Book Yourself Solid Illustrated: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling Paperback – Illustrated, April 1, 2013

Is this book worth $24-$30? That's really the only question that you're asking and the reason you're reading the reviews. You're trying to eliminate risk. I get it. I read reviews and trust them more than anything when making a buying decision. So is it worth $30? The difference between that question with most books I buy and this one is that this book is about 3X what I usually spend on a book. Amazon has trained me that books cost $10, great ones cost $13. So how good does a book need to be to cost $30? Really good. The content has to be good an the book itself has to be materially solid.

I read Michael Port's original version of Book Yourself Solid several years ago when it first came out and it was a difficult book to read. It was difficult becasue it wasn't a "quick read" or "an inspiring message". BYS was about how to get more business so it had strategy, logic and lists of things I could do to book myself solid. It was more textbook than feel good story so while I did enjoy it immensely it frankly was a lot of work to go through. It's a lot of work to actually do what Michael Port teaches. It also works.

Port's books are hard to read for one reason alone. They will remind you of the truth that you aren't living. They will remind you that there are things you should be doing but probably aren't. He will teach you practical four step processes to follow when you sell that if followed will work. They'll work by either aligning you with who you should work with or separating you from the people you shouldn't work with. Port actually coined the phrase "red velvet rope policy" that teaches us to make clients feel like they're getting something special when they work with us. Because he coined the phrase naturally his book does a spectacular job of teaching you how to actually implement such a policy. That alone has changed my business and of course...is worth $30!

So why $30 for a book?
I included a picture of the book on top of my Macbook Pro 13-inch laptop so you can see how big it is. It's not easy to carry around and it can actually be hard to read because of its size. The pages are thick, the colors are vibrant and the overal quality of the book warrants a $30 price tag. My biggest complaint about the book is that there should be a $40 or $50 version. The binding on books this size can't handle that many pages so inevitably the binding will decide to crack at a specific place making it difficult to turn some pages. My hope is that they'll release a hard copy version of the book with different binding that isn't dependent on glue alone so that it doesn't crack. Is the book still worth $30? Yup.

This book is worth $30 unless your business sucks. If you paid $30 for your lunch and ate by yourself then I think you'd be hard pressed justifying that lunch brought you $30 in value. But if you spend $30 on lunch and ate with Michael Port would that be worth it? What if at the end of lunch he gave you a book that helped you double your income in the next 12 months while helping you work with clients you want to work with? Would that lunch be worth $30? Damn right it would.

The last but most dominant reason that this book is worth $30 is Jocelyn Wallace. Who's that? She's the reason this book exists. As Port explains in an interview with Jonathan Fields during one of Fields' Good Life Project interviews, Port met Wallace at an event and they decided they needed to work with each other. She's the artist that makes this book worth $30. It's very likely that I'll buy another copy of this book, remove several of the pages and frame them in my office. Wallace's work isn't abstract or strange. Her work is most certainly art but it's also incredibily effective at communicating the messages Port is trying to teach us. If a picture is worth 1,000 words then this is a ridiculously long book. There are a TON of pictures in this book. Entire pages are full of the four steps Port talks about on the prior page. I find myself studying the pictures much as I do the words Port wrote. Even now as I type this I'm thinking of images in the book. They WILL help make Port's teachings become ingrained in your mind. They're a beautiful study guide built right into the book.

The main problem I have with this book, (other than the binding) is that it really isn't fun to read yet. It reminds me of when I read the original BYS book by Port. It reminds me of the things I need to do in my business to get my crap together and work with the people I want to work with (without apologizing for it). It's not a "fun" read but it is an exciting read. I read about 10 pages a sitting and then I go back into my business and make changes. It's that practical. Practical isn't fun but it's exciting to know that I'm changing the foundation of how I build my business.

This is a long review because this is a $30 book and it had better be a good book if it's $30. It is a good book and it is worth $30 in my opinion. I didn't originally buy this book because of the $30 price tag but then I saw one in person and was so impressed by its size and quality that I pulled the trigger. I'm glad I did. It's the best $30 I've spent on my business in a long time. (FYI - I did not get a free copy of his book. I paid for it. I know many Amazon reviews are written by people who get free books and frankly I just don't trust reviews as much when you haven't handed over your hard earned dollars for it.)

Thx for a great book Michael and Jocelyn. Where do I buy the $60 hard back version?

I purchased and am reading not only this book, with all the words, but the other one with the pictures also. The picture book is easier to read but words help add depth and meaning to the pictures. I recommend both.

My only issue with this book is that as I was starting my business I was in a big hurry to bowl people over with my awesomeness and take orders for my highest revenue services. This book was, and is, a bit of a wake up slap upside the head that my bull in a china shop approach isn't the best approach for me or my customers. There have been times when I felt like, and still do, that I just need to throw this book away and go knock on doors, however, there's little question the exercises I'm going through are worthwhile. As additional evidence, every fellow 'consultant' I talk to about some of the things I'm reading here, and doing, is blown away by the volume of 'great ideas' I have. Yes, Michael, I attribute them all to you.

This book is SOOOOO GREAT that I've actually purchased the Kindle, audible and paperback editions. It comes with a free workbook that you can get once you own the book and its a perfect companion. Michael Port clearly spells out the tactics you take to Book Yourself Solid. It's not a bunch of theory and no action. If you are a service professional or rely on relationship-based connections to grow your business, this is a MUST READ/LISTEN/STUDY!

Identify your unique abilities, define the type of client that you work best with, analyze the needs of those desired clients and bring your message to these clients in the format that highlights your unique talents. Book Yourself Solid is the manual to accomplish all of the above.

As an author and freelance copywriter, one of my bugaboos has always been self-promotion and networking. Although I'm a terrific promoter of other people's products and services via the written word as a copywriter, I've always found the idea of stepping out of my comfort zone and networking for additional business (or to sell the six books I've written) scary and daunting. I guess that's because I've met too many people who "network" the wrong way! I never wanted to be seen as one of them: pushy and "in your face." (Then again, maybe the others I've met who network do so with such finesse, as shown in this book, that it never occurred to me that they were "networking" or "pushing" their products, book or services at all!)

Of course my aversion to talking about what I do for a living left me on the outside looking in. IF/WHEN people found out what I do, by way of another person introducing me, they always seemed surprised and delighted. But even then I'd deflect the conversation to something else--anything else!--to keep the attention off myself. (Confession time: I hated my own birthday parties as a kid. Too much focused attention! And when teachers would read what I'd written in class, I would want to melt, run under someone's shoe and disappear!)

So BOOK YOURSELF SOLID seemed to be something I "needed" to read. It has revolutionized my way of thinking. It has given me the mindset I need to recognize that what I do is extremely valuable (to small business owners who can't afford paying a fortune for a copywriter, and for readers who love the kinds of subjects I tackle in my books) and that there is no shame in letting people know (like the Whos in Whoville) "I'm here! I'm here!"

If I could give BOOK YOURSELF SOLID more stars, I would. But then you'd see nothing but stars!

There's much more to BOOK YOURSELF SOLID than I've mentioned here. LOTS more. This is just the primary way in which the book has served my immediate, most pressing needs. It has turned this shy gal into a professional who networks with the best of them the RIGHT way. It's becoming less alien each time I do it. I'm still a work in progress, but I'm getting there!

Thank you so much, Michael Port, for this helpful, amazing, step-by-step guide to booking myself solid! BRAVO!!!

Kristine M Smith
Copywriter, Author of 5 books at Amazon

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