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Jon Westenberg

Jon Westenberg

Writer, Creative & Digital Evangelist - HubSpot, New York Observer, Huffington Post, as well as TIME, Inc., Business Insider, Entrepreneur, Lifehacker and more.

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About the author

Jon Westenberg is a multifaceted creative. He guides hundreds of thousands of writers, founders and artists through building businesses, becoming freelances and embracing their creative inner-weirdo.

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http://www.jonwestenberg.com
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Success! The Fuck Up's Guide To Failing has already sold 113 pre-orders , was pitched to 25 publishers , and is in discussions with publishers .

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The Fuck Up's Guide To Failing

How to Fight Your Way Back From A Loss

A narrative-driven handbook for facing your own failures head-on and getting back up after a knock-out. This book tells you how to turn negative situations, losses and major personal failures into a win.

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Personal Growth & Self-Improvement Entrepreneurship
50,000 words
25% complete
13 publishers interested

Synopsis

A narrative-driven handbook for facing your own failures head on and getting back up after a knock-out. This book tells you how to turn negative situations, losses and major personal failures into a win.

What do you do after you've failed completely?

Sooner or later, you’ll experience abject failure. I want to rip that bandaid off right away. Sooner or later, everything is going to go wrong. I know this, because I’ve seen it over and over again. I know it because it’s happened to me, over and over again.

It’s a tough thing to go through. It can be almost completely demoralising, when it happens to you. But you’ve got to be ready for it, because you’ve got to be prepared enough to handle it when you go walking around a pretty normal looking corner and get laid out by a right hook.

I don’t like this thing where people are proud of their startups failing. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with starting a business and having the whole thing work out because you planned it and you had your shit ready. But if you do fail, you’ve got to find a way to push through it and learn from it. And that’s the case if you’re a student or a designer or a writer or anything else

That's what this book is all about. It's about the people who have fucked up, and the ways that they've found to push through. Against the odds. Against themselves. Against the world. 

Outline

Introduction

What is failure? What does it mean to set goals and fall short, or to make decisions that cause us to experience a set back or a loss? By its very definition, isn't failure the end of the line?

Chapter 1: Hi, My Name Is Jon

When I was 18, I walked off the grill at McDonald's and started my own company. It was such a disastrous failure that it took me years to get back on my feet, and it triggered another series of screw ups - from dropping out of law school to losing a major record deal. This is how I got through it and what I learned. 

Chapter 2: Life Isn't A Straight Line

The problem with our current definition of failure is that we think life has to be a straight line, from point A to point B. The reality is completely different. Life is a squiggly mess, from point Z to point Y via point C. Accepting that is vital. 

Chapter 3: You Can't Waste Time On Wishes Or Pity

When failure happens, wishing it was different or feeling sorry for yourself is a natural reaction. But just because it's natural doesn't mean it's right. In fact, the more energy and effort you put into wishing and pitying, the less you'll have to make a difference. 

Chapter 4: Accept That You're Good Enough (And Accept That Failure Didn't Change That)

Being good enough has nothing to do with how much you've failed or won. It has to do with how much you've learned, repeated, and grown. 

Chapter 5: When You Fail, Question Why

It’s not enough to just blame yourself, throw up your hands and say you’re done. That’s not useful. It’s not enough to blame your environment, your competitors, your teachers, your investors, your family…none of this is positive. What you’ve got to do is find your black box. Work out exactly what went wrong. This doesn’t mean dwell on it and mope about it, it means sitting down with a notebook and a pen and analyzing your failure. Finding the real reason.

Chapter 6: When You Fail, Take Time To Recover

I don’t mean take a holiday — although if you could, it’d help — I mean take time away from whatever it is you’ve failed at. Put down your project for a week or so, and let yourself recover from the experience. Sometimes failure knocks you about pretty badly, and you need that time to get back on your feet. Sometimes, failure absolutely wipes you out, and if you don’t get your recovery time, you’ll never get back to 100% of who you used to be.

Chapter 7: When You Fail, Ask For Help

When you fail, that’s when you most need the help and the assistance of other people. You need people to work through your mistakes and challenges with, who can give you that outside voice and even just share a few beers. But here’s what sucks. When you fail, that’s when you most want to be completely alone. You have to fight against that inclination towards solitude when you’re in the throes of failure. Reaching out to your network and saying that you need to spend some time with them is important. This is where I’ve always struggled. I’m not great at maintaining close relationships, for whatever reason. Having a network of friends that I can talk to who are open and available to me has proved even harder lately than ever before.

Chapter 8: When You Fail, Get Up And Try Again

If you let it keep you down, you’ll always stay down. When everything goes to hell, my first impulse is to hide in a dark room listening to Tom Waits and drinking. But I know that what I absolutely have to do is find a way to try again, even if its in small actions. When my last business flamed out, it took me 3 days before I made a list of the skills I had that I could sell immediately and picked one to start a new project with. If I hadn’t done that, I don’t know where the fuck I’d be now.

Audience

My core audience is creative freelancers, marketers, entrepreneurs and tech focused life hackers. This is a demographic that is predominantly male, with a strong age range of 25-35. Most of my audience are based in the United States. They tend to follow myself, Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk closely, and spend on average $50-100 per year on influencers' content. 

Promotion

This book will be marketed largely through the existing Creatomic network of over 110,000 subscribers on Medium. That's a large audience who already are invested in my work and understand its value. I will be launching the campaign with weekly emails to that subscriber base and weekly blog posts focusing on the content. 

DIRECT ACCESS

  • 30,000 subscribers to the Creatomic medium blog
  • 80,000 subscribers to Jon Westenberg personal blog

I will be reaching out to podcasts that I have previously appeared on, and focusing on it during my own weekly video blogs and podcast (5 Minute Founder). 

MEDIA WRITING EXPOSURE

Competition

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

By Seth Godin

Published by Portfolio; 1 edition (October 16, 2008)

This book helps leaders turn a scattering of followers into a loyal tribe. If you need to rally fellow employees, customers, investors, believers, hobbyists, or readers around an idea, this book will demystify the process. Tribes will make you think—really think—about the opportunities to mobilize an audience that are already at your fingertips.

Outliers: The Story of Success
By Malcolm Gladwell

Published by Back Bay Books; Reprint edition (June 7, 2011)
This book explains how leaders make change in any type of industry. Gladwell explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band. 

Crush It: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion

By Gary Vaynerchuk

Published by Harper Studio; First Edition, 1st Printing edition (October 13, 2009)

This book shows why now is the perfect time to take that passion and make a living doing what you love. Readers learn how to harness the power of the Internet to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true, step by step.

Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!

By Tony Robbins

Published by Free Press (November 1, 1992)

How to wake up and take control of your life! Tony Robbins shows you his most effective strategies and techniques for mastering your emotions, your body, your relationships, your finances, and your life. Another step-by-step program teaching the fundamental lessons of self-mastery.

13 publishers interested Express interest
Agora Publishing logo Agora Publishing

Agora Publishing is a Canada-based not-for-profit organization, founded in 1997 with the aim of making book publishing accessible to all writers across Canada and internationally.

We are the only hybrid book publisher which is also a cable TV show producer; newspaper publisher; social media marketer and search engine marketing organization.

Do you have a Twitter following of at least 5000?

We will interview eligible authors for 15 minutes for our cable TV show broadcast.

If your raw interview footage generates at least 1000 views within a four day period, we will air your interview on our cable TV show.

Contact us for more information.

Applications are due Saturday, May 29, 2021.

#authors #bookmarketing #writers #tv

Hybrid publisher

All categories

Worldwide

Ballast Books logo Ballast Books

250 copies • Partial manuscript.
Ballast Books is a full-service hybrid publisher that handles all aspects of book creation, design, publishing, marketing, distribution, and platform building. We help our authors sell more books, secure more keynotes, do more consulting, earn more customers, and book more media appearances.

We want to work with the best of the best: Former Special Operations Forces, CEOs, big thinkers, industry-leading experts. Top-performing people with experiences worth sharing and skills that translate into a larger message and goal.

We've seen particular success with military memoirs, but we've also recently hired a children's book specialist, so we run the spectrum of genres. We're a small but growing team and take pride in dedicating more time and energy to all our authors than traditional publishers.

Hybrid publisher

All categories

, United States

Blooming Twig logo Blooming Twig

500 copies • Complete manuscript.
Blooming Twig is an award-winning boutique publishing house, media company, and thought leadership marketing agency. Based in New York City and Tulsa, we have represented and re-branded hundreds of thought leaders, published more than 400 titles in all genres, and built up a like-minded following for authors, speakers, trainers, and organizations with our bleeding-edge marketing strategies. Blooming Twig is about giving the people with something to say (“thought leaders”) a platform, walking its clients up to their own influencer pulpit, and making sure there is a like-minded crowd assembled to hear the meaningful message.

Hybrid publisher

Children Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mind & Body, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel

Worldwide

Lulu Press, Inc. logo Lulu Press, Inc.

Since 2002, Lulu has enabled more than 1 million authors in more than 225 countries and territories to self-publish nearly 2 million publications. Our industry-leading tools, worldwide print network and global community help authors hone their craft and publish printed books and eBooks for FREE. Offering the largest Indie bookstore at Lulu.com and distribution services, you can sell in online bookstores around the world. With Lulu, authors are in control, forever owning the rights to their works, setting their own price and keeping 80 percent of their book profits and 90 percent of eBook profits.

Hybrid publisher

All categories

United States

Mascot Books logo Mascot Books

Mascot Books is a full-service hybrid publisher dedicated to helping authors at all stages of their publishing journey create a high-quality printed or digital book that matches their vision. With comprehensive editorial, design, marketing, production, and distribution services, our authors have the support of an experienced publishing team while still retaining one of the highest royalty percentages in the business.

Hybrid publisher

All categories

Motivational Press logo Motivational Press

250 copies • Completed manuscript.
Motivational Press is a top publisher today in providing marketing and promotion support to our authors. Our authors get favorable rates for purchasing their own books and higher than standard royalties. Our team is at the forefront of technology and offers the most comprehensive publishing platform of any non-fiction publishing house including print, electronic, and audiobook distribution worldwide. We look forward to serving you.

Hybrid publisher

Mind & Body, YA Fiction, Business & Money, Career & Success, Health, Fitness & Dieting, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Travel

Worldwide

Next Chapter logo Next Chapter

250 copies • Completed manuscript.
Next Chapter is a Rapid Versatile Publisher (RVP) that combines the professionalism and quality of traditional publishing with the creative freedom of independent publishing. We have published dozens of bestsellers, and take pride in the transparency of our business. There are no hidden fees or small print. Join us today and take your writing career to the next level.

Hybrid publisher

Children Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mind & Body, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel

Worldwide

RedDoor Press logo RedDoor Press

250 copies • Partial manuscript • Looking for commercial non-fiction and ground-breaking business and personal development books.
RedDoor Press is a hybrid publisher. We operate exactly as a traditional publishing house would except that our authors underwrite the cost of publishing their book. In return we offer a team of highly experienced publishing professionals from a traditional publishing background, a collaborative and inclusive publishing experience and a much better royalty of 50%. Our service is entirely selective and we apply robust selection criteria to the books we publish in exactly the same way as we did when we were working for some of the major UK publishing houses, such as Orion, Anova, Hodder or HarperCollins. We believe that by doing this we are creating a strong and credible list of brilliant books that should be given the opportunity to reach readers.

Hybrid publisher

Literary Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Mind & Body, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, History, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Science, Travel

Worldwide

Something or Other Publishing logo Something or Other Publishing

250 copies • Completed manuscript.
SOOP is a small virtual publishing company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, with a core team based in the US and additional contractors around the world. SOOP currently focuses on curating a small number of volumes for publication each year to enable its team to dedicate a great deal of time to working with its authors directly - not just on the manuscript, but also on platform-building and promotion.

Hybrid publisher

Children Fiction, Christian Fiction, Commercial Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, LGBT Fiction, Literary Essay, Literary Fiction, Mind & Body, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Mythology & Folk Tales, Poetry, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Women's Fiction, YA Fiction, Art & Photography, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Children Non-Fiction, Christian Non-Fiction, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Communication Skills, Corporate Culture, Crafts & Hobbies, Creativity, Current Affairs, Economics, Education, Entrepreneurship & Small Business, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Humor & Entertainment, Illustrated Books, Journalism, LGBT Non-Fiction, Management & Leadership, Marketing & Sales, Mindfulness & Happiness, Money & Investment, Motivation & Inspiration, Nature & Environment, Parenting, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Philosophy, Politics & Social Sciences, Popular Science, Productivity & Time Management, Psychology, Reference, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Sex & Relationships, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel, YA Non-Fiction, Science Fiction & Humour

Worldwide

Wonderwell logo Wonderwell

Wonderwell is an award-winning, values-driven, forward-thinking hybrid publishing company specializing in books and ebooks that help, heal, and inspire. We believe that authors should have access to high-quality, elegant publishing services and full-scale in-store distribution without having to give up their publishing rights or control over the timing and execution of their book. Many of our clients are first-time authors who know a great deal about how to help make the world a better place, but who need help translating that knowledge into a compelling book. That's where we come in. Wordsmiths, idea sculptors, and enthusiastic cheerleaders for the human race, we make a difference in the world by helping authors to make their difference in the world. We publish primarily practical nonfiction in the following categories: Business and Tech, Health and wellness, Parenting and Relationships, Personal Development, and Inspirational Memoir.

Hybrid publisher

Mind & Body, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Society & Culture

Worldwide

Authors Unite logo Authors Unite

250 copies • Partial manuscript.
Authors Unite helps you become a profitable author and make an impact. We take care of printing and distribution through major online retailers, developmental editing, and proofreading with unlimited revisions. We take care of the entire process for you from book cover design all the way to set up your backend so all your book royalties go straight to your bank account. We can also help with ghostwriting if you prefer not to have to figure out all the steps on how to write a book yourself.

With our book marketing services, you don’t need to worry about figuring out all the steps on how to market a book or how to become a bestselling author. We’ve helped hundreds of authors become bestselling authors on Amazon, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. We take care of the entire book launch process for you to help you sell thousands of copies of your book and become a bestselling author.


View case studies here: https://authorsunite.com

Service publisher

Children Fiction, Christian Fiction, Comics & Graphic Novels, Commercial Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, LGBT Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Mind & Body, Mythology & Folk Tales, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Women's Fiction, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Children Non-Fiction, Christian Non-Fiction, Communication Skills, Corporate Culture, Crafts & Hobbies, Creativity, Current Affairs, Economics, Education, Entrepreneurship & Small Business, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Humor & Entertainment, Journalism, LGBT Non-Fiction, Management & Leadership, Marketing & Sales, Mindfulness & Happiness, Money & Investment, Motivation & Inspiration, Nature & Environment, Parenting, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Philosophy, Politics & Social Sciences, Popular Science, Productivity & Time Management, Psychology, Reference, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Sex & Relationships, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel, YA Non-Fiction, Science Fiction & Humour

Worldwide

Bookmobile logo Bookmobile

100 copies • Partial manuscript.
Bookmobile provides book printing, graphic design, and other resources to support book publishers in an ever-changing environment. Superior quality, excellent customer service, flexibility, and timely turnarounds have attracted nearly 1,000 satisfied clients to Bookmobile, including trade houses, university presses, independent publishers, museums, galleries, artists, and more. In addition, we manage eBook conversions and produce galleys, and regularly provide short-run reprints of 750 copies or fewer for major publishers such as Graywolf Press.

Service publisher

Children Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mind & Body, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel

Worldwide

JETLAUNCH logo JETLAUNCH

100 copies • Completed manuscript.
Jetlaunch book design and project management services give you back the hours you need to grow your publishing business. We've done work for John Lee Dumas, Ed Mylett, Rachel Pedersen, Dan Sullivan, Aaron Walker, Amy Landino (Schmittauer), Kary Oberbrunner, Jim Edwards, and many publishing companies. You retain all rights and royalties.

Service publisher

Worldwide

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  • Rich Gaski
    on Jan. 28, 2017, 2:08 a.m.

    Good luck! Fix that double signature above!

  • Lee Constantine
    on Jan. 28, 2017, 2:28 a.m.

    Love the title, man! Good luck. Can't wait to read it!

  • Steffen Juenger
    on Jan. 28, 2017, 9:29 a.m.

    Hi Jon,
    I am reading your articles in medium with great interest and finding myself again and again in awe how much our views of the world are very much in sync.
    Cheers
    Steffen

  • Michael Litman
    on Jan. 29, 2017, 9:34 p.m.

    Good luck with the campaign Jon, looking forward to reading it.

  • Jason Kaye
    on Jan. 31, 2017, 12:20 a.m.

    Best of luck with it Jon. I hope you make the target man. I want to read this thing!

  • Steve Peha
    on Jan. 31, 2017, 1:32 a.m.

    Wishing you well on this venture. Thanks for your time the other night. --Steve Peha

  • Matthew Davio
    on Jan. 31, 2017, 4:59 a.m.

    Jon super excited to read the honest authentic story of your walk! Pumped and cheers to your continued success. Matt

  • Grace Kim
    on Jan. 31, 2017, 6:56 a.m.

    Can't wait to read this! You are awesome!

    - Grace

  • Alicia Cronkite
    on Jan. 31, 2017, 4:51 p.m.

    It's the least I can do, I have enjoyed your Medium posts daily for months. Good luck!

  • Christophe Ferauge
    on Feb. 1, 2017, 6:57 a.m.

    I wish you all the best and that you may reach the goal you want :-)

  • Daniel Life
    on Feb. 1, 2017, 4:26 p.m.

    Very excited for you and for your work. Keep rockin'.

  • Guy Vincent
    on Feb. 2, 2017, 10:29 a.m.

    Great work Jon, I'm looking forward to reading this. Wishing you success with your campaign!

  • Kurt Dietrich
    on Feb. 2, 2017, 4:59 p.m.

    Big fan, religious (non denominational) follower and all around believer in your work! Keep it up. Much luck with the book and getting it published. Can't wait to check it out.

  • Forest Linden
    on Feb. 7, 2017, 12:16 a.m.

    Looking forward to reading the book, Jon! Good luck on blowing past your publishizer goal and getting the book published!!

    Thanks for everything you do and all of the amazing free content you continue to crank out on Medium!

  • Philip Ward
    on Feb. 8, 2017, 10:02 p.m.

    I look forward to reading your book when it comes out.