Tech Author & Analyst Judith Hurtwitz on success of the Dummies Book Series
September 23rd, 2008 by Paula Slotkin
Ever wonder about those multitudes of business-oriented Dummies books and why they are so incredibly popular? You know, Internet for Dummies, Business Math for Dummies, SOA for Dummies? I gained some insight last night at dinner from a FOT (Friend of Topaz) into the process of identifying topics and producing an actual book for the Dummies series publisher Wiley (www.wiley.com).
In addition to being a widely respected tech industry analyst, Judith Hurwitz (www.hurwitz.com) is co-author of SOA for Dummies, published in 2006 (A new edition is coming out in November). With the help of her team, Judith also wrote a Dummies “mini-book” about information on demand.
Based on the success of these projects, Judith is under contract with Wiley to write two additional books: Service management for Dummies and Cloud Computing for Dummies.
Why are books like this so successful? “The fear of appearing ignorant is widespread in the business world,” says Judith. “This is especially true with technology changing so rapidly.” So taking very complex technology and making it palatable for a broader audience has become a passion for her.
“From a strategic sales standpoint, people won’t buy what they don’t understand,” says Judith. “So it’s good business for the companies to give away copies of the Dummies reference books to help educate their prospective clients — and even their own sales force.”
Based on the increasing pace of growth and change, we can all bet that there will be more opportunities for Judith and her team to keep educating tech buyers, sellers, and the simply curious about important, game-changing developments in technology.
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