Steve Jobs: Book Selling Genius!
One of the things I’ve always taken for granted is that authors like to sell books. I know, for example, that Hadley Stern likes to sell copies of iPod and iTunes Hacks because he told me. I am further certain that I like it when a copy of my eBook, iMovie on the Cheap, is downloaded. Extrapolating these personal experiences to the larger arena of authors in general I’m going to guess that the vast majority of people who write books are pleased when copies are purchased. Steve Jobs apparently disagrees with my thesis, after all it seems clear he doesn’t want iCon Steve Jobs : The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business to be successful yet he is moving copies (pre orders at this point) at a pace that would make the slickest marketer jealous.
The over exposed story goes something as follows: Mr. Jobs (using Apple as a proxy) was not happy with John Wiley & Son’s decision to publish iCon Steve Jobs. In a retaliatory move Mr. Jobs ordered all copies of any Wiley books removed from Apple Stores and Apple’s online store. Unsurprisingly this generated quite a bit of controversy, the controversy will undoubtedly increase the level of awareness around iCon Steve Jobs and increase sales. The old Madison Avenue saw of “sex sells” may be true but there should be an ancillary adage noting that if you can’t work sex into the equation the next best thing is controversy.
One could fill volumes (and someone probably has) of examples where controversy has pushed an item past the level of reasonable sales into the level of unexpected windfall. One particularly salient example with plenty of parallels to the current situation is the case of Bill O’Reilly (using Fox News as a proxy) -v- Al Franken. Al Franken had written a book called Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Which featured the sub title “A Fair and Balanced look at the Right.” Pre publication Bill O’Reilly took umbrage at the title and the content. Apparently he wasn’t thinking very clearly because he decided to sue Al Franken for damages related to the supposed trademark infringement caused by the subtitle. O’Reilly’s overzealous actions bore no fruit in the legal arena but did manage to rocket Al Franken’s book straight to the number one spot on Amazon.com. In the end I’m sure Al Franken appreciated the extra income generated by Bill O’Reilly’s efforts.
While the similarities are obvious there is at least one mitigating circumstance in Mr. Job’s favor. Recalling that the book is called “iCon” while keeping in mind Apple’s scheme for naming the iApps (i.e. iMovie makes movies) there is little doubt that the cover consisting of Steve Jobs with the word iCon in largish text across his chest might not leave one with the best impression while shopping at the Apple store. At this point it is prudent to note while the title may be a legitimate concern all that is actually required to avoid the scenario where a consumer is suddenly becomes aware that if iPhoto equals photos then iCon must equal con is to simply not carry that particular title.
Surely the only objection wasn’t the title, no doubt the content of the book was vetted by Apple and found lacking (or overly informative). Here it is difficult to feel much sympathy for Steve Jobs, he obviously relishes the limelight. The price of fame is a loss of privacy, people are going to naturally want to know more about their idols. Some may argue at this point that Steve doesn’t actively cultivate celebrity and has it more or less thrust upon him. That position is difficult to accept, surely he would enjoy some amount of fame due to his place in history but not all CEO’s are necessarily well known. Quickly who is the current CEO of Daimler-Chrysler? Chances are you didn’t know despite the fact that Mercedes, and the automobile industry in general, also generate plenty of speculation, rumors and wide public interest.
Clearly Steve Jobs is not a blithering idiot so explaining this particular ham fisted course of action is difficult. One can only surmise this was more of an emotional, bullying reaction rather than a carefully thought out long-term strategy that is generally a hallmark of a Steve Jobs’ project. (Who knew the “i” in iCEO meant anything more than interim when it first came along?) Such is the price of ego. At this point it would be easy to vilify Steve Jobs, noting his predilection for parking in handicapped only places and his fond love of spending chilly afternoons clubbing baby seals (I made that last one up) but genius does not necessarily walk hand in hand with being a nice guy. So in the end even the most rabid Mac fan has to realize that just because you can whip out the niftiest computers on the planet doesn’t mean every single step you make is going to be the best one. Somewhere Jeffrey Young is smiling.
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Slashdot
StumbleUpon
Comments
Hey now I’m interested in this book. Thanks Steve!
Clearly Steve Jobs is not a blithering idiot so explaining this particular ham fisted course of action is difficult.
In the case of iCon and Lying Liars I don’t think the explanation is all that difficult. The sense of injustice in human psychology often overrides rational choices, even when correcting the injustice is actually counter-productive to their ostensible goal.
For example, in a recent study, two subjects were presented with a money challenge. $100 was divided up 90% and 10%. Subject A could choose which percent he wanted. Subject B could choose between accepting the deal or no one getting anything. In the study, if Subject A chose to take the 90%, Subject B would almost always choose to kill the deal so that neither one got anything at all. Rationally, getting a free $10 is better than getting nothing. But the sense of injustice was too strong for them to overcome.
Not only are Jobs and O’Reilly overwhelmed by a sense of injustice, they are also contending with fantastically ginormous egos. I think both would rather fight these books and risk free publicity for them than just let it go and let the book go away.
Ah we must read similar stuff. As I recall one person got to set the split and the other person could nix the deal if it was not to their liking. I don’t remember the point where people started nixing the deal but I suspect it was less than 90/10. I also recall that they performed a similiar study with chimps. The chimps would collect something or other and turn it in to their keepers for a reward. As long as the rewards were fairly equitable both chimps participated. However when one chimp was given a substantially greater reward the shafted chimp refused to complete the exercise. ineresting indeed.
This, I think, is a different case. With their actions they are actually rewarding the behavior they wish to limit. There is no mutual interest so there is not really an oppurtunity of an inequitable outcome. In each case only the author benefits from their machinations. I would liken it more to a futile protest, they might (deeply) know the outcome will be beneficial to their antagonists but, with their huge egos, they think it is a winnable battle.
Dear Steve Jobs!
I only wanted to say that every perfect thing is valued by the fact that it can’t be supplemented with anything. For they feature the computers “Macintosh” are destinguished. Their magnificence and gracefulness are already incomparable with nothing in contrast to the computers on the basis of “Windows”.
The characteristics of “perfect” is in its flexibility. What is flexible,is reasonable.It means, that at work you are not alone “whit it”. This is another advantage of the platform “Macintosh”.
I’ve already mentioned about the gracefulness of “Macintosh”, as grace has its name, it means that it also has it’s face. All the computers “Macintosh” have their face which is called “Space Cold”.After the work with such magnificence how it is possible to talk about “Windows"spitting on the scientific and technical progress as a whole?
Dear Jobs, in conclusion i want to tell you not to give way to despair as “his” masks always pursued true greatness.
Yours sincerely Vigen Jangiryan from Yerevan!!!
God bless Jobs!!
P.S> And I fond of Power Mac G5