#AskGaryVee

“Insert Gary V quote”

This score does not really reflect my whole image of the book. It really cannot. It does have some useful content, especially (from my point of view) on management and alike. However, I felt as if I was listening to (I went with the audiobook) to author's commercial on himself. The format of this book is absolutely horrific and 70% of the questions are like: “Gary, why are you aweseme”, “Gary, what is your favorite color?”, “Gary, how can I be like you?” and then the answers “Yes, I am awesome, I am a beast in X, I absolutely devour my competition in Y, jab jab jab right hook, I will buy New York Jets”. First of all I think the book is really directed to Gary's fanbase. To the rest, stories on how awesome is he are just not interesting. Don't try to read this book, listen to it instead. The audio format was already more suitable to short podcast style bits, but reading this thing would just be a horrible experience.
But, despite all this criticism (IMHO this is not a book, it's a long FAQ style podcast and a marketing stunt of the author) there was some good content. I don't doubt Gary is a really good entrepreneur (maybe not as genius as he claims). He definitely knows how to research his market and sell to it. I also liked how he treats his company and makes it more of a lifestyle thing than a money hustle. He also understands really well, that people will gladly share with you many things if you can also give them something they want in exchange. If this book was 25% of its size and skipped on silly questions it would be a 4. Instead it is as it is.
You can also listen to his podcast instead. The only problem is that there is a gazillion of short-bits episodes and it is really hard to find what you need.

Time spent reading this book: 19h39m
Reading sessions: 30

What I Liked: #AskGaryVee is a meaningful book to read in this social marketing era.
The book is organized around 22 themes that cover most of the craft and life of any individual involved in social media marketing. Each theme is treated via a series of questions and answers. The information is top-notch. Even if some of the platforms he talks about are not existing anymore (Merkaat) or less groundbreaking (Insta) the concepts themselves didn't change. It's also an extremely positive and kind book. The sort of book that makes you feel great and prepare a lot of new plans around your own strategies.

What I disliked: The Q&A nature of this book was for me really difficult to read because of the absence of structured storytelling between chapter or even within them. It makes the book a very disjointed experience. I spent 19h studying this book over several months because of this. As every story has its own life, it makes it easy to leave this book on the side without feeling the need to finish it. It probably also works great as an audiobook I imagine. Also, a lot of repetition.
However, this format also tremendously helps to understand the vast scope of application of his key message about listening, empathising/sympathizing and creating content based on that. The theory is straightforward and the book value resides in the myriad of examples that GaryVee provides.

Manga Analogy: GaryVee is Asta from Black Clover. He doesn't have a “proper” education but developed his craft through a ton of practice and dedication since childhood. He values relationship and people above everything, genuinely want people around him to improve and engage with them so they can. That doesn't prevent him from wanting to become the best that ever existed at his craft.

The audiobook is by far superior to the print version. Gary gives updated answers and his voice comes through much better.