MrExcel XL Book Invites Collaborators Through Crowdfunding Campaign
Akron, OH (PRWEB) January 07, 2015 -- To celebrate his 40th Excel book, Bill Jelen (known as MrExcel) decided to get a little tongue-in-cheek. His latest book, called MrExcel XL - The 40 Greatest Excel Tips of All Time is a nod to the Roman numeral XL — 40 — as well as his area of expertise, Excel. Jelen has launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover the cost of printing color copies of the book.
Jelen points to the frequency that Roman numerals are used in movies, music, and books.
“One of the functions in Excel converts regular numbers to Roman numbers, and I usually joke about this in my seminar - why would Microsoft include this function? Who uses Roman numerals anymore,” Jelen says, “The whole book came about because the Roman numeral for 40 is XL. This sounds like 'Excel.' Even the logo for Excel has an XL.”
As his 40th book written on Excel-related topics, he decided to create a full-color book for readers to enjoy. His aim with the book is to make it short and easy to access tips that will save readers hours each year.
Crowdfunding the publication of a book may not be common, but Jelen wanted a way to get others in on deciding which tips would make it into the book. Funders can invest as little as $4 to vote on the tips, or as much as $5,000 to get a photo with the author on the back.
The response to the crowdfunding campaign, which initially aimed to raise $2,000, and is now over $14,000, has been overwhelming, says Jelen:
“People who use Excel are analytic and focused on numbers. The whole joke of the ‘XL’ and ‘40’ resonates with analysts. But beyond that, there is something cool about being listed as a contributor in a book. At your next job interview, when the hiring manager asks if you know Excel, you can pull out the book and show him that you contributed one of the top 40 tips to the book.”
To contribute to the campaign or preorder your book, please visit https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mrexcel-xl-book-40-greatest-excel-tricks
About MrExcel
Bill Jelen is the host of MrExcel.com and the author of 39 books about Microsoft Excel including Excel Gurus Gone Wild, Pivot Table Data Crunching, and Power Pivot Alchemy. He has made over 80 guest appearances on TV’s Call for Help with Leo Laporte and was voted guest of the year on the Computer America radio show.
He writes the Excel column for Strategic Finance magazine and is a contributing editor to CFO Magazine. He has produced over 1800 episodes of his daily video podcast Learn Excel from MrExcel. Before founding MrExcel.com in 1998, Jelen spent twelve years “in the trenches,” as a financial analyst for the accounting, finance, marketing, and operations departments of a publicly held company. Since then, his company automates Excel reports for hundreds of clients around the world. The website answers over 30,000 questions a year – for free – for readers all over the world.
Bill Jelen, MrExcel, http://www.mrexcel.com, (330) 715-2875, [email protected]
Share this article