Brent Underwood

Brent Underwood
Occupation Marketer, Entrepreneur
Alma mater Florida State University
Columbia University
Notable works "Putting My Foot Down"

Brent Underwood is an American marketer and entrepreneur.[1][2][3] He is a partner at the creative advisory firm Brass Check and founder of the hostel HK Austin.[4][5][6]

Career

After graduating from Columbia University, Underwood worked briefly for an investment bank in New York City.[7][8] After one month, he quit and backpacked across Central and South America.[9] Upon returning, he founded a hostel in Brooklyn, NY.[5][10] Underwood later worked for the authors Tucker Max and Ryan Holiday as a research assistant.[7] That role would lead to Underwood eventually being business partners with Holiday in the creative advisory company Brass Check along with Jimmy Soni and Nils Parker.[4][7][11] At Brass Check Underwood worked with clients including Tony Robbins, Robert Greene, Tim Ferriss, Zeds Dead, Illangelo, Young & Sick, and others.[12][6][13] Underwood has written for the New York Observer, Thrillist, Thought Catalog, and Huffington Post.[14][15]

In December 2014 Underwood founded HK Austin, a hostel located in Austin, TX with investors including Matthew Kepnes.[16][17][18] For 2015, HK Austin was the highest rated hostel in the United States.[9][19]

Putting My Foot Down

In February 2016, Underwood published a photo of his foot as a book titled "Putting My Foot Down" on Amazon.[20][21] The purpose of the book was to show how few sales it took to become a "#1 Best Seller" on Amazon.[22][23] The resulting article on New York Observer received attention from a variety of media outlets and authors including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, authors Neil Gaiman, Nick Bilton, and many others.[4][24] Shortly after publication, Amazon removed the book citing quality issues.[4][25] Underwood was then offered a publishing contract from Thought Catalog to turn Putting My Foot Down into an expanded paperback version.[22] The paperback version received press in Australia's breakfast television show Sunrise, VICE, AdWeek, Business Insider, DailyDot, The Toronto Star, and others.[20][21][22][1][6] Amazon later said they were changing their algorithm due to the stunt.[3]

The Toronto Star recreated Underwood's stunt with their own fake book, which also reached #1 on Amazon's Best Seller list.[26]

References

  1. 1 2 Weller, Chris. "This guy became a 'best-selling author' in just 5 minutes — here's how he did it". Business Insider.
  2. ↑ Sherman, Erik. "Here's How People Fake Being Best-Selling Authors". INC.
  3. 1 2 Warren, May. "How to become a bestselling author without writing a book". Toronto Star.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Holiday, Ryan. "How This Marketer Created a Fake Best Seller—And Got a Real Book Deal". New York Observer.
  5. 1 2 "I job-hopped to travel". CNN.
  6. 1 2 3 Katzowitz, Josh. "Foot book is an Amazon bestseller—even though it doesn't exist". DailyDot.
  7. 1 2 3 Fletcher, Blake. "Creative Marketing Prodigy (with Brent Underwood)". Half Hour Intern.
  8. ↑ Lock, Cheryl. "Co-op vs. Condo: Which One Is Right for You?". NewYork.com.
  9. 1 2 Moore, Jason. "The Hostel Experience : An Interview With HK Austin Owner Brent Underwood". Zero To Travel.
  10. ↑ STEWART, KAYLA. "'Nomadic Matt' Opens His First Hostel in East Austin". Patch.
  11. ↑ Palmer, Alex. "The Indie Authors Guide to Organizing Author Events". Publisher's Weekly.
  12. ↑ Rosenblatt, Seth. "Radiohead frontman takes stage with BitTorrent to test paywall". CNET.
  13. ↑ "Man Uploads Picture of His Foot to Amazon, Immediately Becomes ‘No. 1 Bestseller’". NextShark.
  14. ↑ "Author Bio". Huffington Post.
  15. ↑ "Author Bio". Thrillist.
  16. ↑ Pell, Roxie. "Long-Term Travelers Reinvent Hostels By Opening Their Own". Frommers.
  17. ↑ Seale, Shelley. "Travel fanatic opens doors to hip new hostel in the heart of East Austin". CultureMap.
  18. ↑ Kepnes, Matt. "HK AUSTIN: THE BEST HOSTEL IN AUSTIN". Nomadic Matt.
  19. ↑ "BUSINESS LESSONS FROM STARTING THE HOTTEST HOSTEL IN AMERICA AN INTERVIEW WITH BRENT UNDERWOOD". Mitch Matthews.
  20. 1 2 "How to write a bestseller". Sunrise on 7.
  21. 1 2 HAUSEN, JOHANNES. "Hobby-author exposes how easy it storms the Amazon bestseller lists". VICE.
  22. 1 2 3 Dilworth, Dianna. "Author of Fake Book Lands Book Deal".
  23. ↑ Meadows, Chris. "Becoming an ‘Amazon Bestseller’ can be surprisingly simple". Teleread.
  24. ↑ Underwood, Brent. "Behind the Scam: What Does It Take to Be a ‘Best-Selling Author’? $3 and 5 Minutes.". Observer.
  25. ↑ "Man Reveals How Scam Artists Hack Amazon to Become ‘Best Selling’ Authors". NextShark.
  26. ↑ Warren, May. "My life as a bestselling author". The Toronto Star.

External links

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