Yesterday Michael Hyatt, Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishing, released his new book Platform. Amazon.com has become the number one place to sell books so having great reviews of your book can quickly move it up the sales ranks. Michael Hyatt put together a launch team and leveraged the relationships he’s built over his many years in the publishing industry to garner 70+ reviews before his book’s release date. People like me received advanced copies and many of us left favorable reviews on Amazon.com. That’s where the angry German comes in. Follow me…I’ll explain using some pictures.
Here’s the main page of Mike’s Platform book on Amazon.com. It shows that he received 78 reviews next to the five stars.
Here’s the summary of the reviews. 77 five star reviews and one 1 star review (angry German).
Here’s the one star review summary. (I call this guy the angry German b/c that’s where he’s from and I think he’s cynical at best and angry at worst.)
This is where it gets fun. As of 8:35pm on May 22nd there were 26 responses to the angry German. His one negative review brought out 26 other responses. A vast majority are readers of the book defending their reviews and Mike’s strategy for his launch that helped him get those reviews. He’s giving away a TON of freebies if you buy the book by May 25th. Michael Hyatt is smart and level headed so he responded to the angry German with a very kind tone.
I am not very smart sometimes and rarely level headed so I responded to the guy with a challenge. I offered to buy him a copy of the book so he could ACTUALLY READ IT. Crazy, but he gave it 1 star and hasn’t read the actual book.
This story illustrates a great truth. The greatest measure of a leader is not their title but the behavior of their followers. Michael Hyatt has been blogging (almost daily) for at least seven years. He is a thought leader. He is a man of integrity. He is one of the most disciplined men I’ve ever met. He is a great father, husband and friend. He’s also humble and open to advice from people he’s just met(that post is about a meeting we had).
In summary, I like Mike. So do a LOT of other people. I’d venture to say the twenty some people who defended Mike are a greater measure of his success and a greater measure of proof of the strength of his Platform than the 77 five star reviews. It’s important to also mention a few names of people that read and endorsed his book. Hover over their names to find out more about them.
Seth Godin
Dave Ramsey
Dan Miller
John Maxwell
Dan Cathy
So congrats on a great book launch Mike. Congrats on being #4 on Amazon.com on your release day. Congrats on building a Platform we can all work to build ourselves now that we’ve got your book to help us find our way.
NOTE:
The angry German hasn’t taken me up on my offer to buy him a book yet. You should buy it though. You can do that here. And hey, if you like it you can leave a review.
