Smarty Pants

Dan did.

Dan was a technology writer and a radio host who had a smart idea for a new book about computers. Now, at the time, computers were just hitting the market and not easy to use. One of the complications was simply understanding how to use the Disk Operating system or DOS. It was very frustrating with its constant error messages. Knowing that people didn’t want to learn or love computers or DOS Dan wrote his book to give readers a quick answer so they could get on with their lives. Well after many rejections a small technology publisher named IDG bought Dan’s book, cautiously printed just 7,500 copies and approached one of the largest bookstore chains in the country. The chain hated it. They hated the colour of the cover, they thought the name would insult potential buyers and they thought the book was coming out way too late, 6 months after the latest version of DOS. But elsewhere the book sold out. So IDG printed more copies and those sold out. Before long IDG knew they were on to something big and then they thought, if it worked with DOS, maybe the same style book would work with other subjects. So they did another book and that was a hit too.

Today, over 25 years later, the series of books that originally started when Dan Gookin wrote that first book about DOS … now has over 2,700 titles that have sold over 200 million copies. Books for Dummies.

Books for dummies is a great idea … because sometimes dumbing down your approach can often be the smartest way to do something.