We’ve had so many self-help books by so-called experts, but who better than one of the great American success stories to help us achieve success. I reckon this book has great potential.

I like this idea. Please contact me if interested in publishing.

Fred Zimmerman, Nimblebooks.com

I get the idea… Ben Franklin’s own To Do list should be inspirational. But the proposal is so DRY… would the manuscript be just as dull? I hope not.

Who’s voting on this?! Have they actually read the proposal. DRY is an understatement. Maybe people just like the picture of Ben Franklin.

I SO don’t get it with this one. Ben Franklin was a FUNNY, witty man. And this book proposal is neither. The idea is probably good, but this version… no thanks. I’ll pass. A book of B.F.‘s quotes is titled “Fart Proudly,” and Ben was irreverant. I’d much rather see the entertaining version of this idea.

This book will probably end up getting published, and the dry writing style can be overcome if the methods give some progress within a relatively short period of time. However, this may not be really the direction we should be putting ourselves in. Creativity and cultural awareness is going to be more important as jobs that require Franklin’s sort of skills (e.g. dedication and brute will for things like manufacturing jobs) get outsourced. For a better perspective on this, take a look at Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Lecture Quite entertaining, and he has a very good, if not universally applicable, point.

The comment below feels that the “dry writing style can be overcome if the methods give some progress within a relatively short period of time.” Really? That might have worked for a low-carb diet book, but not necessarily for a change-your-approach-to-life book. The reader has to be fired up to finish the flap copy… and I just don’t see that happening here.

Great idea. I bought a share but agree that proposal lacks zip…Can this writer pull it off? That will be for an editor to decide, but the idea is excellent.

Editor Benjamin Franklin said it all:

Tell me…And I Forget,
Teach me…And I Learn,
Involve Me…And I Remember.

Why would the editor take a chance on dull writing? Wouldn’t that editor’s desk already be cluttered with wittier, snappier proposals?