A glorious day today, spent with two great friends I rarely get to see, as we converged in Edinburgh for a weekend. This is where I was at university, 30 years ago, and today we walked the length and breadth of the city, stopping off in coffee shops and, as the day wore on, bars. […]
Continue reading…check it out online. We’re doing titles today in the 10-day Business Book Proposal Challenge (yes, I know it’s Day 4, but the title has to fall out of the thinking we do on reader and summary, so although the title may be at the top of the proposal document, it’s not the starting point […]
Continue readingThe recent news that Uber has fired 20 employees for sexual harrassment raises a range of emotions in me. Mostly negative. It seems incredible that here we are, in 2017, and this is still a Thing. And also a kind of grudging satisfaction that it is at least an Unacceptable Thing, punishable by the full […]
Continue readingIt’s Day 2 of the 10-day Business Book Proposal Challenge, and we’re focusing on defining and evidencing the target market. This is a tough job, one of the chewiest of the whole challenge (and that’s saying something….) but it’s also one of the most valuable. The typical mistake most non-fiction authors make is to keep […]
Continue readingThe 10-day Business Book Proposal Challenge kicked off today, and looks like being another group full of interesting people with something significant to say: really looking forward to the next two weeks. One business owner introduced herself but reflected on the timing of the challenge and her sense that maybe it wasn’t somehow appropriate to […]
Continue readingIn the wake of yesterday’s attacks in London, on the night of the benefit concert after the attack in Manchester, and with so much being said on both traditional and social meda it’s hard to know what to add. We’re all heartsick and scared, and yet we are all cheered too by the helpers, the […]
Continue readingA few weeks ago I shared my patented Haribo Story-Telling Game For The Making Bearable Of Long Journeys With Children. Today I can reveal a new dimension to the game: simply trade the Haribo for Randoms. (Look, I realise that nutritionally this isn’t exactly an improvement – but there are plenty of other blogs for […]
Continue readingAfter the colouring books for grown-ups trend there have been a few attempts to find the Next Big Thing that could be smuggled in under the ‘mindfulness’ banner: dot-to-dot was one of the most dismal, in my opinion, but I’m more cheerful about a new title in the works from Pan Macmillan’s Bluebird imprint: Scriptorium: Healing […]
Continue readingContinuing our explorations around Ely, yesterday we spent the morning at Wicken Fen, Britain’s oldest nature reserve. We took a boat ride through the narrow, shallow channel of water (‘If you fall in,’ said our guide, in the world’s most low-key safety briefing, ‘just stand up.’) It was tranquil and magical – dragonflies and damselflies […]
Continue readingHow many times have you said that over the last year/month/week/day? If your life is like mine, saying yes to one thing means saying no to something else, so you need to budget your time carefully. I spend my life helping people create books and put out regular content to build their business, knowing […]
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