Author Guide · Entrepreneurship & Philosophy
Books Written by
In 1998 Derek Sivers, a working musician and Berklee graduate, set up a small website so that he and a few friends could sell their CDs. It became CD Baby, which grew to more than 150,000 musicians and over $100 million in sales. In 2008 he sold it to Disc Makers for $22 million, with the money going into a trust for music education. Since then he has written short books, most under 150 pages, about business, decisions and how to live. This guide covers his five key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 5 key books · 2011–2024 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Derek Sivers has written five books: Anything You Want (2011), about starting and selling CD Baby, Your Music and People (2020), Hell Yeah or No (2020), How to Live (2021) and Useful Not True (2024). Start with Anything You Want, a one-hour read that sets out the ideas the later books build on.
Where to Start with Derek Sivers
If you want his best-known book
→ Anything You Want (2011) — the CD Baby story in short chapters.
If you make music, art or anything you want people to find
→ Your Music and People (2020).
If you want help deciding what to say yes to
→ Hell Yeah or No (2020).
If you want the book he rates highest himself
→ How to Live (2021) — 27 ways to live that contradict each other.
5 Derek Sivers Books, in Order
Anything You Want
The story of how Sivers started CD Baby by accident, grew it into the largest seller of independent music online and sold it in 2008, told as a series of very short chapters, each with one lesson. It was first published by Seth Godin in 2011, then by Penguin’s Portfolio imprint in 2015; a third edition in 2022 added eight chapters. It runs to about 83 pages, roughly an hour’s reading.
Your Music and People
Advice on getting creative work to the people who want it, drawn from his years as a musician and from the 150,000 musicians CD Baby served. The examples come from music, but the book is written for any creator. It treats marketing as part of the work rather than a separate chore, and argues that following up is a courtesy, summed up in the line “Persistence is polite.”
Hell Yeah or No
Short pieces on what is worth doing, which he describes as mental models to guide decisions. The title comes from an idea he first set out on his blog and in a chapter of Anything You Want: if you are not saying “Hell yeah!” about something, say no.
How to Live
Twenty-seven short chapters, each titled as an instruction, such as “Be independent”, “Commit” and “Balance everything”, and each arguing with full conviction for a way of life that the next chapter contradicts. It names no philosophers and uses no -isms. A final chapter gives the conclusion. Published in May 2021 at 115 pages; on his website Sivers calls it the best thing he has made.
Useful Not True
A book about reframing, published in June 2024. Its argument is that most of what people say, and most of what we think, is not strictly true, so you can choose the perspective that helps you act well. It moves through five sections, from “Almost nothing people say is true” to “Adopt what works for you now”, in about 90 pages.
In What Order to Read Derek Sivers
The books do not depend on each other, and each takes an evening or less, so order matters less than with most authors. Publication order works well, though: Anything You Want introduces the ideas, and the later books take them further.
Your Music and People and Hell Yeah or No are the practical ones. How to Live and Useful Not True are more philosophical and read best as a pair: the first gives you conflicting answers, the second explains why holding beliefs loosely can be useful.
A reading path
1. Anything You Want (2011)
2. Hell Yeah or No (2020)
3. Your Music and People (2020)
4. How to Live (2021)
5. Useful Not True (2024)
The years · 1969–2024
Quick facts about Derek Sivers
- Known for
- Founding CD Baby, the online store for independent musicians, and writing very short books about business and how to live
- 1969
- Born in Berkeley, California
- 1998
- Starts CD Baby
- 2008
- Sells CD Baby for $22 million
- 2024
- Useful Not True
- Born
- 22 September 1969, Berkeley, California
- Education
- Berklee College of Music, 1990
- Before business
- Professional musician from 1987; also worked as a circus clown
- Company
- CD Baby, founded 1998, sold to Disc Makers in 2008 for $22 million
- Later work
- Wood Egg (2013), guides to building companies in Asia
- Honours
- World Technology Award (2003)
- Lived in
- The United States, Singapore, New Zealand and England
The red mark is 2011: Anything You Want, his account of building and selling CD Baby.
How Derek Sivers Writes: Short, Direct, Then Gone
Sivers writes very short books. Anything You Want runs to about 83 pages, How to Live to 115 and Useful Not True to about 90, and most chapters fit on one or two pages. Each chapter usually makes one point, often in a title that works as an instruction: “No ‘yes.’ Either ‘HELL YEAH!’ or ‘no.’”
Much of his material first appears on his website, sive.rs, and much of the business writing is anecdote: a specific decision at CD Baby, what happened, and the lesson he took from it. His three TED talks from 2010, the longest under three minutes, use the same compression.
From How to Live onwards the subject changes from running a company to how to think. How to Live sets 27 positions against each other without saying which is right, and Useful Not True argues that beliefs can be judged by what they help you do rather than by whether they are true.
Watch
Derek Sivers in Conversation with Tim Ferriss
Tim Ferriss talks with Derek Sivers about an un-optimised life, taking paths less travelled, tech independence and choosing the right game of life, in episode 668 of The Tim Ferriss Show (April 2023). From the official Tim Ferriss channel.
Frequently asked questions about Derek Sivers’s books
How many books has Derek Sivers written?
Five: Anything You Want (2011), Your Music and People (2020), Hell Yeah or No (2020), How to Live (2021) and Useful Not True (2024).
What are Derek Sivers’s books in order?
Anything You Want (2011), Your Music and People (2020), Hell Yeah or No (2020), How to Live (2021) and Useful Not True (2024). Anything You Want was reissued in a third edition in 2022 with eight new chapters.
Where should I start with Derek Sivers?
Anything You Want — it is his best-known book, takes about an hour to read, and introduces ideas such as “Hell yeah or no” that the later books return to.
What is Derek Sivers’s most famous book?
Anything You Want (2011), his account of starting, building and selling CD Baby. Sivers himself has called How to Live (2021) the best thing he has made.
What does “Hell yeah or no” mean?
It is Sivers’s rule for decisions: if you do not feel “Hell yeah!” about an opportunity, say no, which leaves time for the things you are excited about. It appears as a chapter in Anything You Want and gives its title to Hell Yeah or No (2020).
Did Derek Sivers really give CD Baby’s money to charity?
He moved the company into a charitable remainder trust before the 2008 sale, so the trust, not Sivers, received the $22 million. The trust pays him 5% of its value a year for life, about $1 million a year by his own estimate in 2009, and everything left goes to music education when he dies. Some readers have called the arrangement a tax strategy; Sivers has said that saving tax was not the reason.
What is CD Baby?
An online distributor for independent musicians that Sivers started in 1998 to sell his own and his friends’ CDs. It grew to more than 150,000 musicians and over $100 million in sales. He sold it to Disc Makers in 2008; Disc Makers sold it to Downtown in 2019 for $200 million.
What are Derek Sivers’s TED talks?
Three short talks from 2010: “Weird, or just different?”, “How to start a movement” and “Keep your goals to yourself”. None is longer than three minutes.
Is Derek Sivers still alive?
Yes. He was born on 22 September 1969 and published Useful Not True in 2024.
Footnotes
- Derek Sivers — sive.rs
- Anything You Want — sive.rs
- How to Live — sive.rs
- Why I gave away my company (the trust) — sive.rs
- CD Baby — Wikipedia
- Derek Sivers — TED
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Business is not about money. It’s about making dreams come true for others and for yourself.”
— Derek Sivers, Anything You Want (2011)
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