yellow pages

We couldn’t find a lot of interesting books around, lately. No wonder the publishing industry is in deep ‘sheet’.  The majority of publishers seems to have developed a certain taste for crap wrapped in a glossy dustjacket. To make things worse, talented writers with something to say are disappearing, just like happened to big reptiles and alcohol-free beer. Good books, very good books, are rarer than astatine. The rest, and we are talking about 1 million titles every year, is just trees sacrificed for no reason. If, to all of the above, you add the fact there are more writers than readers, and that readers mostly read what they write, you get the whole picture. The Brandpowder Team, in a drastic attempt to instill a sense of pride in the publishing industry and to push good writers to abandon Harry Potterism and type some goddam’ good stories, would like to introduce you to the top worst books of 2013. We personally published these books at our own expenses,  as a no-profit experiment to provoke publishers, writers, readers and, why not? hopefully also analphabets, to do something about it.

Opening Picture: The Not So Yellow Pages are a guide to imprecise listing. You can browse them, let’s say, when you are not looking for something in particular and you just jerk around thinking life is about getting lost somewhere, nowhere. Fakebook (below) is a novel talking about demotivation, failure, depression, solitude, despair, staging an anxious, over-perspirating guy with smelly armpits. It sold just one copy, bought by the author.


Below: This opus in two volumes, which comes in a lavishly hardcover leather-bound edition, is a meditation about nothing to say. The 240 empty pages are a masterpiece on silence and creative white out. A must non-read for whoever feels  blocked or simply overwhelmed by data overflow. Mostly unsold.


This book (below) is highly recommended for the daring investor who’s always looking ahead for new opportunities. Unfortunately, also this one didn’t sell a single copy (out of the 50 we printed). We were shocked, since Mars is the next frontier. Not to mention KitKat and Bounty.

unreal estate

save money

The worst-best seller on our list is this rather imposing, meek-looking book with a challenging title aimed to the disobedient. We didn’t find a single customer willing to pay 20 bucks for its precious insight. The cause may be people are much better off than we think, or they are simply convinced they know better?

This project, as many others developed buy the Brandpowder Team, was a complete fiasco. Indirectly, it was a success. It proved our point. Thank you for your attention.

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  1. I admire the non sense innovation and the attempt to shake this ridiculous publishing industry where ‘sheet’ is piling up. Unless you have already seen, watch Cloud Atlas…..the parallel stories that unfold in different time recall the storyboard concept of your never published work. Think again and go for it…as you say ‘sheet’ is everywhere but good books becoming rare.

    • We’ll definitely follow your suggestion: we’ll go to watch Cloud Atlas with a big bucket of pop corn smeared with butter, a pint of cherry coke with ice and lemon to detour attention, and a flask of good whisky hidden into the jacket’s inner pocket. Thanks for your comment, R!

      The BT

  2. Maybe I just missed it but didn’t you publish a book called “how to read a how to guide for dummies”? Stupid me, now I’ve got it. This ‘sheet’ is not on your list because it would have been sold very well (so if you have not published it now…). Now seriously, what do you think about “how to” and “for dummies” books? In my opinion, some of them are very useful and good-written but most are about some topic the author was asked to write about by the publishing agency because they found out that there is no “how to book” about it available yet. Maybe they should have asked themselves why there is no book about “how to ‘sheet'” available yet before asking someone to write it. Btw, just found a “how to ‘sheet’ in the woods” book I don’t want to judge because I don’t want to read it.
    Have you any idea why so much people want to read about “how to ‘sheet’ in the woods”? Is it a wish for experiencing a real adventure instead of their 9 to 5 pace? Or do they want to be able to praise the world for having a comfortable bathroom next to their cubicle? If I did not hate to, I could write a book about “How to make life a 5*, climatized, fully secure adventure”. But maybe you can create some cool artworks to inspire me :)
    Have a nice weekend & keep up the cool work!
    May the force be with you,

    • Ciao Chris,

      I totally agree with you. “how to” books make me laugh because they are aimed to useless people who think they find pearls of practical wisdom in 100 pages. The only “how to” books I respect are the masterpieces of immortal literature where really great minds wrote the most brilliant thoughts just about everything worth to be written about. The rest, I’m afraid, is just a waste of time. the only exception might be “sheet” on the woods. Now, THAT is an intriguing concept, that links you to bears and wilderness. I read a few books about alaska: Into the country, by Mc Phee and Race across Alaska by Libby Riddles, plus a few novels by Jack London, of course. Alaska is a great Country, the last frontier in terms of living near Mother Nature, close to trees whispering secret songs in the middle of a snowstorm. Gamification of the Wilderness, gamification of solitude, gamification of yourself…Did you ever think to wrtie a “how to” book about it? Just kiddin’ of course. Keep in touch, buddy!


      Sent from iPad

      • Do you know this short video about the future of gamified life? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziHCvpikLh8 One could do something like this for hikers and people who find nature too boring to go out into it. But I think the real experience of the nature can never replaced by a game, especially because nature is about silence, harmony and sometimes a loneliness among all the organic life around you that makes you feel a part of something beyond the frontiers of your understanding. Call it spirituality if you want to.
        But another interesting question is: Why are there useless people? And why are they useless? What does useless mean? So a whole set of questions…
        I will try to answer them: Being useless means never creating anything new, only keeping everything running and often not even that without performing poorly. Reasons for being useless can be that one does not care about creating something or more often, that one thinks that everyone has to do the things he/she is expected to do. So he/she forgets more and more about his/her wishes and beliefs and dreams which means creativity is slowly killed. You see there are useless people mostly because they were educated and raised to believe that responding to the demands of their environment is the most important, that dreams are for dreamers and that jobs are only doing what you have to earn the money for building up your private place.
        What do you think about?
        By the way, Jack London is a great author, have to read one of his books again…
        And for sure, let’s stay in touch.
        May the force be with you,

  3. Hi Chris,

    I fit in your description: I’m useless.
    Very interesting video, the one you sent. This is where Google glasses are going to lead us…
    If you didn’t read it yet, I strongly suggest you “To build a fire” by Jack London. It’s a short story and has a lot to do with the total lack of gamification. :)

    • Hey Carlo,
      are you sure? Creating something new can happen everywhere. Everytime you give something a new meaning for yourself you create something. Often it is only remixing existing things with a goal and an idea how to get there and that’s innovation. And if you still think you fit in my description, then tell me why you think so and what you are going to do to change it?
      Just bought “To build a fire and other stories”, looking forward to read it 😉

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