Buyology - Martin Lindstrom [87]
My agent, James Levine, together with my favorite editor, Roger Scholl, glimpsed the vision behind this book long before I did. I was about to begin writing yet another boring business-to-business book when they held up their hands and said Stop! This book isn’t just for business-people, it’s for everyone. They were right. Roger, you’ve been fantastic to work with. Thank you for always being there and for crafting the angle of this book into what it is today. Jim, thanks for believing in this project when no one else did—I still remember our walk in subzero temperatures along the sidewalks of New York from one publisher’s office to another when you turned to me and said, “I can feel there’s something in the air.” It gave me chills, in more ways than one. Thanks go as well to everyone else at Levine/Greenberg Literary Agency, including Lindsay Edgecombe, Elizabeth Fisher, Melissa Rowland, and Sasha Raskin.
The work really begins when your work comes back covered in more red ink than black. Talia Krohn—I salute you, and bravo. You’ve been the never-ending critical voice asking all those questions we secretly hoped wouldn’t occur to you, but did anyway. Thank you so much for all your hard work and incredible efforts. I can picture you at your desk, buried under thousands of pages with your awful little red pen. (Please, please, won’t you change the color to blue next time? The red color reminds me of school.) Thanks to you and Roger we’ve ended up with what I think is an amazing piece of work.
Then there’s everyone at Random House and Doubleday: Michael Palgon, the deputy publisher of Doubleday, who has always been a staunch supporter and advocate; Meredith McGinnis and Emily Boehm in marketing; Elizabeth Hazelton and Nicole Dewey in publicity; and Louise Quayle in sub rights for your remarkable work in crafting a package around my book which the world loved. Jean McCall, Ceneta Lee-Williams, Amy Zenn, and the rest of the hardworking and extraordinary sales team began spreading the word-of-mouth on this book early on and continue to this day.
To be honest, my fear that science and marketing would clash proved to be unfounded. The scientific team behind this book is, without doubt, the very foundation of our efforts, and it’s been a joy working with every one of them. First, an enormous debt of gratitude to Gemma Calvert, Michael Brammer, and the entire team at Neurosense—I’ve enjoyed every minute of our partnership. I apologize for being so demanding, for asking so many dumb questions, and for interrogating you with requests, angles, and silly ideas. You always responded with good humor, which, considering the pressure I put you under, still amazes me.
Thanks go as well to Professor Richard Silberstein, Geoffery Nield, and the rest of the team from Neuro-Insight. Geoffery has inspected more brains across the world than anyone I’ve ever met and did an extraordinary job investigating my vision and uncovering dimensions that I’d never considered.
Another group of people deserves a very special acknowledgment—those thousands of volunteers who wage a daily fight against cigarette smoking. I would particularly like to thank Katie Kemper at Tobacco Free Kids. Katie has done a tremendous job in spreading Buyology’s insights within the antismoking community. I’d also like to salute the American Legacy Foundation, the National Cancer Institute, the Pan American Health Organization,