‘Computers and the networks that we connect to them, they’re the nervous system of the 21st century.’ And yet Cory Doctorow argues passionately that right now, the way we legislate the internet isn’t serving the creators, or even the consumers. If you care more about people seeing and using your content…
Kogan Page is one of the world’s leading business book publishers and one of the last big independents. The company has just celebrated its 50th birthday, and in this episode I talk to MD Helen Kogan – daughter of founder Philip – about what it means to be independent, what commissioning…
‘How can I write books that people will read all the way to the end, they can open at any page and find something interesting or useful or inspiring or actionable, and they’ll come back to again?’ And with that question, Bernadette Jiwa – author of Difference: The one-page method…
I met Glenda Shawley in January 2016 when she came along to my ‘The Year of the Book’ workshop, in which writing productivity guru Bec Evans and I helped a small group of entrepreneurs get clear on the book they wanted to write and plan how they were going to achieve…
Lou Rosenfeld is in the ideas business. He’s a writer himself, and a speaker and trainer, and now he’s created a distinctive approach to publishing that’s based around ideas – and the community engaged with them – rather than books per se. The publishing company he created – Rosenfeld Media – supports the…
One of the most common pieces of advice for business book authors – and one that I often repeat myself – is to focus on the reader. What problem do they have, what is it that they’re seeking, what language will resonate with them? That’s important, but it’s not the whole…
‘Noble embodies what we’re trying to do here because it is about being in the service of others but in this case in business… Noble Purpose is about the impact you have on customers.’ Or, in this case, readers. Lisa Earle McLeod writes from two key drivers: frustration and passion. Her…
‘There’s an awful lot of talk about platform in the media business these days,’ admits Adrian Zackheim, the founder of Portfolio, Penguin’s prestigious business book list. ‘It’s an obvious strategy for publishers to seek out people with pre-existing platforms and attempt to extend them, [but] one of the attractions of…
One of the many opportunities open to authors today is the chance to crowdfund their book: to whip up enthusiasm for the project and get friends, relatives, ex-girlfriends (yes, really) and total strangers who want to see this book happen put their hands in their pockets and pledge to support…
When Patrick Vlaskovits told his dad he was writing a book called Hustle, his father was baffled: ‘Why would you want to write a book about stealing?’ And that’s part of the interesting thing about this book – it’s about giving things a name, or in this case taking back…
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