HWTSAM

Information and discussion on the MS Press release "How We Test Software at Microsoft"

Buy HWTSAM Now!

Dammit Jim, I'm a tester, not a marketer

Posted by Alan

Over the last 7 days hwtsam appeared on amazon.com and other online sites, briefly surged in sales, then tapered off into where I expected yet-another-book-on-software-testing to go. The thing about this book is that it's not just another book on software testing. (Besides being my book), it's more about stories and pragmatic advice than theory (although there's some of that too).

Something tells me I should be doing more to get the word out. I've contacted a few bloggers I respect to see if they'd review the book on their blog. I'm also speaking at a few conferences in the spring (although not directly about the book) - but that's not for 4 months.

What else should I be doing? Do the folks at testrepublic, softwaretestingclub, or sqaforums have someplace I should be hanging out begging people to buy the book? I hate to spam people with info they may not want to see, but I would love to get enough copies out in the world that I could start to build up groups of people who both love and despise me!

Any thoughts from the masses on what else I (or Bj or Ken, for that matter) should be doing?

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Posted on: 12/21/2008 at 8:37 AM
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Comments

Ofer us

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 5:48 PM

Ofer

Maybe if you publish some parts of the book it would help people get interested in it: table of contents, sample chapter, blog post-size tips copied from the book.

Alan us

Wednesday, December 24, 2008 1:46 AM

Alan

Great suggestions - thank you. You'll see that I've started with the contents, and will sprinkly in tidbits and excerpts overe the coming weeks and months.

phil kirkham gb

Friday, December 26, 2008 4:27 AM

phil kirkham

Sadly it seems most testers dont read testing books or even surft testing sites and blogs so even reaching out to the readers of teh common testing sites will only be preaching to the converted

Putting my cynical hat on, perhaps if you were to say that your book will help get them certified that would attract more interest...

I'll review the book when I get my copy and put it on the STC and my blog and see if that attracts any more interest

wish I could give a better answer though

Alan us

Sunday, December 28, 2008 12:23 AM

Alan

Thanks for the comments - I believe you're on the mark with people not reading testing books - same is true with programmers and programming boks (DeMarco and Lister mention this in PeopleWare).

I'm still goint to do what i can on the marketing front though. :}

Mary us

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 3:36 AM

Mary

Maybe check into writing an article or book review for stickyminds.com? That's always been a resource for me.

Alan us

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 12:18 PM

Alan

Another good one. I write for Better Software (tha magazine) once a year or so, but should up my writing schedule for both stickyminds and the print mag.

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