the book you're holding might be a fake!

It was a leap of faith when I decided to start storytelling with data® back in 2010. While I knew there was an opportunity to help people by sharing what I’ve learned over the years, I could not have predicted the enthusiasm and excitement that would build with my workshops, speaking engagements, and book. I tweet it often: #ilovemyjob and how I’m able to help individuals have greater impact in their jobs and organizations grow their business.

Recently, we discovered that there is an ambitious effort and market around selling fake or bootlegged versions of my book, storytelling with data. After my initial reaction—“That’s insane! There is a black market for my book?!?”—I shifted to the more practical and disappointing flurry of topics to consider including: trademark and copyright infringement, lost revenue, individuals profiting off of other people’s work, and so forth. Most disturbing to me, however, is the lower quality of these knock off books.

I care deeply about quality, attention to detail, and the overall audience experience. It’s why I try to pick cool places and venues for my workshops, chose to partner with my publisher, Wiley, and read through and edit blog posts like this about a zillion times prior to posting. This focus on quality removes distractions from my message. Unfortunately, the fake copies are leading to a poor experience of storytelling with data. I was always confused by negative feedback on the quality of the book—it’s become clear now that this is due to bootlegged copies, which, sadly, have been out there since the book's launch. Here are some images illustrating the issues: 

FRONT COVER: Paper of fake version is yellowish instead of bright white, text storytelling with data is stretched, and there are variances in artwork formatting (pronounced borders in table, different text color in heatmap).

BACK COVER: Different picture of me, different list price, text below picture has larger line breaks and smaller text on the fake book.

INSIDE IMAGES: Blue tip boxes appear washed-out, grey elements in graphs are so light they are barely legible in the fake version of the book and contrast isn't sharp.

BINDING: The fake has sloppy binding with visible glue and is also thinner due to lower paper quality compared to the real book.

With my publisher's help, I’m working to control what’s out there. But I want to do more—I want to be sure that YOU are not sitting with a low-quality knock off of my book.

If you believe you were sold a fake version of my book: please let me fix that personally.

Signs that you may have a fake book include the issues highlighted in the preceding images: yellowish cover with stretched or poorly formatted artwork, back cover with a different picture of me (crazy, right?!?) or US list price other than $39.95, faded text or washed out images in the book, and visible glue or otherwise sloppy binding.

If you believe you’ve bought a fake book, email: fakebook@storytellingwithdata.com with a picture of the book’s flaws and proof of purchase. We’ll let you know how to return your book and in exchange, receive quickly as a replacement a personally signed copy of the real storytelling with data.

Haven’t yet bought your copy of storytelling with data? Follow this link and purchase directly from Amazon to ensure you’ll get the real thing. We’re finding that the pirated books are coming from the “42 New” category in the pic to the right.

Thanks for your continued support, enthusiasm, and love for storytelling with data.
- Cole