Welcome to Issue 211 of Total Annarchy, a fortnightly newsletter by me, Ann Handley, with a focus on writing, marketing, living your best life. If this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here.

Hello, Reading Friend.

I spent the weekend disturbing the spider ecosystems thriving in the corners of my Tiny House Studio—a small, square office, roughly 12x12, tucked into a corner of the yard.

I'd been meaning to take care of the spider situation for a few weeks. But I was avoiding it, to be honest.

Ignoring the growing number of feathery webs, looking past the small piles of spider trash on the floor: the chewier parts of a fly, the undigested husk of a... beetle?

Gross. Spiders can be real pigs.

Then I started noticing more and more spider egg sacs—tiny cement-colored balls that look rolled out of boiled wool and dirt. Sepia-tone models of that spiky coronavirus ball we remember from 2020.

Pretty soon there would be a population explosion. Ugh. Time to sweep.

* * *

You know how you have a plan to handle one small thing (spider webs) and so you take care of that one thing and then you stop?

Me, neither.

Next thing I knew, I had all the desk squeezed to one side of the studio. Sweeping led to swabbing the floor like a dogged deckhand. Then I pulled every book off the shelves, the ones that sit behind me on Zoom calls. There are hundreds. Many by friends, many I'm quoted in. I started leafing through a few; it was like re-meeting old friends.

After three minutes I look up and I'm shocked to see that three hours has passed.

Here are some gems I rediscovered, all new or new-ish. The first two make great graduation presents!

STUPIDER PEOPLE HAVE DONE IT

Marketing Truths, Career Moves, and Life Advice for Doers

Jay Schwedelson

Why I like it: First, because it's by Jay. I love him. I love his generosity and his fun, funny, irreverent, off-the-charts energy.

Jay and I are sometimes collaborators; he makes me a better version of myself. His book will do the same for you—because it grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you until your bones rattle around inside your skin: Hey you—stop waiting to feel qualified, this book says. Try the thing. Test the weird subject line. Make the offer.

You have one life. Laugh at yourself more, for Pete's sake.

A passage I love: "You want to be average? Best practices will take you there. You want to be invisible? Best practices will carry you gently into the arms of mediocrity and tuck you in with a blanket labeled 'Industry Standard.'"

P.S. Jay is donating anything he makes from the book to the V Foundation for cancer research!

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH AN IDEA? 
10th Anniversary Edition

Kobi Yamada, Mae Besom

Why I like it: I love this story of an idea and the child who helps bring it into the world. 

My friend Andrew gave me this book just a week or so ago. Unbeknownst to him, it came at the weird in-between time after I'd finished writing my new book but before anyone had read it yet. I was starting to feel the demons of doubt creep in; the fear of getting things wrong. This idea is too big. Is it dumb? Will people laugh at me?

Don't think of it as a children's picture book. It's a story for anyone has ever had an idea that felt too much, too weird, or too out-there. It's for anyone who needs encouragement to embrace the impossible. That includes me. And maybe it includes you, too.

A passage I love: "What do you do with an idea? Especially if it's an idea that's different, or daring, or just a little wild? Do you hide it? Walk away from it? Do you pretend it isn't yours?"

CONTENT FOUNDATIONS

Scale your content with AI without losing your voice

Erika Heald

Why I like it: Erika's book is for the content leader who doesn't want generative AI to get its slick, oily hands all over their marketing.

You get frameworks, templates, and workflows up the wazoo. But it also feels like a breath of fresh air because her advice on AI adoption at scale is grounded in a sensible foundation that too many of us skip.

A sentence I love: "Most brands don't have a brand voice problem—they have a brand voice documentation problem."

EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCES

Five Luxury Levers to Elevate Every Aspect of Your Business

Neen James

Why I like it: Neen takes the principles of luxury and strips away the exclusivity and snobbery.

One time I was in the Turkish Airlines first-class airport lounge (I wasn't paying for the flight; I'm not made of money) and as part of the lush hectare of fruit and cheese was a honey station with a live bee colony. (Live. Bees.)

THIS, I thought. THIS... is luxury.

Neen James says... uh... no, babe. That's not quite it. Luxury is not live bees making honey in an Istanbul airport. Luxury is about making people feel seen and considered. Luxury is about being obsessed with experience.

Most "experience" advice gets fuzzy fast. Neen makes the idea practical and elegant, whether you run a car wash or a consultancy or an airport lounge.

A sentence I love: "Luxury is about experiences, not things."

* * *

And a few honorable mentions:

HUMAN-CENTERED MARKETING

Ashley Faus

Ashley argues for marketing that meets people as people—with context, curiosity, room for complexity. She asks us to think less like funnel managers and more like playground designers: people can move up, down, sideways, around, and back again; they can use the content "wrong."

PERSONAL BRANDING FOR INTROVERTS

Goldie Chan

You don't have to be the jazz-hands clowniest or loudest person in the room to be easy to connect with.

DON'T CALL IT ART

Austin Kleon

Unlearn what you've learned. Give yourself permission to be terrible, and treat yourself with the care of a loving parent so the wild 4-year-old in you will come out and play.

* * *

Back at my Tiny House Studio, things are clean and spider-free. It makes me happy every morning, when I throw open the windows, to be truly alone and with no creepy cement balls lurking in the corner, waiting to explode like grotesque little undulating time bombs.

It was only later that I thought of the obvious metaphor: cleaning out the cobwebs. Reclaiming a space.

The satisfaction of doing the clearing yourself. Of finishing your own unfinished business. Of giving yourself a fresh perspective.

A good book does that, too.

A good book sweeps a corner of your brain. Clears out a stale assumption. Disturbs the ecosystem of old ideas you've been letting accumulate rent-free.

Truly a gift.

SPEAKING OF NEW BOOKS!

I was blown away by all the love for my new book, ASAP: As SLOW As Possible, coming February 2027.

If you missed the announcement, get on board, babe:

>>> New book announcement here. <<<

More details are coming in the next few weeks: the cover, the pre-pub giveaways, whatever ridiculous shenanigans I can think of between now and then.

But for now, mostly I just want to say Thank You.

It's scary to share your ideas with the world. (Is this dumb? Will people laugh? Did I get it wrong? Will anyone care?)

Even after three books, I still feel that nervousness. Actually, especially after three books.

Thank you for meeting this one with such kindness. You give me courage.

COME TO THE B2B FORUM!!!

BE IN THE ROOM WITH ME AND...:

• 60 incredible speakers + sessions (update: Program NOW OUT)
• A whole program around Shenanigans
• Rory Sutherland
• 750 smart & fun & curious people just like you

and

• MOST IMPORTANT: The rare and necessary feeling that you are not doing this work alone.

No matter what happens in the world, in work, or in life, or if/when The Robots take over... we have each other.

That counts for A LOT in marketing in 2026. In truth, it might be the whole deal.

JOIN ME. JOIN US.

>>> CLICK ON MY FACE OR HERE TO REG <<<

P.S. Code SEEMESPEAK will get you $150 off.

DEPARTMENT OF SHENANIGANS

You and I need much, much better words for qualitative and quantitative. Here's my vote.

P.S. If you're reading this on Sunday, I've just landed in the UK. (There were zero live bees in any airport on the way.) I'm here for Atomicon. If you're here too... can't wait to see you this week!

Ann Handley is the author of Everybody Writes and other books. 

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