Once upon a time, there was a British adman who held prestigious positions at agencies all over the world. The problem was the adman hated advertising and had ambitions of making it as a novelist.

To put his money where his dreams were, the British adman dedicated himself to writing a novel. He then submitted the novel to every literary agent he could find, only to have it jammed right back in his face.

Rejection. Our British advertising friend was facing rejection; rejection to such a horrid degree that a friend who felt sorry for him offered to print him 1,000 hard cover copies, free of charge.

With his novel hot-off-the-press, he immediately went about flashing copies to any bookstore clerk that would give him the time of day. Several bookstores took a chance on him (including Paris’s coveted Shakespeare & Company).

The surprising interest excited the British adman. So much so, he asked his very generous friend to print him another 5,000 copies (this batch he agreed to pay for).

Now, with a sea of novels collecting dust in his garage, the British adman had to get clever with his promotion.

Flexing his advertising chops, he redesigned the cover to feature a noseless snowman with a carrot for a cock. Sex sells! He also set-up a bookstand in downtown New York City selling his 5,000 books to anyone who showed them a lick of interest. And, amid all of this, he posed as an indie publisher, managing to get his books into Barnes & Noble.

To date, Diary of an Oxygen Thief has garnered a cult-following and sold hundreds of thousands of covers. Yet, nobody knows who the hell the British adman is. The author has chosen to remain anonymous.

Anonymity is a fascinating creative decision that has been employed not just by Anonymous, but by the infamous street artist Banksy and the legendary rock band, Led Zeppelin.

In Real Artists Don’t Starve, Jeff Goins writes of the time Led Zeppelin took a massive risk and released their highly-anticipated fourth record anonymously.

The band’s name appeared nowhere on the album and not once did they divulge any sort of incriminating information that might blow their cover.

Yet, despite this, Led Zeppelin IV sold twenty-three million copies and today is one of the best-selling albums of all time.

While most of us are a far-cry from Led Zeppelin, Banksy and Anonymous, it’s worth noting that anonymity can breed curiosity and curiosity, hysteria.

By Cole Schafer.

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