Michael F. Schein - The Hype Handbook

Copyright 2021 by Michael F. Schein. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-26-047014-7
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To Hazel Bean, my favorite person in the whole wide world.

I am fortunate to have many people in my life who I care about and who (I think) care about me. I originally set out to include them all in this section, but then I realized it would take up at least five pages. Plus, Im pretty sure Id still somehow manage to hurt someones feelings by (unintentionally) leaving them out. So instead I decided to only include the small handful of people who directly impacted the creation of The Hype Handbook. If youre not on this list, it doesnt mean I dont love you... far from it.

Thank you...

To my agent, Heidi Krupp, who constantly astounds me with her ability to make big things happen.

To my editor, Donya Dickerson, who made this book better with every suggestion, while still always managing to protect my fragile writers ego.

To Corey Mead (and his amazing family, Laura Sims and Caleb the Dragon Sims-Mead) for reading multiple proposal drafts, encouraging me every step of the way, and being remarkably generous with his connections and time.

To Qingchi C Bin Bin and Zeyu Zheng, whose invitation to speak in Shenzhen on the topic of hype led to the publication of this book and so much more.

To Richard Laermer, who, over the course of countless dinners, schooled me in what it takes to make it as an author, speaker, marketer, and businessperson.

To my mom, Susan Schein, and my sister, Bonnie Schwartz (as well as the entire Schwartz clanJeremy, Emma, and Jolie), for believing this book would make it out into the world, even when I sometimes doubted it myself.

To the Beacon Writers Group, who reviewed an early draft at a pivotal time, which made all the difference.

To everyone on the McGraw Hill team.

And, of course, to Hazel Ray Schein, who is the reason I do everything.

Only in folklore does the world beat a path to the inventor of a better mousetrap.

RANDALL STROSS

W hen I was 34 years old, with a newborn baby at home, I decided I was going to ditch my cushy corporate career to make it on my own as a freelance writer.

Heres what I was thinking: Ever since I had circulated my hit story WrestleMania 2230 in the second grade, people had been telling me I had talent. And when I left college, I really had tried to do something with my writing or at least in the arts: I interned at a television production company, wrote short stories, and started a band that built a following. But despite selling out a popular club on a weeknight, securing a residence there, and appearing on national TV (it was Showtime at the Apollo and we were booed offstage, but it still counts), I ultimately couldnt figure out how to support myself through my art.

So I got a job. The company that hired me operated customer service call centers. I told myself it was a temporary measure to provide some cash flow until I figured out what to do next.

I ended up working at that company for eight yearsthe better part of a decade. I learned a thing or two while I was there, but if Im being honest with myself, the reasons I stayed for so long were the comfort my steadily increasing salary provided and my fear that Id end up in a cardboard box if I left.

But then something happened that shook me out of my bubble-wrapped sleepwalk to the grave.

My wife got pregnant.

About three weeks after we got the news, I was lying in bed, and I had a vision. I saw my future child taking me to school for a Career Day event. I watched myself stand up and walk to the front of the class. I saw myself open my mouth and say the following words:

Hi kids, Im Michael Schein, and Im Vice President of Solution Development at a business process outsourcing organization.

I quit my job three months later.

Fortunately I had a plan. I had read that big companies paid a few thousand dollars a pop for sales and marketing material written by good writers. I was a good writer. The way I saw it, if I could produce one of these bad boys a week, I could make the same amount of money I made at my job.