Members of the audience got into the swing of things, asking questions and commenting via Twitter. Gavin Costello asked whether there was a central place that captured all the blog posts that were written in support of #Manweek – not just those that were forwarded to us for publication in the book. And while we have a number of examples in the sidebar, a more comprehensive list can be found below. Oh, and if I have missed any posts, please leave a comment and I will add yours in too.

• Gavin Costello – Damn the 80s
• Alan Jones – The Errol Flynn Skill Set
• Matt Moore – Gay, Bodies, Being a Dad, Having a Dad
• Stan Johnson – Advertising as a Career
• Luke Harvey-Palmer – Father and Son Day
• Jye Smith – Return to Colombia
• Matt Hazel – Dealing with Bullies
• Benjamin Law – Sounds Like Gay Spirit
• Gavin Bollard – Fighting the Stereotypical Aussie Male

#manweek was initiated as a marketing strategy for the re-launch on Inspire’s flagship program, Reach Out in June 2009. It involved triple j’s Hack program and a blogging outreach campaign that engaged the blogging community to talk about what it means to be a man, this cascaded beyond the campaign envisaged by Reach Out’s marketing team by the passion of a few men.

Mark + Gavin, along with all of the contributors included in “the perfect gift for a man” have taken action in a positive and tangible way to open the door for men of all ages to speak about their experiences honestly.

The most uplifting thing about the project is that it was initiated by a group of guys who saw a NEED to share their stories of manhood to explore what it means to be male and also encourage others to do the same.

I have been humbled by the honesty shared when I have read these stories – and I look forward to sharing this book with the men in my life. Most notably my dad, brother and partner – but also brother-in-laws and my father in law – he’s from the old-school where emotions aren’t talked about and men don’t see a doctor for anything.

Most of all I think what “the perfect gift for a man” teaches me (and us collectively) is that improving the mental health and help seeking skills of young men is possible. Which is so important because though Inspire Foundation’s work we know that young men in Australia have higher rates of completed suicide, antisocial behaviour and drug and alcohol problems than young women (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007b; Coffey et al., 2003a; Coffey et al., 2003b; Hall et al., 1999; Teesson et al., 2000).

The perfect gift for a man book smashes stigma and stereotypes of male role-models in our community. Essentially, “the perfect gift for a man” through it’s honesty, integrity and raw emotion tells us all that’s it’s okay to ask for help when you need it.

Shelley Watters

On behalf of the Inspire Communications team.

Of course, you can still download the eBook version for FREE – but with this discount code, you may want to use Priority shipping to make sure your copies make into the Christmas stockings for your family and friends.

In the meantime, you will be happy to know that we have had over 3000 downloads of the eBook. We have also sold more than 150 copies of the book in a matter of weeks. It is great to see that these important stories are getting into the hands of the men and women who need to read them!

In this great review of the book, Merric Reese suggests that reading and engaging with the themes of the book is not just about what it means to be a man, but can help you shape the man you wish to be:

Overall The Perfect Gift For A Man is an outstanding book and has the potential to not only change the man you are but help shape the man that you will be.  My advice is to share this book with as many men in your life that you can.

But what is your view? What have you read that captures your imagination?

However, despite having over 5000 visitors to the website, our sales have remained low (about 50 books have been sold with another 20 ebooks). To remedy this, we have been working with Blurb on pricing and have also reformatted the book into a smaller size.

This has allowed us to dramatically drop the price to $19.95,

It also means that we can now make the eBook available for FREE. Yes, that’s right – the eBook is free.

The profits from the sale of the book (about $10) go to The Inspire Foundation – so please do consider purchasing a printed copy.

Those of you who have ordered the larger format book will be in possession of a collectors edition. It also means, we believe, that the book will more easily make its way into the hands of the men (and women) who need to read it.

The URL for the new, smaller version of the book, is:
http://bit.ly/perfectgift

Image: byAdrian Gonsalves

But there was one thing that we were not able to adequately get across – and that was how great it is to be able to get a REAL book into the hands of others. We have been able to turn what started out as a series of blog posts into a real, professionally produced, high quality coffee table style book. It is something that can be ordered online, wrapped and given as a gift – precisely what we wanted. And you can do it too. With your family photos, your autobiography – or even that novel that you have hidden in the bottom drawer. Check out Blurb.com – it’s easier than you can imagine.

The Perfect Gift for a Man book – interview on Mornings With Kerri-Anne from Tony Hollingsworth on Vimeo.

This is one hell of a book. Born out of a triple j week  focusing on men’s lives, and created by its listeners, it’s a remarkable piece of work.

A man’s life, whether he is 18 or 80, can start to go badly.  And often, after that, it just gets worse.   How to turn your life around is a serious concern.  The men who write these gutsy, honest, emotionally vulnerable stories create an excitement and energy in the reader, because they have faced the dragon of their own pain, and won.   They got help, they dived in, they didn’t give up, and they trusted the power of their hearts to bring them through.

Every kind of man, every style of writing, with pictures, cartoons, short and punchy, you will find bits of yourself all over these  pages.  Read it and weep.  It will change you.

It was with this in mind that back in July, fresh from our efforts around the Inspire Foundation’s #Manweek campaign, Mark Pollard and I decided to TRY to make a difference. Sure, there were some great blog posts written by men, for men – but how many people were we reaching? How many men in crisis were reading our blog posts? We needed to find another way.

Putting our heads together, we hit upon the idea of a self-published book. Blurb.com came to the rescue, providing an easy way for us to design, publish and distribute the book. But then – it was a matter of stories.

Putting the call out, we asked for other men to join us – sharing your thoughts on a blog is one thing – but committing them to print is quite another (plus we needed various disclaimers and so on) – so we didn’t know who would respond.

In the end, 30 writers heeded the call. The resulting book is a compilation of stories about reinventing manhood. It follows the life-arc of a man, from its beginnings through the trials and tribulations, challenges and jubilations that we all face.

The spirit of honesty that pervades the book will break your heart and allow it to be forged anew – for far from being a collection of stories of desperate lives, it is a grudging acknowledgement of the double-edged joy that life truly is.

As Scott Drummond writes:

If I’ve learned anything through all this it is that there aren’t any hard-and-fast rules for how to be a man in this crazy and unpredictable emotional tornado we call life. The only thing we can really be assured of is that life will continue to change for us all, regardless of how much we wish it wouldn’t. All I know is that how you grow and evolve as a man to meet the challenges that life will inevitably throw at you is what really counts. I’ve learned that no matter how alone or broken you feel there are men and women who care enough to be there for you, to help you feel less broken and alone.

It is in this spirit of connectedness that we are excited to now make this book, The Perfect Gift for a Man, available. Please buy it for the men in your life – regardless of whether you THINK they need it or not. Encourage them to read it and to share it with their mates, with their uncles, fathers and sons.

You can buy the printed book from Blurb.com or you can purchase the eBook version from The Perfect Gift for a Man website. ALL the profits from the book are being donated to The Inspire Foundation.

You can also find out more about the book and see our social media release here.

The Perfect Gift for a Man could not be what it is without the contributions from our authors. Each person brought their own unique perspective, thoughts and creativity. They bared their souls, shared their burdens and told their darkest secrets.

But it is the spirit in which these stories have been told that is exciting. The very fact that these men (and women) have been able to share intimate and personal experiences is a breakthrough. We want young men to read, to see and to hear these stories – but perhaps, most importantly, we’d like young men to FEEL them.

So in this spirit, I asked our authors to share their hopes FOR the book and for the books readers. You can view these brief, 12 second clips right here.

And please, buy this book for the men in your life. All profits go to the Inspire Foundation. We think it is the perfect gift for a man.

The perfect gift for a man book

When we started receiving contributions from all the fantastic writers across Australia (and one from the US – thanks Ann!), we realised that we need to think carefully about the best way to showcase each story. We wanted to ensure that each brave, bare bones contribution stood on its own merit – but we also needed to provide some structure to the overall collection.

This book, The Perfect Gift for a Man, is written about men, for men. And as such, we wanted to reflect the life of a man – the good, the difficult, the challenging and the astounding.

The amazing thing is, that without any particular orchestration on our part, the topics chosen by our authors fell into the various stages that we experience as we grow and age – Becoming a Man, Respect (gaining and giving), Fragility, Fatherhood and Loss. The table of contents can be seen below, along with some of the book’s preliminary pages.

We believe that these stories will get under your skin – just as they did with us. We trust that they will be stories you will want to share with the men in your life – with your brothers, uncles, fathers and sons. With your friends and family. The book will be available for purchase on Wednesday, October 26, 2009. I look forward to sharing all these stories with you then. But in the meantime, be sure to join our Facebook group.