A little over a year and a half ago I decided to write a book. I didn't want to write "just another book" since it seems like everyone and their brother has written a book these days so I decided to try something different.

I had saved hundreds of thoughts over the years around starting a company, becoming a professional musician and also working in a larger company which later was acquired.

So I decided that I was going to write an entire book in about 24 hours, on a train from Seattle to SF and back, take a picture out the window for every chapter and also pick a different song to listen to for every chapter. I also wrote in italics my real time thoughts while writing the book. I wanted people to be there with me when they read this book. This one email from a friend who read the book is the reason I am even releasing this;

It is incredible, at least I think it is, how you were able to put so much passion and thought into this.  Every story you told, every person you met, basically every experience you had felt like I was right there experiencing it with you.  Your timeline and song choices were a good insight on letting your audience into your brain for the entire trip.

I have not yet had a chance to get into the actions of what you said to do.  As I was reading, I couldn't wait to get to the next part, so I really didn't spend a lot of time "doing" what you said to do. I did manage to change my homepage to cefcu.com. I will spend the next weeks rereading and trying to find what it is that I could do to help people.  Your book may be the foundation to my new outlook on life. I thank you for that.

Full review is here: http://blog.shanemac.me/my-best-friends-response-to-my-book-brings-te

Outcome?

I ended up writing over 31,000 words, 80+ chapters and just a crazy whirl wind of a story That was almost 2 years ago. 

I never launched it. I was going to publish it, not just have an ebook, yadda yadda yadda… I decided to focus on building a startup and working at one as well so the book took a back seat. 

Truth is, I don't really like the thought anymore of having a book. This book feels amateurish and outdated already. I really try to live life with humility and always work to learn more and I really don't want to have a book that is some "Self-help" shit. I just want to inspire ideas in people. 

Then I started thinking...

• Who am I to tell people the way I think things should be done?
• Who will even care about this book? 
• Why don't I spend my time building a company and working on something that can directly benefit others?

Etc, etc etc… It just kept hitting me hard that I never launched it.

I found excuses for not being "launched" yet, had Mike Rhode, who illustrated the NYTimes bestseller Rework, design the cover and spent countless hours pulling together all the photos and thoughts from the trip. 

Honestly, I was scared. This book is a window into my thoughts and the longer I waited to launch it, the more I felt like I had already changed my views from what I wrote in the book. I feel like the last 2 years have taught me more than the last 20 and none of that is reflected in this book, but I guess that's alright. We learn and change over time and that's part of life.

I talked with a couple publishers and kept saying I was going to plan a launch. Well, here you go… a blog post about how not to launch is what you get. 

Sometimes I feel like this book comes off as me telling people how things should be done when in reality everyone has a different story and different reasons for why they do things. I don't want to be some how-to guide but more just tell my story. 

I've let a few select people read the book and it is because of their feedback that I am going to release this at all. 

So, here ya go. This is (mostly) un-edited, un-designed, raw, real and my thoughts from 2 years ago. It's just a plain jane PDF. I probably shouldn't even call this a book… It's only 145 pages.

I don't have a blog tour, book tour or a Tweet this to read a free chapter marketing stuff in place. I honestly just woke up yesterday and decided enough waiting, it has to be done. I come from digital marketing and know what I needed to do to have a successful "launch," but it just didn't feel right for this. I believe in this a ton but I don't want to sale it. It's a weird feeling and maybe books aren't what I'm cut out to do… 

Most people who have liked the book are recent grads or someone looking for a new career. If you buy the book and hate it, are offended by it or just don't feel like it was worth $12 then send me an email and I will give you your money back. 

If you hate it, tell me. If you love it, tell me. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

This was my only unfinished project and it was killing me everyday it didn't launch. This is about closure and getting back to work with the weight off my shoulders. 

Back to building Zaarly and focusing on one thing that I think can change the world.

Do I see this as a failure? Not at all. I learned a lot about what I like to do and what I want to spend my time doing going forward.

At the end of it all, a book is just words so I guess I will call this one complete…

Buy the book at the link below:

buy<script type="text/javascript" src="http://sellfy.com/js/api_buttons.js"></script>

http://sellfy.com/p/RdaS

View the 76 song playlist for the book on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/user/shanemacsays/playlist/4uSBpZRxiYSBgbyUU0V6LN

Check out the book website: http://shanemac.me/stopwiththebs

With love,

Shane Mac