‘The Curve comes in three parts. You have to find an audience. That probably, but doesn’t necessarily, involve free. You have to earn the right to talk to them again. It’s no good having a newsletter that you get people to sign up for if they immediately unsubscribe because your content is boring and rubbish. […]
Continue readingThere are lots of business tools that are useful for writers of business books, and this one is particularly helpful towards the end of the strategic thinking piece, as you prepare to move over into content marketing and more specifically into writing your book. A positioning statement is the pure distilled essence of your strategy […]
Continue readingIt’s funny – over the last decade I must have given hundreds of talks on the subject of ‘the future of publishing’ – and yet my most popular blog post ever (several thousand views since it went up on Tuesday, apparently) is on the past of publishing. I seem to have unleashed a frenzy of […]
Continue readingI’ve been playing with Nicholas Lovell’s ‘Curve’ model since interviewing him for the Extraordinary Business Book Club next week (you can hear him in episode 39 on 12 December). Here’s a draft of mine, and I’ve worked with a couple of clients to help them think through theirs, too. Each author will have a slightly […]
Continue reading‘Can I talk to you about podcasting?’ I’ve spoken to at least 6 people over the last month or so who are interested in setting up their own podcast and wondering what’s involved and, crucially, whether it’s worth it for them. I can’t tell them that, of course, but here’s what I say: First of […]
Continue readingI heard today about a company doing some really typical 21st-century business stuff. The founder noticed a gap in the market for a healthier version of a popular processed food, tapping into the current interest in clean living, exercise and healthy eating. He collaborated with an established partner to get his new product off the […]
Continue readingThe story goes that when the ship carrying the last instalment of The Old Curiosity Shop arrived in New York in 1841, it was met by hordes of fans on the dockside, all desperate to know, ‘Is Little Nell dead?’ Charles Dickens was a master of the serialised novel, each instalment ending with a cliffhanger […]
Continue readingForget GSOH, the book you’re writing is a much more appealing quality when it comes to attracting a potential partner. And by partner here I don’t mean life partner (although, who knows…), I mean the key influencers in your field, those you’d like to get to know better. Your business sits in a complex network […]
Continue readingSo this is neat – the clever folk over at self-publishing platform Reedsy have launched Reedsy Learning, a series of free mini-courses from top publishing talent. I’ve contributed this one: How to Write a Business Book. 10 days, 10 emails, just enough to get you kickstarted. There are courses on marketing, self-publishing, overcoming procrastination, Amazon algorithms, […]
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/
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