In calendar time, 3 months and 1 week.

In total writing time, probably 4 weeks.

I started writing the book (granted I had an outline to work off given my MediaPost columns — more on that in FAQ #2) the week between Christmas and New Years 2009. I spent about 5 full days (8am-6pm) writing that week.

Then, for the next 2 months, I took off every Friday and a random day here and there to write. I also took off one full week in February. By “took off,” I mean turning on the out-of-office auto-responder and catching up on phone or email in the evenings.

Finally, in March, I took about 3 days out of a 7-day family vacation in Mexico to write.

My manuscript deadline was March 31st and I missed it by 8 minutes after a long day of reviewing everything and making a few last tweaks. Thankfully, McGraw-Hill didn’t give me a hard time about being “late.”

After April 1st, I had a bit of a break while the book went through the editing process. I received the first batch of copyedited manuscript on May 11th and had until May 28th to provide my feedback.

Then, I received the proofed pages on June 16th and turned around my comments by June 28th.

My final deliverable was the index which I received on July 8th and sent back on July 12th.

Now the book is off to the printers and should be rolling off the press any day now in time to hit stores on 8/27.

Note: this post is part of a series. For more, see the full list of FAQs.

No.

When I first contacted Google’s PR department to secure interviews with specific employees, it was made very clear that Google could not endorse any particular book or author. However, they were happy to help me get in touch with key personnel and, for the most part, allowed the interviewees to speak with me unmonitored and uncensored.

One thing that’s been a bit dicey relative to Google’s  policies is the use of “Google” in a domain. Originally, I secured LearnFromGoogle.com as the URL for my book and I used @LearnFromGoogle on Twitter to mirror it. This was before I had stumbled across these Google brand permission guidelines which state somewhat ambiguously, “We cannot approve the use of Internet domain names that use the word ‘Google’ or some variation of ‘Google’. For example, we would not approve a site called googleXYZ.com or gogggles.com.”

So do they prohibit it or just “cannot approve” it?

While no-one from Google had contacted me about my use of LearnFromGoogle.com, I thought I better play it safe and switched to GoogleyLessons.com. Sure, the letters “Google” still appear in order in this domain but Googley is a different word with its own meaning so I hoped (and still hope) it’s kosher.

As it were, Googley has turned out to be a more versatile phrase for use in my chapter summaries (Get Googley!) and, in general, conveys a more informal tone which is in line with my persona and the book’s narrative. Let’s just hope no-one from Google legal reads this post and decides to do more than “not approve” it!

Note: this post is part of a series. For more, see the full list of FAQs.

As discussed in my post on how social media helped me land a book deal, my first idea (Tweet-o-biography) was rejected. But I had the ear of an editor and I couldn’t let that go to waste so I set out to find a more relevant topic for the McGraw-Hill Professional (MHP) catalog.

The idea that turned out to be the basis for my book was actually inspired by an old poster my brother, Noah, had hanging in his room growing up. It said, “Everything I Need to Know About Life, I Learned From Star Trek.” (Yes, he was, and still is, a trekkie.) My favorite quote from that poster, by the way, is, “Always set your phaser on stun.” I’ve since adapted that to my repertoire of quick quips with, “I always set my phaser to stunning.)

After dropping that line one day, I got to thinking about the poster which made me consider that as affected as my brother’s life has been by Star Trek, mine has been by Google. From there, I started laying out life lessons learned from Google. The list quickly morphed to business lessons as that had been consuming my life at the time and viola, the idea was hatched.

I thought the topic had book potential but I needed to be sure that 1) others would be interested in the topic and 2) that I had enough to say on the subject… so I set out to pen a series of bylines for MediaPost under the theme, “Everything I Need to Know About Marketing I Learned From Google.” These 3 columns became the outline of the book and the fodder I used to lure MHP into making me an offer.

The title ended up getting shortened by MHP’s editors to remove “I Need” and the rest, as they say, is history.

Note: this post is part of a series. For more, see the full list of FAQs.

I outlined this pretty extensively in my post, “How I Used Social Media to Land a Book Deal,” so I won’t repeat myself here. I will add, though, that I think there are 5 keys to getting published:

1. Idea - must be timely, relevant, and unique
2. Connections - a strong network will help you get in with a publisher, secure interviews while doing research, and generate PR for launch
3. Penmanship – bottom line, you need to be a halfway decent writer
4. Time - creating flexibility in one’s schedule is key to carving out the blocks needed to put pen to paper. See also FAQ #5.
5. Luck – always a factor!

Note: this post is part of a series. For more, see the full list of FAQs.

To answer this question, I’ll cut and paste the response I included in my book proposal to this set of questions from McGraw-Hill:

In four to six paragraphs, please describe your book, its purpose, approach, and content. What prompted you to write the book now? Describe any significant trends, events or current news relating to the subject matter of your book. What are the outstanding, distinctive, or innovative features of the book?

I’ve always wanted to write a book. Now that I’ve started a family, it’s one of two things left on my bucket list. The other is running a marathon. I figure my knees will hold up better then my fingers — what with the carpal tunnel setting in from all the blackberrying and blogging I do — so I’d better get going on that book.

I’ve always loved to write. I was the sports editor of my high school paper. I worked at my college newspaper — granted that was an ad sales gig. And I currently publish a byline every two weeks in one of the largest internet marketing trade publications — in addition to authoring some fifteen odd blogs.

I’m ready to write this book. When I started my own company in April of this year, I finally took control of my professional destiny, as well as my personal calendar. Accordingly, I’ve been able to set my own priorities and publishing a book is at the top of the list.

The industry is ready for me to write this book. Google is everywhere. It’s loved and feared all at the same time. But, more importantly, it’s well-known and used by billions. For business professionals, Google is not only part of the every-day routine navigating the web, it’s a core component of the corporate marketing mix. (Google currently generates over $20 billion in advertising revenue globally and accounts for over 25% of all internet advertising spend.) The ubiquity of Google and the uniqueness of its corporate culture make it a subject everyone can relate to.

I’ve learned so much from Google. Having been involved in internet advertising for over ten years and spent hundreds of millions of dollars with Google on behalf of my clients, I have a unique window into where the company’s been, where it’s going, and what’s made it so successful. These lessons transcend advertising with Google, advertising on the Internet, and even advertising in general. These lessons can be applied to every aspect of marketing from public relations to product development to promotions to brand strategy.

Everyone can learn so much from Google. It’s time for me to share what I’ve learned. I’ll share what I’ve learned through first-hand experience working with clients like FedEx, Visa, Gatorade, State Farm, Lowe’s, Apple among others. I’ll share what I’ve learned through first-hand encounters with the Google brain trust. And I’ll share what I’ve learned by observing innovative, growth-oriented companies, like Zappos and Threadless, putting lessons learned from Google to good use. Along the way, I’ll keep the action moving with a compelling narrative from an “insider’s” point-of-view, leaving the reader with tangible action-items to improve his or her own marketing efforts. And, ala Twitter, I’ll keep the copy light and easily digestible to appeal to today’s attention-span-challenged professionals. Speaking of Twitter, I plan to intersperse relevant tweets from industry influentials as well as messages solicited specifically for this book via a new account I’ve set up, @LearnFromGoogle. [Note: this was subsequently changed to @GoogleyLessons -- see FAQ #4 for rationale.]

Note: this post is part of a series. For more, see the full list of FAQs.

As the publication date draws near and promotional activity reaches a fevered pitch, I’ve been getting lots of questions about the process of writing a book and my plans for future projects.

I’ve assembled the most frequently asked questions here and, starting on Monday, I’ll address one each day until I cover them all. Please feel free to add more to this list in the comments.

1. What made you want to write a book?
2. How did you land your deal with McGraw-Hill?
3. How did you come up with the idea?
4. Did Google approve this book?
5. How long did it take you to write the book?
6. What was the hardest part about writing the book?
7. Who is the book written for?
8. What others books are similar to yours?
9. Will you write another book?

In Chapter 19, I share tips for making your company a great story as a means to stimulate word of mouth. One of the tactics I discuss is the $2 bill strategy inspired by Ian Sohn of Ogilvy.

The basic idea is to stock your cash register with $2 bills and give people a reason to tell others about their experience at your store. This concept has legs well beyond retail though. It’s all about making your brand memorable and worth sharing.

With that in mind, I’ve developed my $2 bill as pictured above. In the center is my alter-ego, The Lyrical G (fka A Katt), who’s known to drop rhymes on a dime — or, in this case, 20 dimes.

Check out this video we shot to promote the book and keep an eye out for a guest appearance at 3:10…

Yes, folks, that’s 100% legit on-the-spot improvisational freestyle after the line about the “cat in the pleather hatter.” And, yes, that Raiders visor is 100% pleather (plastic leather). No, I really don’t know why I own it.

Naturally, we ran a few takes of the rap so that we’d have some options to choose from for the final video. Some of them were so wacky that we just had to create an outtakes file. Here are some highlights from the cutting room floor…

And here’s more of the Goog stuff…

As I hit the circuit to promote my book over the coming months, I plan to bust out a Googley rap at the end of each presentation. To see how I fare, subscribe to the Googely Lessons YouTube Channel, created by Matt Ballek, video marketing rockstar, where we’ll be posting all the live material. (Yes, I realized Googley is misspelled but YT wouldn’t allow a username with Google in it.) And keep an eye on this page for Google rap video related updates.

Update: Looks like we’ve got a bona-fide catch-phrase in “Cash money, baby!” Now all we need is a “Cash money, baby!” baby! Cue my daughter, Eliara…

Do you have a Cash Money Baby?

Film your child, niece, nephew, cousin or random kid at the park saying “Cash money, baby!“ Then upload it to YouTube as a reply to this video or share the link in the comments here and it’ll be featured on my YouTube Channel.

Update #2: More videos about the book and special guest appearances by Tha Lryical G can be found on the Googley Lessons blog tour…

Update Oct. 2010: Live from SES Chicago, here’s the full Googley Lessons rap, covering all 20 chapters…

Update Dec. 2010: Here’s another version of the full Googley Lessons Rap with some some twists and turns along the way. Live from Catalyst Ranch…

Update March 2011: Taking things to a whole new level with the Ultimate SEO PPC Rap Battle featuring the SEO Rapper vs. me, the PPC MC, culminating live at the Search Insider Summit in Captiva.

Update Nov. 2011:

Here’s a well-”liked” rap to close my presentation at OMS Chicago…

Update Apr. 2012:

After getting beat by Chuck in the Ultimate SEO PPC Rap Battle, I decided to set up a battle I couldn’t lose! Here I am as Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg battling Larry Page and Sergey Brin at the end of my ad:tech San Francisco session.

Update June 6, 2012:

Going off after my session at Internet Retailer Conference and Expo:

Update June 22, 2012:

Here’s a little flourish I added to the finish of my presentation at the SIM Partners SIMpoisum:

I shared the back-story of how I landed my book deal with Laurie Sullivan for her column in ASJA (American Society of Journalists and Authors), “Crowdsourcing Social Media Becomes Ticket to Publishing Contract.”

Here’s the quick and dirty of how it all went down:

1. Got inspired to pen a Tweet-o-biography — essentially chronicling my life to date, one tweet at a time
2. Set up a Twitter account @tweetobiography and bought the domain Tweetobiography.com to explain the project and stream the tweets
3. Began tweeting.
4. Presented at ad:tech webinar and digital expo and met marketing rep from McGraw Hill Professional at my “booth”
5. Asked MHP rep if she could get me in touch with an editor to pitch my project
6. Got connected with editor and pitched Tweetobiography
7. Politely told by editor that MHP published business books and Tweetobiography would not be a good fit
8. Got buy-in to come back to editor when I had a more business-friendly book idea
9. Came up with concept for “Everything I Need to Know About Marketing I Learned From Google”
10. Published 10 “lessons” in MediaPost Search Insider column
11. Blogged, tweeted, begged and pleaded for people to click “Like it” on MediaPost column — generated over 150 responses
12. Set up Twitter account @LearnFromGoogle and bought the domain LearnFromGoogle.com to explain the project and stream the tweets (many of which I included in the book to break up the long-form copy and encourage dialogue pre/post publishing). Note: now I’m using @GoogleyLessons and GoogleyLessons.com.
13. Circled back with MHP editor who liked idea and asked me to create formal proposal
14. Published 2 follow-up columns in MediaPost bringing the list of lessons to 20 total
15. Submitted proposal and received offer
16. Put Tweetobiography on hold

Here’s my advice for writers looking to get a deal of their own:

On March 16th, 2010, I got the “official” Googleplex tour from Sandra Heikkinen and Sarah Tran of Google’s global communications and public affairs team. They were quite gracious with their time and bountiful with their stories. Here’s what I captured…

As you turn off the 101 onto Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, California, you realize you’re not in Kansas anymore. And you’re certainly not in San Francisco.

Having barely lifted my head from my new Motorola Droid (yes, that’s a Google phone) as I emailed, texted, tweeted, talked and mapped the entire 60 minutes it took me from stepping off the plane at SFO to the AirTran to the rental car to arrive at the Google campus, I didn’t get the subtle transition from the city to the Valley.

So, when I finally I looked up and took it all in, I quickly found myself in a geek’s wet dream. You could just smell the efficiency in the air. (Smells nothing like napalm in the morning but definitely like victory.)

Pulling into the lot at 1098 Alta where I was to meet a Google PR rep, the first thing I noticed was the biker I had to swerve from hitting. Us city-folk aren’t used to sharing the road. Biking seems to be the preferred mode of transportation around here. And check out those flowering trees. That’s another thing you don’t see much in urbanville…

I circled the lot to find a spot where I could park my gas guzzling rental. (Which reminds me, what will the rental car companies do when they can’t profit from the gas underage payments?)

It’s times like these that I wish I was an expecting mom…

I managed to find a visitor’s spot and put the rental in park. I had a few quick business calls to make so I rolled down the windows and let in some of that fresh Mountain View air. It was a beautiful March day. 67 and sunny.

Hopping out of my car to meet my tour guides, Sandra and Sarah, I started to rethink my decision to wear my Google Me shirt. Do they get crap like that all the time? Will they protest my use of their trademark? Will they just think I’m uncool? Whatever.

We started at the famous Building 43 which houses all the big wigs. (As for the small wigs, apparently, salespeople relegated to Crittenden campus.)

Walking into the lobby is a feast for the senses. Just like a Google search results page, there are a plethora of assets vying for your attention.

There’s the Giant Nexus One. The favorite place pins.

And just as quickly as the eyes start racing, the stories start flowing.

There’s the extra doors used as props on windows. (At Google, everything gets use and nothing goes to waste… except maybe Yahoo.)

The eco-friendliness goes deep at Google, with recycled rocks and pebbles on the ground. And all the wood is sustainably-harvested. (Yeah, cuz that’s what I was wondering when I saw those things flapping around up there!)

We pass by conference rooms that look like tents are and are stuffed with recycled denim to make heating and cooling more efficient. I mistook them for makeshift operating rooms where they implant a hatred for Microsoft in your brain.

Sandra rattles off that the Googleplex has almost 10,000 solar panels providing 30% of the electricity needed on campus. I didn’t see any goats mowing the lawns though.

Back in the lobby, a demo was taking place in a multi-screen Google Earth “machine” where you can fly from place to place…

Looking up, you see the SpaceShipOne replica built by Paul Allen and won Ansari X Prize in 2004. Man, these guys accumulate a lot of crap. Apparently, they had to remove the sides of the building to accommodate that bad boy. (Seems like a good use of resources.)

Sarah tells me that someone once left a piano in one of the buildings because they moved out of their apartment and it was too small to hold it. Sure, enough the piano got a lot of use so engineers rigged it up so you could play and listen with headphones.

Here’s the shrine of Chade-Meng Tan, whose official title at Google is Jolly Good Fellow (that nobody can deny). Apparently, he always waited in line for pictures with presidents and other celebs that came to the Googleplex. He hung all the pics in his cube but they moved them to the lobby and now people who visit wait in line for pics with Meng. To date, he’s met with over 100 celebs and rumor is he still keeps in touch with the Dalai Lama. Wonder if he shared the secrets of the algorithm?!?

One thing you can’t ignore is the presence of food… everywhere. There are some 15-ish cafés on campus, each with different themes. Many of them focus on organic foods with products procured locally.

Here’s the No Name Café started by Google’s first chef, Charlie, who  was also the  Grateful Dead’s chef.

It wouldn’t be a dot-com without a pool table. I shudder to think how good these engineers are at calculating the angles and such.

This is outside Building 42 (I think… it’s hard to keep track where you are when your senses are being assailed from every direction).

Basically, life at Google goes: Eat. Work. Play. Repeat.

You really never need to leave…

This place really is one big engineer’s dorm room!

Paintings of the Google doodles are scattered all over…

As are Google Places pins…

Another thing you quickly notice is that there are flyers everywhere prodding Googlers to do things break out of your shell. Or put a solar roof over your head.

Hit a softball. (Because that will come in handy when handling those Q’s from reporters.)

Offer your baby for ground-breaking research. Ga ga google.

And don’t forget the 2nd Birthday of the Google Store (not sure what that is but guessing they don’t sell iPhones).

Join the internationalization team! If only Google Translate were available when the Tower of Babel was being built!

Gotta give them credit for making use of all available space. But what’s with all these tree-killing flyers? Surely, there’s a way to cull all these into an e-newsletter?

Growing herbs for the cafeteria…

Wow, they really do give out everything here. (Hope this doesn’t just spit out underwater options!)

It’s important to stay active when all you do is sit around all day (and night) programming. (Too bad this volleyball court looks like it hasn’t been used in weeks.)

There was some action in the pool, though. Wonder what he’s doing? Google query: “Signs of drowning”

The gym was packed, too, complete with G-Fit trainers and lockers. (“No pictures, please,” I’m told. “Why, is this where they keep the algorithm?” I respond.)

Back outside, the randomness continues.

This is supposedly the largest complete replica of t-rex skeleton. It was found in South Dakota and cast in bronze. As an April fools prank, someone set up pink flamingos that inched closer to the dinosaur each day before ending up in its mouth on 4/1.

Here’s an oversized Android with Nexus One and giant cupcake, donut, and éclair representing first 3 releases — c, d, e. At the time, no-one knew what the 4th would be. My money was on French Crullers. Turned out to be Froyo. Wonder if they’ll go back to the ice cream well for I with It’s It (which is a Googleplex fave).

After about an hour, my cup runneth over. Too many sights for my sore eyes and stories for my saddle bags.

I bid adieu to Sandra and Sarah and plopped down in this Fujiiryoki massage chair and mooched some free wifi for a couple hours.

This was in the lobby of Building 44. Apparently this is where the Android development takes place. I figured that out not by the giant Android standing watch outside but by the guy who kept running around the lobby (and up and down the stairs and up and down the stairs) yelling “ONE!” into his phone. (Geez, if he can’t remember the name of the Google phone, he’s got bigger problems than call reception.)

That reminds me of  another observation I made at the Googleplex. Something is always beeping. You’re never quite sure what is is (and have to wonder if ANYONE is.) Finally, after a full day on campus, I figured out what I was hearing. That, my friends, is the sound of innovation. It also sounds like a high-tech bomb ready to explode. Victory, indeed.

For my first post, I thought I’d give a behind the scenes tour of the cribs I holed up in while working on my manuscript.

This was my desk at Resolution Media. I got the boot from my office in early ’09 when I stopped working at the firm full-time and moved into a consultant role. So I nabbed this quaint corner cube. I spent the week between Christmas and New Years here cranking away on Chapters 1-10. The agency was closed during that time so I was able to write uninterrupted. This desk now belongs to one Stacie Susens and that’s her decor you’re seeing adorning the cube. I didn’t think to take a picture of my set-up there before moving out. Needless to say, I didn’t keep it nearly as tidy as Ms. Susens.

This is my desk at Elevate Studios in Chicago. I moved into this office in February and wrote chapters 11-20 here. Check out my nifty exercise ball chair. It’s supposed to make you buff while you work. That’s if used correctly, though. I tend to do a lot of bouncing (much to the chagrin of the Elevater’s) and slouching. I also did a lot of pacing and loud keyboard clacking. (I use my entire left hand to type but only the index finger on my right. Don’t ask why… I did have a computer in elementary school but always cheated and looked at the keyboard during the typing tests.) Note the Jimmy Johns menu affixed to the bulletin board. As mentioned in the Acknowledgements, that was my go-to spot for eats but I really never varied from the #14 so not sure why I needed the menu.

I spent way too much time during my family vacation in Cancun the 2nd week in March working on this book. Although, I must say, this was by far the most inspiring place to write. Too bad I was writing about marketing and not more heady topics. Chapter 21 was hatched here and I did some serious tweaking to Chapters 1-20 during this trip. I was only able to make use of the balcony for a few hours each day because they’d start pumping the bass for aquatics exercise class around noon and keep the festivities rolling through bingo and on into happy hour. So I found a nice quiet spot in one of the restaurants where I could hole up and write undisturbed. That view was not much to speak of, though. Although the queso was pretty good looking.

This was me on the “thinking couch” at Elevate the day my manuscript was due. I printed out all 350 pages, curled up witha red pen and went to town with my “final” edits. (Yes, I had more than one Coke that day.) Somehow I managed to get the manuscript completed and off to my editors at 12:08 on April 1st, missing my deadline by only 8 minutes. Fortunately, McGraw-Hill didn’t give me much flack for being late. The book is currently going through the editing stages before being sent to layout and production. Release date is set for August 27th. Oh, and did I mention it’s now available for pre-order?!