Customer Reviews

How to License Your Million Dollar Idea: Everything You Need To Know To Turn a Simple Idea into a Million Dollar Payday, 2nd Edition

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Let me start by saying what this book is not. This book is not a detailed step by step guide to patenting. Nor a detailed legal guide to structuring a licensing agreement.

This book is a guide to help everyday people make money by designing and licensing nearly anything to companies looking for new or differentiated products. Mr. Reese offers up a clear and fresh perspective on the whole process from idea development to setting up meetings to contractual agreements. He covers how to patent & copyright, and guides you through when and how to contact an attorney.

Mr. Reese challenges the reader to become product developer, not an inventor. What this means is that if you can help companies make money and gain an edge on their competition, they will be more than happy to give you a percentage of the sales. There are lots of inventors that are good inventors but weak in the selling and licensing of their hard work. This book articulates what steps there are between an idea in your head and money in the bank.

This is by far the single greatest collection of practical wisdom I have found relating to everyday products and their licensing. My only complaint is that I wish I had discovered this book sooner.

Harvey Reese gives excellent and straightforward advice on what I used to think was an awesomely complex topic. Structurally, the book is well organized, simple to follow and written in language anyone can understand. His style is intelligent and interspersed with humor, examples, and concrete information. He not only details the steps, (he loves lists) he also tells the reader what to avoid and why. And he addresses the human issues. He talks about frustration, disappointment, commitment.

Reese demystifies the legal mumbo-jumbo and makes the subject of licensing understandable to anyone. I've read hundreds of "how-tos" in the business genre, many that vastly oversimplify difficult subjects. This one tells it all - the good, the bad and the ridiculous. Ultimately, it is both believable and usable. Reese's book is an outstanding and inspiring resource for anyone with ideas.

I found this book to be very inspirational. It does have a lot of good information that is presented at a level that's great for those who are just getting started in the invention business. Having an encouraging book is very useful. My only concern is that the book is lacking in detail. I still strongly recommend it, and also recommend "From Concept to Market", which is a little more tempered in mood but provides a great deal of detailed information including a lot of sample forms and documents that are merely referred to in this book. The two make an excellent combination.

True story: After getting through this horribly written book I decided to visit his site. I fully understood that this is exactly what I was supposed to do. That's the point of the book. Long story short, I let him evaluate my invention and marketing material. His response was very discouraging, poorly written and poorly researched. Basically it said the idea was not licensable or marketable. I continued on my quest for a deal and I put a website up anyway, which he says specifically not to bother with. Three months later I have a licensing royalty contract from a nationwide manufacturer on my desk. The deal is signed and my item will be in every major grocery store and department stores in the spring.

Do yourself a favor and find a better book on the subject. This guy is simply out of touch and woefully inaccurate.

Good Luck, Ann

This book was a great read. It tells you that you can easily make money by selling your ideas, and the author tells you how to make sure it is original, how to protect your idea, how to spark companies' interest with your idea, how to make the deal, and then the money starts rolling in. He explains that not EVERY idea you sell to companies will make you millions, but if you have sold several ideas and are getting royalty checks for all of them, it all adds up and you could make a lot of money, and ho knows? Maybe one of your ideas is one of those multi million dollar Ideas? The best thing about the book is that he tells you anyone (including idiots) can do it. Its not hard, all you need is the confidence and motivation to see it through. Give it a read!

This is an inspirational read about something that many people dream of, but feel is simply not something they could do. If you are someone who comes up with ideas, but has done nothing but wait for someone else to cash in on them. This is a book for you. You don't have to spend thousands to make and sell your invention, you can get someone else to spend it for you! They take the big risk and you get cut of the profits. Harvey Reese takes you from idea creation to the final deal, in a positive and informative way. Here is a guy who has licensed hundreds of his own products letting you know how you can do it too!

Even though I know I should I usually don't take the time to contribute to Amazon's book reviews but...

This book was so fantastic that I just had too! I loved Harvey Reese's no-nonsense tell-it-like-it-is style... no fluff or touch-feely BS. He explains exactly how to come up with ideas for new products, how to assess their true merit, how to bring them to reality (via licensing)... and most importantly, how to make $$$ doing it. This last part is a salient point, as Mr. Reese is a professional product developer himself and sees this as a "business" just like any other. The book is loaded with plently of real life examples of incredible success stories involving everyday people that made millions from products that started with ideas... Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Post It notes, Cabbage Patch Kids... Mr. Reese himself came up with over 100 licensed products in the market today, including those little reindeer horns you see dogs wearing around Christmas time. You can easily read this book one Saturday... and the info you'll glean from it will prepare you to make some real $$$ from your next million dollar idea.

I tend to invent larger products that solve complex problems which means a fair investment and lot of research occurs before getting close to market. This guy focuses exclusively on very simple products that can be produced by the average high school drop out and which can have an initial production run for under $500. My view is that if it is that easy to solve then it is too easy to copy and present's no competitive barriers to others. It is also unlikely to ever produce a product that has a meaningful impact. May be helpful for some but complete waste for me.

Much of book contains common sense topics that most readers would know on their own. Other books have been much more helpful in the licensing arena than I found with this one. Writer has a great deal of references to his web site to steer readers for licensing help. However he does not mention he charges a hefty fee to conduct such reviews. Book did not contain much guidance in area of options for selling your idea as other books on that topic have offered.

This reference book is filled with lots of valueable and helpful information and is a great resource for those who wish to develop an idea.
Author seemed in conflict with other experts in one area. He insists that only a face-to-face meeting can bring results and he strongly suggests that an agent should be hired. Other experts advocate that successs can be had without following this path.