WebWord

Well, it’s been very interesting the last 24-48 hours regarding Selling Usability: User Experience Infiltration Tactics.

Here’s the scoop. Nearly all of my sales are coming through Amazon. That’s not really a shock. People are heading over there, looking for “Selling Usability” and buying. I mean, that’s what I think several people are doing.

Also, I know that 3-4 people have posted reviews of Selling Usability. And, it’s definitely showing up on Twitter. I’ve posted about it several times and several other people have picked up on it there. They usually point to the book on Amazon. (Thanks everyone!)

Now, if you’re still reading this blog entry, I can save you about $5 when you purchase Selling Usability. Here’s how…

You can buy the book through CreateSpace for 20% off the list price. So, technically, you get $4.99 off the list price of $24.95 giving a final discounted price of $19.96. That discount cuts into my royalty but I still want to offer it because I know some folks are on a budget. I know every dollar counts. IMPORTANT: UT7AJR7V is the discount code. You’ll need to enter that for the 20% off. Please don’t forget.

Or, again, you can buy Selling Usability over at Amazon. Yes, that does make a lot of sense if you’re already buying other books from Amazon. If you buy pretty much anything else, you’ll get my book shipped to you for free. It’s eligible (as I write this post) for Super Saver Shipping. Sweet!

Obviously, the choice is yours.

I will have more exciting news to share with you about the book in the next several days. It’s something you probably don’t want to miss. But, I need to hold off right now because I’m doing some testing. I need to create a sexy landing page (or, not so sexy), plus I need to see if I can make 1-2 really cool things to work. Allow me to hold back just a little while longer. It’ll be worth it, I promise.

That’s all for now. Thanks again for your strong support of Selling Usability.

~ John

I’m announcing…

Selling Usability: User Experience Infiltration Tactics.

But first, let me tell you the story…

So once again I need to apologize. It’s been too long since I posted a note on WebWord. As usual, I have a good excuse. (I hope that you agree with me.)

For the last few years I’ve been working on a book. Last summer I took off an entire week to complete the rough draft. On top of that, I’ve spent months and months revising it. Getting all the bugs iron out; yes, I’m sure there are still some issues.

But it’s done now.

Before I talk about the book give me a minute or two tell you a story. I started my career working in a place where usability and user experience were pretty much rejected. It took me a long time to prove that what I did would make a difference to the company and the bottom line.

I guess it wasn’t so much that usability was rejected. It was more like, my peers and management thought that there were better ways to spend time and money. Like many people — perhaps you — I needed to justify usability.

I spent months and months taking the “frontal assault” approach where I crafted profit scenarios, generated literal ROI numbers, and fought hard to prove that usability was worth the investment. It was a struggle. It worked in the end, but it was a challenge.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that that I needed to find new ways to inject usability into an organization. So I developed strategies and specific tactics to get people to love usability. I turned my back on the frontal assault in my efforts to sell usability to other people. I basically stopped justifying usability but I started to get other people love it.

In plain terms, I suppose you could say that justifying usability is top down thinking. It’s playing their game, not mine. What I do now is work from the bottom up, person by person. I pick just the right opportunities. I fight the smart fights and my long term goals are clear in my mind.

By the way, I don’t really believe that I’m fighting a war. I do not believe that it’s us versus them. That would be disingenious. It’s also not productive or realistic. However, people outside of usability don’t understand it very well. Yes, there absolutely are some managers, developers, and executives who get it. (You know who you are. So thank you, ladies and gentlemen.)

So, let’s bring this full circle. I took all my tactics and poured them into Selling Usability. It’s not perfect, but I do think that pretty much any usability professional will want this book. I guarantee that you will learn something new about getting usability into your organization.

I highly recommend that you grab a copy today.

~ John

p.s. Peter Van Dijck’s review of “Selling Usability: User Experience Infiltration Tactics”