‘The Social Customer’ shakes up the world of business and books

Hours before Adam Metz spoke at Diesel Books on Thursday night an earthquake had jolted many books off the shelves and onto the ground. Another came about an hour later, centered just a mile away from the Oakland indie bookstore.

The quake seemed to appropriately announce a momentous day for Metz, whose book The Social Customer, is flying off shelves and into the hands of eager readers in similar fashion. The book is rapidly climbing the Amazon.com sales charts.

Diesel announced the book’s publication in an appropriately social fashion; Metz’s speech followed by appetizers, wine and cake. Addressing a crowd of about 25, Metz talked about how his working relationship with New York Times writer and Hot, Flat, and Crowded author Thomas Friedman brought him to the point of writing The Social Customer, a book that I reviewed earlier this week about how businesses can use social CRM (customer relationship management) to acquire, monetize, and attain fans, friends, and followers.

Metz read from the introduction to his book which examines himself and the social customer he writes about in the context of culture time. American punk rock bands like Black Flag, Metz says, created a DIY (do-it-yourself) culture in the mid-1980. They encouraged people to start bands and to rebel.

In appearance and demeanor, Metz himself seems like anything but a rebel. But he looks at his own 2006 YELP restaurant reviews as an act of rebellion because they challenged the authority of Zagat.

Metz’s book is full of insights into the world of social media. At Diesel, he also offered some encouragement and advice to aspiring authors.

“Writing a book is a lot easier than it looks.”

He wrote his first 90-page e-book in 60 days and says all you really need is 6 months if you work an hour a day.
Metz certainly makes it sound – and look – easy.