What DO commissioning editors look for in business book proposals? Eloise Cook is the publisher responsible for Pearson’s business list, and in this conversation she reveals what makes a proposal worth pursuing (and also what makes her quietly file it under B for Bin). We also talk about the future…
‘Why would you write 28 books? To get good at some of the stuff that you’re writing about.’ As well as writing those 28 books, Jeremy Kourdi has experience of senior leadership at The Economist, Duke University and the CMI. It’s fair to say he has an all-round perspective on…
We talk a lot on this show about the grind of writing business books, and indeed of business in general, but there’s a lot of joy to be found in the process too. This Best Bits episode celebrates all those moments, from the creative peace of the early morning start…
‘We wanted to explore how books, which seem to be a real missing link in the corporate world, could be brought in and really used to enhance people’s development… If I could step away from everything and invest in myself, what does that look like?’ If there’s one experience common…
Penny Pullan was talking about virtual leadership and running virtual events long before it was fashionable – now that the rest of the world has caught up, she’s leading the way in making virtual and hybrid events (which are surely the future) not just possible, but powerful. Most people at…
‘This experience has taught me, like a lot of the work I do in life, that where you start isn’t necessarily where you’ll end up… the book we’ve written is much more practical and purposeful for our readers as a result of us really listening to [their feedback] and not…
In our fascination with tech start-ups and big corporates, we might be tempted to overlook the family business. Keel Hunt describes Ingram as ‘the quiet company’ – 50 years young, still family owned, and still quietly partnering with all the other players in the book supply chain to innovate and…
‘I think we’re going to have another watershed moment… there’s going to be business pre-pandemic and business post-pandemic. And I wonder how many business books are going to feel out of date.’ As a woman founder in publishing, Judy Piatkus is one of my heroes. Working from home long before…
‘The hardest part is getting started, getting that first paragraph on the page. And once I’ve been able to do that, generally for me, my writing then flows from that.’ Clive Lewis has written 17 books, so he’s learned a bit about organizing and communicating his ideas. He writes about…
Instagram has had a massive impacting in shaping our culture over the last decade – it’s redefined our measures of success and celebrity. It’s easy now to see it as somehow inevitable, but in No Filter, winner of the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year 2020, Sarah Frier uncovers the…
