The Story Behind "Chicken Poop in my Bowl"Finally, months in the making! Chicken Poop in my Bowl has hit the streets! The cover is a cleverly designed parody of the famous Chicken Soup for the Soul series. And inside, well, you'll find some of the finest jokes around the country. All of them are rated "G" for good and for general audiences. It's a pocket sized edition, so it's easy to carry around in your pocket, purse or briefcase. It's the perfect answer for those who like jokes, but just can't remember them!
Read what these people have to say about Chicken Poop in my Bowl:
"John, I've already read through your book twice. I am so impressed. You've used jokes that I can tell to anyone!"
Sam Sikes, V.P. of Learning Unlimited Corporation.
Tulsa, OK
"I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I don't normally read the books that we print. Yours, however, I had to take a copy home. My husband saw it. He picked it up and headed into the bathroom. I didn't see him for a couple of hours. Every so often he would holler out, 'Listen to this one!'"
Linda Seaman
Sales Representative
Patterson Printing Co.
Benton Harbor, MI
"Cheers for Chicken Poop in my Bowl! Laughter and humor are a vital part of being fully alive. And, I'm glad to see that John is finally leading a productive life."
Maribeth Spanier, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist & John's therapist
Tulsa, OK
"Money and fame don't come naturally for John. He has successfully eluded them for years. Chicken Poop in my Bowl will probably be just another flop."
Mrs. C.N. Irvin, mother
Valparaiso, IN
This edition of Chicken Poop in My Bowl is already a collector's item. Yes, the Chicken Soup for the Soul folks just can't take a joke. Their publisher, Health Communications, Inc. had their attorneys send us a cease and desist letter. They originally asked for us to send all of our books to them so they could destroy them. I guess they must have thought I had one of those signs hanging around my neck.
Yes, I went to my mailbox and there was this letter from this attorney group in New York City. It wasn't a very nice letter. They said that my book was an obvious rip off of their clients' and that I was trying to intentionally confuse and mislead the purchasing public. They said that I was "denigrating the prestige and selling power of Chicken Soup for the Soul by associating it with chicken excrement in a negative fashion." I laughed. It sounded just too corny to be true. They said I had ten days from the date of the letter to answer. I looked at the date of the letter. It was April First, Fool's Day! Surely this is a joke, I thought. It wasn't.
Apparently they thought that an arm holding a rubber chicken, my picture in the corner wearing a jesters hat, and all the silly things written on the cover were not enough clues to suggest an obvious parody.
Those attorneys missed one piece of valuable information. While in Orlando, July of 1996, I had met Jack Canfield and had told him of my idea for the book. He said, "Go for it."
Anyway, Jack honored his word. We talked on the phone and he told me that the books I already had printed up would be OK to sell. The problem was, he didn't own the art work, the publishers did. If we printed more with the same cover, well, in his words, 3They'll go after you!"
I certainly don't want to be got after.
So now we're putting disclaimers in the front of the book. We wanted to make sure that we addressed the fears of the attorneys, so we took the attorneys' words and the disclaimers say:
"This hilarious parody is produced by Lifestyle Enhancement Services, Inc. and is not in any way associated with, sponsored, or endorsed by Chicken Soup for the Soul, its authors, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, or its publisher, Health Communications, Inc. Our intention in this jest is to spoof and it is not to create confusion or to dilute or tarnish the prestige and selling power of Chicken Soup for the Soul by associating it with chicken excrement."
I thought it was pretty funny.
So we sent the disclaimer off to those New York attorneys with a letter that said we didn't want to create confusion, so we'll put these disclaimers inside. What do you think?
They said, "Make the word "not" bigger.
