This year we’re considering writing/publishing the second edition of Getting Real. The second edition will be more small-business focused. Less web-app, more business strategy.
Proposed topics include who to hire, how to surround yourself with great people, how to promote/market without breaking the bank, how to get press without a PR firm, how to focus on what matters and ignore what doesn’t, how to get big things done with a small team, the beauty of the basics, embracing the unknown, throwing out your plans and just winging it, finding a distinct voice, etc.
We’d like to take Getting Real to the masses. We’re seeking a publisher partner that believes in the potential of Getting Real to be a business best seller.
We’ve sold over 40,000 copies (PDF and paperback combined) of the first edition purely through blog posts and word of mouth (reviews). We believe additional exposure and wider distribution could catapult sales deep into six figures and beyond.
If you’re interested in publishing Getting Real, please drop me a note at jason at 37signals dot com (subject line: Publish Getting Real). We look forward to hearing from you.
Sean
on 02 Apr 08Are you going to make additions to the first edition, or are you going to publish an entirely new book?
Anonymous Coward
on 02 Apr 08Sean: It’s going to be a combination of parts from the old book and new stuff.
Keith
on 02 Apr 08I hope you’ll preserve the first edition in some format. I often refer people to it for any number of reasons. The small chunks really make it a quick and important read when I’m trying to build consensus on design decisions.
Matt Brown
on 02 Apr 08Awesome news… can’t wait to read it.
DjD
on 02 Apr 08I’m already looking forward to it as well. :)
Derick
on 02 Apr 08I thought 37signals was all about DIY. So why not Lulu.com?
Vlad
on 02 Apr 08This is a great idea, I just purchased a copy of the first edition through Lulu about 10 minutes ago. I’ve had this concept in my head as a kid growing up with technology, and now that my friend and I are think of starting a business, this will be of great aid!
Darius K.
on 02 Apr 08Wow, I’m really glad to hear this. I bought the first edition about a year ago before I started my non-web-app, small software business. I pretty much had to extract the small business advice out of the web-app advice. It was still an amazing read (and I learned a lot about web apps), but I’m happy to see you publishing a version that’s a bit more relevant to what I’m trying to do!
Sir John of NorCal
on 02 Apr 08Jason, why not keep the original intact, and add a volume 2? Unless, you are simply rewriting the first to generalize it from webapps to anything. Loosing the webapp aspect would suck for some of us who use it as required reading for new hires.
Don Schenck
on 02 Apr 08Looking forward to it … since, like a Doofus, I accidently left my copy on a plane. ARGH!
But I DO have a Sky Mall catalog (which I grabbed instead. As I said … “Doofus”).
Manuel, Æstheticrew
on 02 Apr 08Eventhough i have nothing to do with web applications, i enjoyed the first book and bought it from lulu a year ago. Looking forward to the sequel now! Might fit my interests even better.
Dmitry Gorshkov
on 02 Apr 08Wow, that’s really great to hear. Very nice focus.
I’d really like to translate the book into Russian when it’s released. Maybe even purchase the rights to publish it here in Russia.
Andrew Kolpakov
on 02 Apr 08Good news! Getting Real is a bible for me. Getting Real 2.0 obviously will be bible 2.0 :-)
BTW, I would be glad to take part in translating Getting Real into Russian :-).
Ben
on 03 Apr 08That idea is a homerun. The title is perfect for a business book and the timing is perfect. The topics you mentioned are the topics I thirst to read about being involved in a small business.
It would be great if it was written from more of a budget conscious start-up than a well established, successful small business, since the latter is rare. At least, I think we all want to hear the stories from the early days, since those topics you mentioned will probably benefit both scenarios.
Publishing companies will take the lion’s share of your book cash, but you’ll have more than enough cash from all the speaking engagements that result. Man! That’s incredible, plus you have the real world success story to back it all up.
Eduardo Sasso
on 03 Apr 08I read Getting Real twice! Great and inspiring book.
But what i miss most in the first release was a chapter describing how “to get press without a PR firm”, i’ve just launched an online service here in Brazil and it was quite difficult to get attention from the press.
d3
on 03 Apr 08So nice! Will it be possible to preorder book with some discounts? :)
Id like to take part in translation to russian too.
Terry Sutton
on 03 Apr 08If it were me, I’d do it myself in InDesign and then find a good printshop. Colour laser printers have come a looong way in price and quality in the last few years.
I’ve had some spectacular things roll off my printer’s Konica 6500.
Andrew WC Brown
on 03 Apr 08When can I buy the draft?
Dave
on 03 Apr 08Sounds awesome. If it’s anything like the first one, you already have a winner.
Brian
on 03 Apr 08Awesome can’t wait!
By the way, for those suggesting Lulu or self publishing, I think their goal is to get it in bookstores! To legitimize it as an actual published and widely distributed book.
Zinni
on 03 Apr 08Just as a suggestion, has 37signals ever thought about creating a kindle formatted version? I would consider being in amazon a considerable step forward even if you aren’t in print. Also I would think that the early adopter crowd who currently own a kindle would be interested in the topic.
Ohh and have you ever considered changing the name of the original Getting Real to “the 1.2 million dollar PDF” ??? j/k
Rajarajan
on 04 Apr 08Cool..I am curious to publish it in India. Wish we have some good stuff like this, to beat out all those bloated books on business and building web apps…Looking forward
l'zin
on 04 Apr 08read the book twice and it’s been inspirational to say the least, will be interested in getting it translated to polish, thanks
Sean Hayford O'Leary
on 05 Apr 08I loved the content of the first edition, but I remember being really distracted while reading it because of grammatical or punctuational errors.
Really excited for the 2nd edition, but if you guys do self-publish again, I hope you run it through a grammar nazi with a good, red pen.
Chin Yong
on 07 Apr 08This is great news. Getting Real One was good. It really helped my team in getting into focus and do what is important. Book 2 going to be more business focus? One for the management maybe. Eager to see what it have to offer.
Gayle Bird
on 07 Apr 08YES.
Joshua Poulson
on 07 Apr 08I suggest doing a podcast-style audiobook as well.
Gavin Colborne
on 08 Apr 08Very exciting; really looking forward to this now as I love the first book. I agree with one of the suggestions above that perhaps you should make it a distinct separate book as the first one is very useful for web companies.
This discussion is closed.