Global Moxie

It’s a tough business making a living from words, code, or anything else built only out of ideas and your brain’s restless ramblings. You work away in isolation, focusing all your energy on crafting something that you hope and trust others will find useful, fun, engaging. But you just don’t know if the thing will actually pan out until you sheepishly push it out into the public. It’s exciting, consuming, thrilling, and generally terrifying.

Best iPhone Apps: The Guide for Discriminating Downloaders is my latest thrill ride. My new book hit shelves the last week of July, and the response has been incredibly gratifying. According to Nielsen’s sales-tracking service Bookscan, Best iPhone Apps debuted as the #23 bestselling computer book in the US in its first week, and then rose to #17 in its second week. It’s attracting five-star reviews at Amazon and kind reviews in the press, too. Here are a few highlights:

• The Boston Globe featured Best iPhone Apps as “The Find” in its Sunday book section.

• Tech writer Gregg Ellman called the book “a great help” in his syndicated column, which appears in newspapers nationwide. (He also dishes my personal top-ten list of must-have iPhone apps.)

• Blogcritics.org called the book “a must have” in its review.

• CIO Magazine wrote that Best iPhone Apps “cuts through all the clutter” of the App Store’s 70,000+ iPhone apps.

• Amazon.com featured the book on the front page of its Computers & Internet section.

Many thanks to my pals, readers, and customers for all your help and support over the course of the Best iPhone Apps project. There’s no way I could do any of this without you. And stay tuned! The project continues over at iphoneapps.oreilly.com, where you can vote for your favorite apps and, very soon, enjoy a steady stream of fresh app reviews. More editions of the book are planned, too; the book’s already at the printer for its second print run, with a bunch of updates to keep it fresh.

Tags: books, iphone, josh, press