Conversation: Best-selling Author Shed Simove Writes Book With No Words

April 13, 2011— -- Shed Simove is a self-described "ideas man, performer, author and novelty gift entrepreneur" from Britain, but he is now also a best-selling author after writing a book called "What Every Man Thinks About Apart From Sex." It had 200 blank pages.

Yes, blank, as in no writing whatsoever. Yes, a best-seller, ranking No. 44 on the Amazon charts.

"This is not a new idea. Blank books have been out before," Simove told ABC News. "What's amazing about any idea is that if you market it slightly differently and you just shout about it...Boom, it can capture people's imaginations like never before, and that's what's happened with this book."

Simove has published a book -- with actual writing -- before. He spent five years on that one, called "Ideas Man." This one? Nine days.

"I was astonished [to see the success], and a little depressed, it has to be said." Depressed because "Ideas Man" took five years to write, and has climbed the charts -- to No. 35,000.

Lest you think Shed is conning his audience, Amazon clearly tells customers that the book is blank inside. However, some people have found a novel way to use this blank book.

"Students have been using it as a notebook, and maybe filling it with ideas apart from sex, who knows?" Retailing at $8.69, it is not that much more expensive than a regular notebook, and maybe a bit more fun than one.

Simove says he does realize the nature of his work. "I'm not curing cancer," he told ABC News. However, he is doing something that he considers nearly as important: giving people a laugh.

See our Conversation with Shed Simove to see what the "Ideas Man" has planned for an encore.