Write Useful Books: A modern approach to designing and refining recommendable nonfiction

by Rob Fitzpatrick

Here’s how April Dunford described her choices while designing the enormously successful Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It: Most business books are “idea books.” They don’t give you one little word about how to get it done. My book was going to be the book about how to actually do it. The publishers said, “Hmm, that doesn’t sound like it’s going to sell a lot of copies. How many people do positioning?” And I said, “Lots of people! The CEO of every startup. Marketing people. Product people. Lots of them!” And then [the publishers] would always want me to write a different book. They’d say, “Oooo, why don’t you write a book on how to position your life — then we could sell one to everybody!” But that is a book I have zero interest in writing and that’s not what I’m trying to do here. I’m trying to write the book that helps you get something done.[3]