“The Burned-Out Blogger’s Guide To PR” Is Amazing, Hilarious And Mostly True

Burnout3DCover

More than anything else, Jason Kincaid’s new book The Burned-Out Blogger’s Guide To PR is about the startup journey. It has something for everyone, and it’s smart. It’s also laugh-out-loud funny.

The reason he wrote the book? We find out in the introduction: “Revenge.”

“For four years as a writer at TechCrunch the PR industry made me miserable,” says Kincaid, although for all the miserably sad stories the book is surprisingly upbeat and optimistic. He just wants to help founders navigate the impossible world of getting press.

And it works. Brilliantly. He sent it to me last Wednesday and I was hoping to open it sometime this weekend. Instead I peeked right away to take a quick look at the cover, which I love. I started reading and I didn’t put it down until I finished hours later.

This book will tell you why you probably don’t want to hire a PR person any time soon, and he gives good (and funny) advice on how to deal with crazy bloggers and reporters in the meantime. Often used and little understood lingo, like “off-the-record” and “embargo” are explained in detail.

Most importantly, though, he puts you inside the head of the person who’s writing about your startup. He’ll explain why it is so hard to get them to pay attention to you, how they aren’t really listening to anything that you say once you do, and why they wouldn’t understand your product even if they were.

He also gives advice on how to fix those things, and explains why bloggers always end up paranoid and broken in the end.

Like I said, it’s hilarious.

It’s indispensable for startup founders, and they’ll love it. Bloggers and reporters will cry over how perfectly it describes their frustrating lives. And PR people will groan and say it’s all nonsense.

Like I said, something for everyone.

Buy  the Kindle version of The Burned-Out Bloggers’ Guide To PR here. The print version will be available in a couple of weeks, Jason tells me.