Bestselling Book Doesn't Have Much in it

How Shed Simove wrote a bestseller with just a title and 200 blank pages

By Helen Davidson

Author Shed Simove released a 200-page best-seller What Every Man Thinks About Apart from Sex.

• Author found success with blank book 
• Marketing campaign turned it into bestseller 
• Rejected for publication by Hugh Hefner 

Shed Simove has published three books in his lifetime, but it wasn't until his third that he really found success, reaching number 44 on Amazon's bestseller list.

The book: What Every Man Thinks About Apart from Sex.

The punchline: Every one of the 200 pages inside was blank.

In a blog on RealBusiness.co.uk, Simove shares his secret for making publishing history; It was the first time since records began that a blank book made it on to a top 50 bestsellers' list anywhere.

So how did he do it?

When his first two books, one of which took seven years to write and publish, bombed commercially, Simove decided to take a different tack.

Combining what he loved doing - writing, with what he was successful at - making novelty toys, Simove set to work.

"Once my mind had decided on a book that was a joke, I knew my new book had to be blank inside," he says.

"I settled on the title What Every Man Thinks About Apart From Sex."

Simove rang the publisher of his previous book, which peaked at 35,000 on the charts, about printing his new work. The publisher refused to even meet with him.

He also sent it to Playboy, but received what he calls the "the best rejection letter I've ever been sent" from Hugh Hefner.

Simove decided to take a risk and self-publish his novelty book, and in just over a week the book was designed, printed and ready to ship. There was just one problem.

"What was missing was that out of the six billion people on the planet, only about seven of them knew about my book. Two of those were my parents, one was the printer and one was my cleaner."

Harnessing the viral potential of sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, Simove, with the help of a PR agency, promoted What Every Man Thinks About Apart From Sex every way he could think of.

The PR agency even created a Facebook campaign to knock Jamie Oliver off the Bestsellers' list, but this was thwarted by angry fans of the Naked Chef.

It didn't matter. Within days TV, press and radio were all over the book. It was a sensation.

Sales overtook his previous book, Ideas Man in just six days. What Every Man Thinks About Apart From Sex was even available as an e-book.

Then he got an email. "Shed! Your book is number 44 on Amazon... Congratulations!" 

Simove acknowledges his idea isn't new. A blank book from the 1970s, Everything Men Know About Women is still for sale today, but never did as well. Simove attributes this to his marketing strategy.

He says his experience has lessons for everyone.

" It shows that if you have a clear idea, you deliver it well, and then shout about it loudly (and with the right tools), you can make anything happen - you could even get a blank book to the top of the bestseller charts."