Here’s the thing about competitions and challenges: they are super-motivating (to most people – I get that it’s not everyone’s bag) and someone will be utterly delighted at the end. But the thing about having a winner is that it means you have to have people who are NOT winners, and that – to borrow […]
Continue readingWhat’s the difference between a foreword, a preface and an introduction? Well, I’m not sure there are legal definitions, exactly, but here’s the generally understood convention: A foreword is written by someone other than the author, typically a luminary in the field, and talks about how important this topic is and what a fabulous job […]
Continue readingJeff Goins divides bloggers into five ‘platform personalities’: The Journalist, who builds a platform on asking questions. This is my approach with The Extraordinary Business Book Club podcast. The Prophet, who speaks truth, often iconoclastically – Goins gives Seth Godin as one example, I suggest Michael Neill is another. The Artist, focused on creating something beautiful – for me, Akala and Elizabeth […]
Continue readingToday’s the day: particpants in the 10-day Business Book Proposal Challenge have until midnight tonight to upload their proposal into our Facebook group to be in with a chance of winning a publishing deal. There are seven so far, with another six or seven promised by the deadline. I can’t WAIT to read them – […]
Continue readingToday’s blog post is over at Birds on the Blog: what lies behind our decision to buy? http://birdsontheblog.co.uk/dont-sell-me-a-product-give-me-an-experience/
Continue readingEvery month I write a ‘Digital Digest’ for the Independent Publishers Guild and this month there was a slew of statistics that, on the surface at least, are hard to swallow for a digital publishing enthusiast like myself. I had a bet with our production director back in 2010 that half our revenues would be […]
Continue readingA BookMachine blog on the three charges Seth Godin levelled at publishers in his interview with me for The Extraordinary Business Book Club podcast. https://bookmachine.org/2016/09/30/seth-godins-three-charges-publishers/
Continue readingYesterday I interviewed Andy Cope, author of The Art of Being Brilliant and The Little Book of Emotional Intelligence, for The Extraordinary Business Book Club podcast.* I was particularly interested in how the books work alongside the movement – The Art of Brilliance is a training and coaching company working with businesses, schools and communities […]
Continue readingYesterday in the 10-day book proposal challenge we were focusing on the marketing plan for the book, which is something of a Marmite task. One participant in particular approached it with a feeling of dread, but was pleasantly surprised. ‘When I saw today’s task my heart sank – so I’m surprised with what laying this out […]
Continue readingIt’s the end of Setptember and I’m back up at Oxford Brookes, teaching on the MA in Publishing Editorial module every Tuesday afternoon. One of the ice-breakers my colleague Beverley Tarquini does with the new cohort of students each year is to get them all talking about what they’re reading, what books they like in […]
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