One question I hear often is “what can I do right now?”. Well, it turns out there are lots of things to do if you want to become an innovator, and in many cases it’s not very hard.

Check it out:

Essay #58 - How to innovate right now.

(Note: This essay was commissioned by the U.S. State department).

Posted in Essays, Innovation, Myths of Innovation | 1 Comment »

Stumbled upon this excellent NYTimes article about major book publishers and their poor abilities to predict bestsellers. It’s refreshing how honest these editors are about the limits of their predictive powers. Much like the history of tech innovations discussed in The myths of Innovation, there are too many factors for anyone to claim high rates of success.

“It’s guesswork,” says Bill Thomas, editor in chief of Doubleday Broadway. “The whole thing is educated guesswork, but guesswork nonetheless. You just try to make sure your upside mistakes make up for your downside mistakes.”

Hmmm. Is he calling an unexpected bestseller an upside mistake? It’s also interesting to hear them mention slow bestsellers, books that don’t have great sales on any one year, but over several years outsell other noted bestsellers:

There are two ways for a book to become a best seller. One is to make it on to a best-seller list by selling many copies in a week. Other books sell steadily over months and years, eventually outselling many official best sellers. “Unanswered Cries,” a true-crime book by Tom French, was acquired in 1989 by St. Martin’s for $30,000. It now has 400,000 copies in print in paperback and sold at least 31,000 copies last year alone.

Also notable is the acknowledgment that book publishers are in the dark ages when it comes to understanding readers.

The Newspaper Association of America has a staggering amount of data on people who read newspapers. The book business has, basically, nothing,” said Professor Greco. “They’re not going into the marketplace and doing mall intercepts and asking people, as they leave the bookstore, ‘What did you buy? Did you find what you’re looking for? What motivated you to choose that book?’

Read the whole thing here -
The Greatest Mystery: Making a Best Seller.

Posted in On writing, books | 1 Comment »

One of my most popular blog posts ever, how to write a book, generates tons of comments and e-mail every week. Here’s an interesting one I couldn’t help but respond to:

David wrote:

Great article, gave me lots of inspiration and hope. I just submitted a proposal to O’Reilly, and it was rejected within 30 minutes. Very efficient, and very nicely worded, but devastating nonetheless. What do you do if you think you have a great idea, but the world disagrees?

The first rule of creative work: expect to be rejected. Ask anyone who reviews creative work of any kind, whether it’s screenplays, music demos, or book proposals, and they’ll tell you they reject a ratio of at least 20 or 30 to 1. Sometimes it’s 1000 to 1 in the case of movie actors or works of fiction. There is nothing wrong with you or your work simply because you have been rejected. Rejection means you are doing something many others want to do and it’s hard work.

Ask any writer, including the famous, how many rejection slips they’ve seen. They’ll laugh and tell you about how they papered their wall with them. Seriously, rejection is part of the game. I note many of these stories in The Myths of Innovation. The Star Wars screenplay was rejected by almost every major studio. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance was turned down over 100 times. Stephen King, J.K. Rawlings, John Grisham, you name it, they’ve been rejected. Do not give up hope: instead, use rejection as fuel. Prove them wrong. Get better at your craft. Work harder, and when you’re finished, send them a signed copy with your warmest regards.

In some ways how you handle rejection is self selection for creative work - if you cant handle a few rejections from publishers, how will you handle a few bad reviews of your finished book? No matter what you do, if you’re making something, many people won’t like it. In fact the more popular the thing is, the more people who will pick on it and for increasingly trivial reasons.

As I mentioned in the post, one major advantage of living in 2008 is how cheap it is to make things yourself. The only approval you need to create something is your own. You can self publish a book, make a video or a bunch of mp3s for just a few hundred bucks. If the world isn’t behind you, to hell with the world - do it anyway. The only thing stopping you is you.

Posted in Innovation, On writing, creative thinking | 6 Comments »

The ever creative ze-frank is currently asking a great question about creative process.

From his current post:

When you make things with an audience in mind, do you have internal representations of that audience to help guide you in the process? Are you in dialogue with a cast of proto-audience members that somehow represent different facets of your perceived audience? Are there little homunculi that provide editorial voices different from your own?

My answer, which I posted, is that I don’t have formalized characters when I’m writing a book or preparing a talk. But there is an ongoing dialog in my head when revising that approximates three or four imaginary people:

1. The curious neophyte. If someone at random walked in off the street would any of this make sense? Would they keep reading/listening?
2. The expert asshole. What if the person who knew everything about this subject and loved to criticize read this paragraph or heard this lecture. What vitriol would I hear? What bullshit would they call me on?
3. The daily grinder. How about the guy who actually does whatever I’m talking about for a living and when I’m done will go straight back to work. Will anything I write or say impact what he does the rest of the day? week? month?
4. The fan. Will someone familiar with my work find this boring? repetitive? derivative? Can I make this more fun for them instead of less?

Posted in On writing, creative thinking | 3 Comments »

Reading my first book is infuriating at times, yet I’m happy about it. How can this be?

Given the unusual task of revising something already published (in this case, a book), there are two likely ways to feel about it:

1. This is great! I don’t want to change a thing.
2. This sucks! I want to rewrite this thing from scratch.

The first case is only superficially good. If I can’t see ways to improve the writing, or to give better advice, then what have I learned about writing (or management) in the last three years? Not much.

The second case, while painful, illustrates growth. If I don’t like it, it suggests I’m capable, now, of making the same points in less words, from a better perspective, or with a clearer structure that’s more fun to read.

In truth, the book is what it is. I’m not the same guy I was when I wrote the thing, and part of what makes the book good is who I was. It has to fit together and I don’t want to wander into George Lucas territory. But it’s fun snipping sentences, tightening paragraphs, updating references, and getting those exercises in there. I get to play my own editor for awhile.

My point I suppose is it’s healthy to go back to old writing and cringe. If you’re a blogger, go back and read your first posts - you’ll laugh and cry, I’m sure. That’s good - you’re still alive and getting better.

Posted in Making things happen, On writing, art of project management | 2 Comments »

Genius is one of those tricky words that gets used often, without anyone knowing quite what it means. Well, I’m taking the word, and advice on how to be a genius, head on in this fun and entirely wild run through genius history.

#57 - How to be a genius.

Posted in Essays, creative thinking | 5 Comments »

Three months ago, I asked all of you to help me decide the name of the revised edition of the art of project management (if you want to know why we’re changing the name, read that last post).

After more than 300 votes, here’s what won: Making things happen

After many discussions with the fine folks at O’Reilly, the final name is Making things happen: mastering project management. I’m excited about the name! My favorite chapter in the book is #12, the one called how to make things happen, and now it gets top billing.

For those interested in the behind the scenes drama: this was not a fun process. Like naming a child, naming a book is something one only expects to do once. If you don’t like the outcome, or the fact that there is a name change, I understand, but do consider this was 20 times less fun for me to deal with, than it was for you.

What’s most interesting is this - behold the power of the web! You guys say it and it happens! I must thank all of you who took the time to vote: the ability to point to data from actual customers played a key role in my discussions with the editors at O’Reilly Media on the new title.

The revision is well underway, and I’ll post more about it, and its timeline for release, soon. In related news, the existing book will be out of print soon, so pick it up if you want a collectors item.

For fun, here were some of the best, and funniest, write in votes:

• TBFKATAOPM2 (The book formerly known as…)
• What the #$!#!@$% is Project Management and How Did it Get inside this book?
• Projects. Managed. Berkun’s Way.
• Kill the messenger
• Who stole my project manager?
• Real world project management
• How to make enemies and derail projects in 5 minutes a day
• OH MY GOD, HOW DID I BECOME THE PM?
• The bible of mastering the zen and art of agile project management for dummies
• From bad to worse: how bad managers become horrible
• Who stole my project manager?

Posted in On writing, art of project management | 5 Comments »

The time has come. As mentioned a few weeks ago, the book formerly known as the art of project management will be going out of print. A revised edition, with a new title, will be out in 2008 (If you want to know why, read the post).

If you’ve been waiting to buy a copy of the book, you should do so soon. Amazon and other retailers already have limited inventory (noted by 5-10 day ship times). The used inventory on amazon and e-bay look good, but I don’t know how out of print status will effect that.

Once the book is out of stock, you’ll have to wait for the new edition, which will be out next year.

Posted in On writing, art of project management | 1 Comment »

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more shortly? Have I sad anything that is avoidably ugly?

But you are not obliged to go to all this trouble. You can shirk it by simply throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. They will construct your sentences for you - even think your thoughts for you… and at need they will perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even from yourself.

From the essay Politics and the English Language, By George Orwell

Posted in On writing | 3 Comments »

This Thursday marks the beginning of national novel writing month - That’s right. A bunch of crazy people write an entire novel in 30 days (~1500 words per day, for 50,000 total). It’s a fun crazy thing, a chance to be bad, and I’m doing it this year.

You can sign up at their website, get moral support, tons of advice, a word count tracking tool, a FAQ, and other bits that help you start and keep going (Here’s my advice on the subject: Writing hacks part 1).

If you do join up, make me a buddy: my username is berkun.

Posted in On writing, creative thinking | 2 Comments »

1. Was in Ukraine all last week, birthplace of my great-grandfather, to teach at SpiderProject’s PM Week and to see Kiev, where an alternative version of me might have been born had my great grandfather not come to NYC.
2. Got sick on the way home and am still sick now.
3. I leave for Sydney, Australia in 48 hours (health permitting) to speak at Web Directions ‘07, but mostly to get some vacation in one of my favorite places in the world.
4. I’m exhausted from months of book promotion. I’ve lost all motivation to talk to anyone about myself, my books, my opinions, my anything. However big my ego was, it’s the size of a dime today.
5. After four years of being independent, I need some time to recharge and plan out the next four years. I’m about as passionate as a pile of rocks - so it’s time to follow my own advice, chill out, have fun and reflect.
6. I have speaking engagements galore for the next few weeks, which I will kick ass at, but that’s going to take most of the energy left in my tank.

So for the next few weeks things might be quiet here - but they might not. I have piles of ideas and books to come, but I need some time focusing on things other than work to get my A game back together. Please stay tuned :)

Posted in On writing, personal | 8 Comments »

Writing books is hard enough, but selling them is an entirely different challenge. While I’ve learned much, I’m no expert. What follows are my experiences which hopefully will interest those who know less and simultaneously attract the opinions of those who know more.

With that in mind, here’s part 3 of a series I’ve been doing on the sales life of my books (part 1 and part 2, were about my first book). It’s almost three months into sales for my 2nd book and that’s focus of this post.

Sales summary

Through use of the ever-handy rankforest.com, here are the first three months of sales rankings on Amazon.com for my latest book. Of course amazon.com rankings tell you nothing about what goes on at physical bookstores or over at bn.com, but it’s an easy, free indicator of how well a book is selling.

The Myths of Innovation, Amazon.com sales 5/15-8/15:

And for comparison, below are comparative sales rankings for The art of project management for its first 3 months of sales. The graphs aren’t to scale, but it’s easy to see that my first book (below) had slightly better amazon sales rankings than my 2nd (above). Both sets of numbers are respectable: both books have hovered on and off various amazon and O’Reilly bestseller lists, but the question is, what explains the difference in sales? Shouldn’t a successful book aimed at a bigger audience generate more sales?

PR summary - For Myths of Innovation:

• Lectures, talks & book tour. I did ~25 lectures promoting the book, including speaking at conferences like OSCON, Adaptive path MX, and E-Tech, and book-tour style gigs in the Bay area at places like Google (video here), Apple, Adobe and E-bay.
• O’Reilly support. O’Reilly’s Sara Peyton sent out over a hundred promotional copies of the book, pinged and re-pinged reviewers, schmoozed various people of influence on my book’s behalf, and helped line up speaking and interview opportunities.
• Blog & Mailing list. I (ab)used the full reach of this blog and my mailing lists to drive interest in the book, from related essays, blog posts on innovation, to blatant requests for support from readers.
• The book has received amazing reviews : 16 amazon reviews (4.5 avg), major positive reviews from digital-web, slashdot and lifehacker. I was also fortunate to get over 20 rock star endorsements for the book from the likes of Guy Kawasaki, Tom Kelley of IDEO, Don Norman and others.
• Radio & Podcast. I work worked with O’Reilly on a radio tour: I’ve done nearly 30 radio interviews and podcasts, including high profile time on IT conversations and NPR’s Think.

By comparison this is more than twice the amount of PR effort, in terms of my own time, than for The art of project management.

The surprise has been that despite the increased effort, a better written book, and a higher profile / sexier topic, the new book has sold well, but trailed The art of project management by comparison for their respective first 3 months of sales.

Assumptions / Lessons learned:

• No one fully understands sales. Everyone has an opinion, sure, but no one can predict what happens or explain why (but watch them take credit after the fact :). There are too many factors, many beyond the control of the author or publisher. I’ve yet to get expert advice that didn’t contradict advice from another equally reputable expert. Remember, some great books fail to sell, and many awful books make bestseller lists. Most editors / agents / publicists require several rounds of cocktails before they’ll admit what happens is beyond their control or, at times, their comprehension.
• Sales oversimplified is easy. The only productive formula is: quality of book + ability to connect the book to interested people with cash to spend. That last part is important: it’s not TV ads you want, it’s finding people naturally interested enough to buy. If you’re writing about widgets, odds are high you know better where to find those naturally interested in widgets than your publisher or publicist does, and you know what messages are most likely to entice them. For Myths, as a more general audience book, the messaging and targeting was harder to develop.
• Assumption: bigger topics sell better. I assumed the Myths of Innovation would have a larger audience than the art of project management, since the topic of creative thinking and innovation are much broader, and more compelling, than the topic of managing projects. The book is a much better read on a more important topic, written in a journalistic, fast paced, comical style. But I’ve learned the broader the topic, the more competition there is. To make a dent in a bigger category requires more effort, more word of mouth advocates, than a niche book. There are fewer writers writing about project management, and the bar for scoring a sale is lower. I’m convinced Myths can outsell The art of pm, but it may take longer to happen.
• Is PR for web/blogs more effective than PR for mass media?. Looking back over my PR hours, my bet is that on a per hour basis, time spent pitching bloggers and online writers paid off in more sales than radio, podcasts or other mass market PR did. The data is better too: I can track the day a major blog review hit to spikes in amazon.com sales, but I can’t say that for any podcast, book tour lecture or printed review. This post by the current holder of the NYT bestseller list #1 slot goes further, claiming his success was entirely based on attracting online attention.

Overall, my plan is to keep learning. My goal is to be a career author so any positive PR, even PR that doesn’t translate directly into sales, may pay off for the next book or for the next speaking gig. But if you know something I don’t, have advice from experience or your own war stories to share, please chime in.

Posted in Myths of Innovation, On writing | 18 Comments »