Capitalize on Whose Success?

A friend spotted this book in a store the other day, and thought it bore a certain resemblance to another book he’d seen. I have to say, I don’t get what a dollar bill has to do with an apple. But I was particularly tickled by the title:

This is not the first book cover that’s a bit familiar. There was this one from a while back:

And this one:

And, most recently, this one, which not only has an apple and a green-and-orange color scheme but is actually being published by our publisher and, the last time I checked Amazon.com, was paired with Freakonomics in a discount deal:

While Number Freaking is the closest there is to an outright rip-off, the true badge of honor will be when Freakonomics is parodied outright, as Malcolm Gladwell‘s Blink was here:

Mind you, our own cover was a rip-off in its own right. A while back, I wrote about the fact that it is an almost perfect replica of this cover:

FWIW, it doesn’t seem as if cover imitation is all that worthwhile. Here are the Amazon.com sales rankings (as of 3 p.m. EST, 2/1/07) for the books above:

Capitalize on Your Success: #533,056

Can’t Live With ‘Em, Can’t Live Without ‘Em: #356,919

Number Freaking: #46,514

Blank: #649,727

Survival of the Sickest, meanwhile, is at #38,100 but that is based only on pre-orders, since the book isn’t published until next week. In the meantime, you can read about it here.

(Hat tip: Adam Reingold)