaluable and hope to put it into practice in the next 6 months, I did expect it to be more “new” than it was.
Having read getting real and reading the SVN blog often, very little contained in the book was “new”.
Still it is nice to have everything neatly stored in a beautifully desinged hard cover book. I did expect something more mind opening/blowing (like Getting Real).
Cheers, Barry
Mike Hickerson
on 21 Jan 11Isn’t copyright info put at the beginning so that librarians, booksellers, and others can more easily find that information?
Berserk
on 21 Jan 11@Mike: Yes. Most of the other points can be seen as “conventional wisdom” that obviously are open for improvements. But the copyright page should be were it is in the other 99.9999% of professionally published books.
All other points are regarding the content and how it should be formed. The copyright page is not content. The closest analogy to the web is that the copyright page is meta data that corresponds to the <head />, and that goes up top.
Hibiscus
on 21 Jan 11Congratulations on the well-deserved award, and the continued success of Rework.
I am one of its fans and followers, and I hope to incorporate more and more of its principles into my own work as time goes on.
Dave Bloom
on 21 Jan 11I wouldn’t want to work with people that didn’t curse. It’s a sign of fire in the belly. Rework is clutch and haters are gonna hate regardless.
Fuckin Bloom
Fraserhead
on 22 Jan 11@Mike Hickerson @Berserk
Something I noticed quite a while ago with children’s books is that they put the copyright statement, and author/illustrator info, and notes at the back of the book.
A bit odd the first time I noticed it but quite refreshing. It means you can get into the story straight away. I suspect that the librarians I know can handle this okay.
Not that I’m comparing Rework to a children’s book.
And an interesting analogy you raise about the copyright page corresponding to the of a web page. I always associate a copyright page/info with a footer statement or one of those dreaded legalese non-sensical pages.
So props to 37signals for taking a refreshing approach.
Fraserhead
on 22 Jan 11@Mike Hickerson @Berserk
Oops. That bit that says “corresponding to the of a web page” should read ‘corresponding to the HEAD of a web page”.
Berserk
on 22 Jan 11Well, if the only other books that have the copyright at the end are children’s books… :)
If the copyright page corresponds to the footer, the obvious analogy to putting the copyright page at the end is putting the footer on top of a web page.
What I do like though is the absence of barcodes on the back cover. I guess that was a hard sell on the publisher too.
Fraserhead
on 22 Jan 11@Berserk
I quite like that Rework follows a children’s book “format” :)
Means that all the annoying fly pages don’t clutter the front.
Maybe another way to think of things is that 37s applied a web format to the book structure – the copyright statement is there but not right up front. Much like how this very site (and many others) has a discrete copyright statement at the bottom of the page.
Peter Wiley
on 22 Jan 11I picked the book up a Barnes and Noble were I sat and read it in about an hour. I found it gripping because it turned out to be a good statement about how I’ve always worked, but didn’t really realize that until I read the book—so it was an affirmation of sorts for me. I’m glad you’ve had success with it.
Sanat Gersappa
on 23 Jan 11Great Book. Congratulations on the award.
Nate Burgos
on 24 Jan 11REWORK is a business book I actually enjoy. To compare, I was given a copy of “Built to Last” a few years ago and just couldn’t get compelled to read it. Liked one page because it had a picture. Most was spread after spread of packed paragraphs. I assume the content’s good.
Because REWORK is so digestible with lean essays, coupled with illustrations, it can be opened anywhere and land on a point of interest with ease. And I’ve opened it countless times. It’s a book that’s inviting in both prose and pictures. Fun to read.
Not every book is meant to please everyone which is the way it must be. REWORK wasn’t liked by a friend of mine. Don’t know why and don’t get it. I figured he doesn’t appreciate brevity; and instead, prefers dense books, like “Built to Last”.
Keep doing the “wrong” things, 37signals.
Adam Hermsdorfer
on 24 Jan 11Rework should be a required reading at Business school. It will be a timeless book.
Juan Andres Milleiro
on 24 Jan 112011 and you don’t publish your “Stuff we like” page :( I bought it yesterday with my Kindle and I only see a redirection page!
Andreas
on 24 Jan 11More than a couple of straw man arguments there, I think.
But I enjoyed the book a lot.
Philippe Creux
on 24 Jan 11Rework is defintely a great book. It’s SVN summarised in a book.
I thought that this article would be about what you would do to make Rework better…
Michael Riegger
on 25 Jan 11Great book. The guy who narrated the Audible version also did a great job as well.
Jason Hughston
on 25 Jan 11An awesome book! Clear and to the point. A valuable reference.
Hamid
on 26 Jan 11Great book, well done. I read it 3 times until now.
Congratulation David and Jason !
Aryanpour
on 27 Jan 11It’s a great book, I proposed it to my colleagues and students.
Congratulations on the award.
This discussion is closed.