Good Day Readers:
Back on June 17 of this year Ayesha Mirza, a Marketing Manager with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in New York, kindly sent us the following heads up which was posted on CyberSmokeBlog as an article entitled, Life before Google became a verb!
As a courtesy we did pass the information along to Jian Gomeshi Host of CBC Radio's popular weekly show Q, as well as, Anna Marie Tremonti at The Current. While we received automatically generated responses in both instances, the online equivalent of those most hated telephone words, "Please stay on the line your call is very important to us!" there was no subsequent follow up on their shows. Even tried Winnipeg Free Press Editor Margo Goodhand and worse yet got no reply.
As well as the video, Mr. Edwards is also the subject of a feature July 16th article (The Beginning) in The Wall Street Journal online edition.
Sorry guys, with a little initiative, creativity and imagination you could have scooped the WSJ! Don't like to gloat but we're sending you a copy of this. Wonder if they'll jump on the bandwagon now?
Again, a special thank you to Ayesha Mirza at HMH.
Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk
Jian Ghomeshi/Q
Anna Marie Tremonti/The Current
margo.goodhand@freepress.mb.ca
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“Douglas Edwards is indeed lucky, sort of an accidental millionaire. . . . This is a rare look at what happened inside the building of the most important company of our time.” — Seth Godin, author of Linchpin“
This is the first Google book told from the inside out. The teller is an ex-employee who joined Google early and who treats readers to vivid inside stories of what life was like before Google became a verb. He kept me turning the pages of this engrossing tale.” —Ken Auletta, author of Googled: The End of the World as We Know It
Dear Clare,
There have been many fine books written about Google and its impact on the world, but all have been told from an outsider’s perspective. Now, for the first time ever, we have an insider’s account of what life was really like inside the Googleplex from one of Google’s original employees.
Doug Edwards, also known as Google Employee Number 59, was Google’s first Director of Marketing and Brand Management and his forthcoming memoir, I’M FEELING LUCKY: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, July 12, 2011) is the first-ever account of what it felt like to be part of Google as it grew from a small, unknown start-up to a corporation that employs tens of thousands and has completely revolutionized how the world views and uses the Internet. Recently named one of the top ten business books of the spring season by Publishers Weekly, I’M FEELING LUCKY gives readers the chance to fully experience the bizarre mix of camaraderie and competition at this phenomenal company.
Edwards was the mastermind behind the indelible Google brand, and in this insider’s look at Google he describes those first days, weeks and months as they unfolded. We see the first, pioneering steps of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company’s young, idiosyncratic partners; the evolution of the company’s famously nonhierarchical structure (where every employee finds a problem to tackle or a feature to create and works independently); the development of brand identity; the races to create and implement each new feature; and the many ideas that never came to pass, some of which are revealed here for the first time.
Edwards reveals a number of early successes, missteps, failures, and utterly comical situations, many of which have never before been made public. These revelations include:
• the combing of user log files to try to discover if the 9/11 terrorists used Google to plan their attack
• founder Sergey Brin’s proposal to use the entire marketing budget to either provide cholera inoculations to Chechen refugees or provide high school students with free Google-branded condoms• how the company once intentionally stopped replying to search queries at Google.com• the strained negotiations that resulted in Google wining a contract to provide search and ads to AOL
• the internal reorganization issue that resulted in distrust and unhappiness among Google engineers with Larry Page’s top-down management style
• why Google’s social networking effort “orkut” failed to gain traction though it launched before Facebook
• how an engineer once shut off access to Google for the CIA … and most of France
Edwards fully captures the culture of excess that is the “Google Experience”— be it endless days, sushi, non-stop debate or bloodthirsty hockey matches. By the book’s end, you’ll have learned how to succeed in an environment where job titles don’t matter, data is God, and marketing is considered utter bullsh*t, but also why Google employees are more deeply committed to the Googleplex than their bank accounts. The author also explores the new generation Google has spawned: the young over-achievers who have redefined the bar for success and created an entirely original business model, something the founders are currently trying to get back to now that they’ve shaken up their management in an effort to contend with Facebook and other flourishing social mediums.
In his role at Google, Edwards was responsible for setting the tone and direction of the company’s communications with its users. He wrote nearly all of the text on the website during his tenure, including the corporate history, the statement of core values, and various April Fools jokes. Edwards also coined the term “Noogler” (new Googler), “Xoogler” (ex-Googler), and AdWords (named after Edwards), all of which are now in common use.
Able to comment at length about the founding years of his tenure (1999–2005), Edwards is equally capable of speaking to the company Google has become. He can speak to the origins of both its strengths and weaknesses, as well as, what has changed and the challenges Google now faces since its meteoric rise.
I would be happy to send you an advance reading copy of the book should this sound interesting to you. Similarly, if you’d like to speak to Doug regarding Q & A, review or op-ed opportunities for blogs, newsletters, podcasts, or other media, please do not hesitate to let me know.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and thank you for your time.
Best Regards,
Ayesha Mirza
Check out Doug’s blog: http://xooglers.blogspot.com/
Check out some exclusive video from inside the Googleplex: http://www.youtube.com/user/Xooglers
Ayesha Mirza
Marketing Manager
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
215 Park Avenue South,
12 Floor New York, NY 10003
(212) 592-1121
Ayesha.Mirza@hmhpub.com
Become a fan of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HMHtrade
Praise for I’M FEELING LUCKY“ Affectionate, compulsively readable . . . . This lively, thoughtful business memoir is more entertaining than it really has any right to be, and should be required reading for startup aficionados.” - Publishers Weekly
“I’m Feeling Lucky is funny, revealing, and instructive, with an insider’s perspective I hadn’t seen anywhere before. I thought I had followed the Google story closely, but I realized how much I’d missed after reading—and enjoying—this book.” —James Fallows, author of Postcards from Tomorrow Square
About the Author
DOUG EDWARDS was the director of consumer marketing and brand management at Google from 1999 to 2005 and was responsible for setting the tone and direction of the company's communications with its users. Prior to joining Google, Edwards was the online brand group manager for the San Jose Mercury News, where he conceived and led development of the technology news site siliconvalley.com.
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Dear Ayesha,
Thank you very much for contacting CyberSmokeBlog. We remain very interested in working with you to see what can be accomplished. I'm Feeling Lucky certainly sounds like a fascinating book from which young, aspiring entrepreneurs could benefit, as well as, those currently operating businesses and just about anyone who, like us, practically live on Google.In the next day or two CSB will be in touch with a couple of our contacts in the media plus the Heads of Business Administration Faculties at a University and College here. Early next week we will be update you by e-mail.In the meantime, should any of our readers have suggestions we welcome them.
Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk
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