‘Crush It’ Vook Review (no, that’s not a typo)
In his brilliant novel 1984, George Orwell makes the point that the best books are those that tell you “what you already know”. In many respects, that’s more or less what Gary Vaynerchuk’s New York Times bestseller, ‘Crush It’ does as well. It pretty much tells us to work hard, care, and be yourself, yet manages at the same time to be the best book on business that I’ve ever read.
As a filmmaker, like so many others, I’ve read and was inspired by Robert Rodriguez’ 1992 diaries, ‘Rebel Without a Crew’. I don’t think I would have picked up a camera and made a single short film otherwise. In much the same way, Gary manages to truly motivate you to the point where you’re not justifying the idea of going out and living your dreams, you’d have to justify not doing it.
And that’s the key. You may be on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Blogger, Virb, YouTube; the whole nine yards. I’ve been one or the other for up to four years now and counting. But the fact of the matter is, my ‘Tumbularity’, a number Tumblr assigns to you based on site activity, popularity, etc., had never gone beyond a 9 until the day I finished and applied the simple principles of working hard in ‘Crush It’, when it shot up to 110, and then 125 where it rests today.
So many times I, and countless others, have asked successful people on the web the exact same questions: “How do I get anyone to visit my site?” “How do I promote if I don’t have any money?” “How can I possibly be as lucky as you?” You see, people like me who’ve been on these social sites for a significant amount of time already know that the tools are important, we just don’t really know how to use them. So many popular videos and people online did sort of just luck out, while others didn’t realize that they were doing the ‘right thing’. Everyone gives a different answer, and every example leads to different conclusions. So confusion and inaction win again.
Here’s the deal. I’ve been hearing about this Vay • ner • chuk character for a long time. Tumblr.com homepage. Diggnation. CollegeHumor. I just couldn’t figure out why some wine guy (who was, to be fair, notably enthused and clever with the online tools) was catching on with so many people and places that i regularly visit. After two CollegeHumor appearances and an interview on This Week in Startups, I had to know what his deal was, and what wine guy’s book was all about. He took a product far removed from my life and brought it into almost every site I visited— he must know something.
So when I looked into him more, I was, of course, impressed. And, like almost every person who’s ‘made it’ or is in the process, I really wanted to know how he did it. Because this man didn’t seem like he really just ‘lucked out’. Appearances everywhere and staying power for 2+ years? As exciting as he may find it, wine isn’t all that viral.
I could’ve dug around his blog archives, but, conveniently, his book was coming out, which would obviously summarize his advice. I’m a university student, and since hardcover books are prohibitively expensive in Canada (Crush It, a 150 page book, retails for $25+tax at Chapters/Indigo, and $20+ plus tax after shipping from Amazon.ca), you can imagine my excitement when I discovered:
The Vook.
Vook is a company I’d never head of, but as any good eBayer would say, “A++++ SUPER GREAT SELLER LIGHTNING FAST! WOULD BUY AGAIN!”. Their basic premise is as follows: you pay $7 (yeah, $7) for either a web or iPod/iPhone version of a book from their growing library, along with at least (but often more than) one relevant video that they’ve produced per chapter. Having just read Cory Doctorow’s fantastic ‘After the Siege’ on my iPod’s Stanza app, I was already conditioned to like a book in that format.
And you can’t help but want to support Vook. I mean, come on. Not only is your reading broken up by quality videos (which actually add a lot of valuable content to the book as well as put a face to the writer), but in a digital world where no paper is printed, bound, shipped, stored, sold by a human, etc.— they actually do something different and (listen up here, Apple iTunes movies) don’t charge for it. You get a better version of the book from Vook than you would for over $20 more at Chapters. I had to triple check if the contents of the book were actually included here before making the purchase.
Of course, being able to whip out my iPod on the train, bus stop, doctors office, or wherever without worrying about lighting or carrying anything more than I normally would is fantastically convenient, and I now have a copy of one of my favourite books in the form of an app everywhere I go. Definitely try the sample chapter on their site in case screen-reading isn’t your method of choice.
So if you’re interested in, or are already on the web; or even if you just want to take full advantage of what the future has to offer you, I heartily recommend picking up or downloading a copy of Crush It. What Gary offers within aren’t just concrete actions you can do (which are in there at some points), but a new way to look at things, and move forward with your pursuits. He doesn’t claim to know everything. All his ideas are malleable, save for ‘care about everything, most importantly your family’, ‘be genuine’, ‘work hard’, and ‘be patient’. He doesn’t feel like a guy just trying to fill up a book with repetitive nonsense. And while is personality can often come off as strong as it does on video, read it to the end at least once, and, as Monsters, Inc. and Up director Pete Docter says about books on filmmaking, you have to read them, learn the rules, know what they’re talking about, and then when it comes down to actually doing it, don’t obsess about it all: put all that information aside and just go.
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PS. This was pretty much my first review of anything ever, so I’d love it if you could leave some comments or tweet me your thoughts on the review and how I can improve my writing - I know this could have been shorter, but trust me— it easily could have been twice the length.
