The write-up below appeared earlier today as a guest post for The Content Wrangler blog. Many thanks to The Content Wrangler himself, Scott Abel, for introducing me to Guy Kawasaki’s inspiring work and for encouraging me to tell this story. âMarcia

Guy Kawasaki
Recently, I had an experience that any writer would give an arm for. I had my book APEâd by Guy Kawasaki.
Whoâs Guy Kawasaki? When big companies want a speaker to inspire their employees, they call Guy. Guy has four million Google+ followers. Guy has, among other things, a dozen books to his credit, including the New York Times bestseller Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. When Guyâs most recent book, APE: Author, Publisher, EntrepreneurâHow to Publish a Book, launched in January, it immediately shot to the top of several Amazon categories. Since then, the term âAPEâ has carved out a new place in the lexicon, as in âHave you APEâd your book yet?â

Peg Fitzpatrick
On March 1, Guy teamed up with social-media maven Peg “Positively Peggy” Fitzpatrick to APE my book. At least they gave me a sampling of their expert analysis. This distinguished duo spent a half hour during a Google+ Hangout on Air critiquing the social-media plan for my book, Word Up! How to Write Powerful Sentences and Paragraphs (And Everything You Build from Them).
What a learning opportunity, not to mention a thrill.
How did I come to have this opportunity? I took a cue from Guy, who likes to say, âYou donât get if you donât ask.â I asked.
Want to see the recorded session? Youâll find the embedded video at the end of this post. The full session lasts an hour: the first half on my book, the second half on a book by fellow author Rick Watson. (If you like, jump straight to YouTube now: Video of APE Makeover Hangout with Guy Kawasaki, Peg Fitzpatrick, Marcia Riefer Johnston & Rick Watson)
Want a peek into some highlights and takeaways? Read on. Even if you donât have a book coming outârumor has it a few people still donâtâif you dream of writing a book, or if you use Twitter, Facebook, Google+, a blog, or any other social-media channel to sell anything, I bet youâll find some advice here that you can use.
Guy kicked off our Hangout (after he figured out how to get his phone to stop ringing) by assessing my book title:
 âI think the title is very nice. Iâm into short titles. Mine has three words. I like âword up.â I think itâs a clever use. Itâs like âman up.â Positive energy. Like âLetâs get something done here.â I like that itâs brief and upbeat and has that exclamation point. I like that, after that, you clearly explain what this book is about, thereâs no vagueness. Itâs plain and simple: âwriting powerful sentences and paragraphs.â Alsoâmaybe this will date meâthe parenthetical phrase âand everything you build from themâ reminds me of âeverything you wanted to know about sexâ ⊠I think itâs a good title and good subtitle.â
Peg: âI like it, too. Itâs very descriptive. It says exactly what it is. Thereâs no guessing about what her book is about. If I was going to read this description on Amazon, I would know exactly what I was getting.âÂ
Whew, I thought. I got a pass on at least one thing.
Next, Guy discussed the front cover: âOn Amazon, itâs going to be the size of a postage stamp. In that view, you canât read the title.â Peg agreed: âWhen itâs in the thumbnail, you canât see any of it.â
How did I never consider the thumbnail view? Action item #1: Bigger title.
On to the back cover. Guy conjured a scenario:
âThat paragraph at the top seems awfully long. You have to picture people with ADHD reading these descriptions and clicking around. Thatâs a big eyeful ⊠I donât think your mindset should be someone is standing in Powellâs on a Saturday night having just had a wonderful dinner and is picking up interesting books, reading the back cover carefully, appreciating the sensibilities of the author ⊠Youâre selling to someone who has just checked in for a flight out of PDX, ripping through the security line, found out that he or she had ten minutes extra before boarding and is now standing in the bookstore inside the Portland airport, and thereâs James Patterson, thereâs David Baldacci, thereâs Tom Clancy. Somehow this person wanders to the nonfiction section and sees Word Up! At that moment, theyâre saying, âWeâre now beginning to board.ââ
Action item #2: Back cover, more scannable.
Guy noted that he didnât love the cover design, and he cautioned against believing others who claimed they did: âMost people will not tell you what they believe ⊠Nobody goes up to a mother who just gave birth and says, âYour babyâs ugly. What was your kidâs Apgar score? Because, wow!ââ He suggested getting rid of the cover image in favor of an all-text cover. As an example, he cited The Chicago Manual of Style.
Deep breath. Keep the mind open. Guy is THE GUY.
We moved on to price. Guy mentioned that APE costs $10 for the e-book and $25 for the paperback, a $15 spread. He suggested keeping the spread no larger than that. For my e-book, I had been considering charging $2.99, which he deemed âlow for a serious nonfiction book.â He added,
âThereâs such a thing as communicating the branding and the positioning and the value of a book with the price. Weâre charging $10 because thatâs the highest we can charge and still get 70% royalty. I also believe thatâs the lowest we can charge to be taken seriously. Because your book is nonfiction, and you want it to help people become better writers, it is a more serious book than a $2.99 novice-novelist-gothic-zombies-romance.â
As for the paperback price, I had proposed $21.99, which fell in the middle of the wide price range I had seen in my comparisons. Peg had done her own research and felt that $21.99 was too high. Guy noted that, when it comes to setting prices, âNobodyâs an expert. Weâre all making it up.â

Word Up by Rob Kyff
We never resolved the question of price. The conversation took an abrupt turn when Peg pulled up the image of another book entitled âWord Up!â by a nationally syndicated columnist. Same title, same topic. âWow,â Guy said. (Gulp.) âBooks can have the identical title. Theyâre not trademarkable. Go look up the word âloveââsee how many books are called âLove.ââ But, he said, going up against an established author who has already used my main title could create confusion. âItâs not a legal problem, but arguably itâs worse than a legal problem. A legal problem you might win or lose. With a marketing problem, youâre not going to sell.â
When Peg pulled up my website, entitled How to Write Everything, Guy said, âWhy donât you just change your [book] title to âHow to Write Everythingâ?â
But, but, but âŠ
âThat is a little bold,â Guy allowed. Still, if pressed to decide at that moment, now that he knew about this other Word Up!, heâd favor changing my title. For the same reason, after some hesitation, Peg agreed. A few minutes later, APE coauthor, Shawn Welch (who had participated in previous critiques but was otherwise engaged during this one), texted Peg to weigh in: he would rename the book, too.
Et tu, Shawn? Mind, open.
Next, we talked about social media. Peg had done her homework, reviewing my Twitter pages (one for me and one for the book), my Facebook pages (one for me and one for the book), my Google+ pages (one for me and one for the book), my Goodreads pages, and my YouTube channel (with book trailer pending). She asked a stunning question, âDo you feel you have too many social-media presences?â
 A social-media consultant suggesting doing less?
Peg: âThatâs a lot of content to manage. What you donât want to do is repeat the exact same thing on all of those accounts.â She suggested focusing on my favorites. If she had to pick, she said, sheâd go with a combination of Google+ (for the SEO value and the âgreat conversationâ) and Twitter. As for Facebook, she said, âItâs harder. Itâs your friends. Theyâre either going to buy your book or theyâre not.â
Guy added, âI made a few mistakes trying to build social presences for specific books. At every point when I wrote a book, I thought this was going to be the last book I ever wrote. In every instance, I was wrong.â He now has a collection of book pages. He wishes that he had simply created an author page, adding, âYou donât want to build a massive fan base for a particular book.â
?!
As we talked, a small head kept popping up at the bottom of Guyâs screen. Nate climbed up into his dadâs lap, whispered hello to us, and then scooted off. Video chatting has unique joys: you get to see and hear whatâs going on around people. Guy and Peg and I werenât just talking about social mediaâwe were using it, enjoying each otherâs company.
Our conversation went on. I added a few more action items to my list. If youâre still reading this, youâll find the whole the Hangout worth watching. Iâm leaving you some things to discover.
What you wonât get from the video is what happened after Guy, Peg, Rick, and I said our Google+ good-byes. The video wonât give you any insight into the post-Hangout arguments that went on in my head. The video wonât hint at the talks I had with my husband, the messages I got from Hangout listeners, the opinions of friends, or the coaching of other consultants. (Guyâs not the only one advising me who has shepherded books to bestseller status.)
Some changes required no debate. Yes, I will make the front-cover title bigger. Yes, I will make the back cover more scannable. I will reconsider my pricing. I will follow other advice I received in this once-in-a-lifetime session with the stars. Gratefully!
But give up âWord Upâ? Ditch my cover illustration (the blueprint sketching itself)?
I went back and forth. I slept on the whole mix of opinions. At one point, with the clarity of a tap on the shoulder, I realized that I wasn’t debating any more. The decisions had made themselves.
For one thing, Iâm keeping my cover illustration. Its details may get lost at the squinty size of Amazonâs thumbnail view. And sure, not everyone will like it. But I like it, and I trust at least some of the positive response it has received. The image speaks to the playfulness of the book. Iâm not writing The Chicago Manual of Style, and I donât want to emulate its straight-text cover design.
As for my title, Word Up! stays. It has character. It has voiceâthe right voice. âSoul,â Iâve been told. It’s germane. It fits.
Maybe a radically different cover design and title would sell more books. Who can say? Iâm okay with that possibility. During the two years of my author-publisher-entrepreneur adventure, Iâve learned two big lessons. (1) Everyoneâs input has value. (2) Everyone will never agree. When you self-publish, for better or worse, you have the final word. You might as well create a book you love.
Google+ Hangout on YouTube:Â APE Makeover Hangout with Guy Kawasaki, Peg Fitzpatrick, Marcia Riefer Johnston & Rick Watson
Marcia, I watched the APE session, but I hadn’t compared the covers from the advance copy to the new covers. I really like the way you translated the advice. You’re right–the new front cover stands out much more. As for the back cover, I kinda miss the original blurb, but I’m an inveterate reader, not someone whose plane has just begun boarding. đ I like the new blurb too, just not as well as the original. HOWEVER, I really like the space it frees up for all those great recommendations. The layout is cleaner too, and I like the enlargement of the headline and the fact that you were able to keep that friendly font. Bravo!
Linda, Thanks for the detailed feedback. Your message does my heart good.
Great content! Thank you, Marcia.
You’re welcome, Alinka. Thanks for the comment.