Sellers, here’s why John Lawson’s Kick Ass Social Commerce for E-Preneurs should be your first stop whether you’re suffering from stagnant sales or want to give your bottom line a kick in the pants. Unlike your dime a dozen self-professed Social Media Ninja/Guru/Master/Whatevers, John isn’t just talking… he’s doing. He’s not sitting around pontificating about something he’s only studied in principle; he’s one of us in the day to day retail trenches. John is a seller first and foremost, not an author, not a social insert-your-buzz-word-here for hire, and that makes him the best person to show you how social can help make you money. Period. In a world of fakers who just want to cash in on the trending topic, that John’s insight comes from actual experience with social selling and building a successful business up from nothing cannot possibly be overstated. John’s style is simple, direct and, at times, laugh aloud funny. He doesn’t waste space or insult the reader’s intelligence by over-explaining the obvious and gets right down to specific and concrete examples of real things you can start doing today to maximize your social presence. In addition to in depth strategies for the biggest networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, the first half of the book lays out invaluable basic sales principles that will future proof your social selling strategy. Even when the internet landscape has completely changed and Facebook has gone the way of MySpace, you’ll already be optimizing your presence on The Next Big Thing because of the foundation you got from John’s lessons.

I had the pleasure of meeting John in the early days of Twitter when he was still amassing his first few thousand followers. As a business owner myself, the author of Beyond Amazon, eBay and Etsy and a Top Rated eBay PowerSeller, I’ve been peddling my wares on dozens of platforms since 1997 and John and I bonded over our common selling frustrations and eBay irritation. As my alter ego, TheWhineSeller.com, I’ve built an entire brand around being grumpy about everything e-commerce which is why you should take this recommendation to heart. I loved this book and highly recommend it and that’s coming from someone who rarely likes anything.

-Hillary DePiano, TheWhineSeller.com

While the book technically doesn’t come out until March 4th, Amazon is already shipping copies so you don’t have to wait.

(Wondering why my review is so formal sounding? That’s the official testimonial I gave in advance of the release from which they got the blurb from me that appears in the book. See how fancy I can sound when I try? 😉 I’ll try to do a more informal review soon.)