…is just how much they mean to those who’ve written them. Publishers sometimes lose sight of this. We are so used to producing books. It’s not that we stop valuing them, but sometimes you forget just how exciting and life-changing it is for an author when their first book arrives on their doorstep. I had […]
Continue readingIn today’s seminar activity with the MA Publishing students at Oxford Brookes we were looking at book proposals, and identifying the key points, warning signs and questions that an editor looks out for whenever they read a submission. The ‘fake’ proposal that they were critiquing contained a favourite phrase of mine: ‘This book will appeal […]
Continue readingIn today’s Extraordinary Business Book Club episode Robbie Kellman Baxter talks about writing The Membership Economy. I’m not going to talk about that today (though I will soon, believe me, because it’s FASCINATING); instead I just wanted to share with you one of her insights into the process of writing the book. In a blog […]
Continue readingSteve Krug, the guest on this week’s Extraordinary Business Book Club episode, is the rock star of the usability community. And it’s all down to this book: Don’t Make Me Think. It’s a cult classic for UX designers. And the principles it outlines are just as relevant to business writers: we’re all putting stuff in […]
Continue readingToday’s post is over at Birds on the Blog: http://birdsontheblog.co.uk/how-to-cheat-at-writing/ “If writing this book is important to you, you have to get creative about tricking yourself into doing it…”
Continue readingI read a superb piece by Joanna Pieters this morning: Creators, We Need Your Strength Today, written in response to the US election. ‘As a creator, your voice has never been more important,’ she says. ‘You have energy that the world needs, right now.’ I recommend a read. It got me thinking about creativity more […]
Continue readingRIP Leonard Cohen – one of the truly great songwriters. I discovered this quote from him in an article today, talking about the fact that he would often write a full verse and then cut it: “Before I can discard the verse, I have to write it… I can’t discard a verse before it is […]
Continue readingI remember as an Eng Lit undergrad hearing a lecturer dismiss Wordsworth airily as a poet who ‘lived too long and wrote too much.’ Bit harsh, I thought. Just because he didn’t die tragically like the James Deans of the day, Byron and Shelley. And yes, OK, some of Wordsworth’s stuff is pretty mediocre, but […]
Continue readingWhat do people mean when they say, ‘I love books’? Do they mean they love improving their mind or inspiring their soul by reading? Or the giddy sensation of leaving your own world and plunging headfirst into an entirely new one? Or is it the sheer sensual pleasure of a book, the feel of paper […]
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 […]
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