‘The crux of our whole business is just really finding talented people to help others do what they can’t do themselves as well.’
Kevin Anderson never planned to become CEO of one of the biggest editorial agencies in the world, but that’s where his knack for seeing opportunities in a fast-changing industry together with the guts to take them has landed him.
In this episode, we talk about how publishing professionals can support authors at every stage – from clarifying the concept through writing the manuscript to securing the right deal (and we note that ‘the right deal’ means different things to different authors.)
From the impact of AI on writing and piracy to top tips for writing business books, the enduring appeal of long-form nonfiction to the plethora of publishing options open to authors today, it’s packed with insights and advice for aspiring authors.
Don’t wait until you’ve written your manuscript to listen to this!
KAA site: https://www.ka-writing.com/
Kevin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ghostwritereditorkevinanderson/
Alison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-alison-jones/
The 10-day Business Book Proposal Challenge: www.proposalchallenge.com
Link for submitting your clip for Episode 500: https://bit.ly/45RfpdY
Alison Jones: I’m here today with Kevin Anderson, who is the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of KAA, Kevin Anderson and Associates, a book writing and editorial service with an in-house staff of former big-five executive editors, literary agents, and bestselling writers. So first of all, welcome to the show, Kevin. It’s great to have you here.
Kevin Anderson: Thank you, Alison. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Alison Jones: I’m really interested in the origin story. When you were growing up on a farm in northern Alberta, did you ever think to yourself, yes, absolutely, one day you’re going to be running a literary and editorial services agency? Was that part of the plan?
Kevin Anderson: No, that was never, ever part of the plan.
Alison Jones: So how did it happen?
Kevin Anderson: No. It was a long, unwieldy journey to get there. And it was never the plan until just before it became the plan, yes.
Alison Jones: Sometimes things are happening and you go, oh look, this is the plan.
Kevin Anderson: That’s right. That’s exactly right. It was a lot of just jumping on opportunities and just being excited about what kind of came up in front of me and just deciding whether to take one fork in the road versus another. So, but yes, it’s been a great journey and it’s been a lot of fun building it from nothing to what it is today.
Alison Jones: It’s a good, because you were working, you started at Harvard, didn’t you? With the sort of essay writing. Were you working on sort of academic work at Harvard and then where did you see the opportunity sort of growing?
Kevin Anderson: Yes, so I mean, when I was at Harvard, I was doing my graduate studies. I was studying literary theory and criticism and I thought I was going to go on to be a professor and to teach. And I started a tutoring company. So we were doing all kinds of tutoring English, but also the sciences. I mean, I didn’t do any of the tutoring myself for the sciences. I would bring in my colleagues.
And it was just a matter of time before, you know, we had all of our team was all Harvard PhDs or working on their PhDs or graduate level candidates and a publishing company reached out to us and they needed help with copy editing. It was like a vanity press originally, and we had never even thought about editing books. It never even came across the radar or ghostwriting. You know, ghostwriting was, I didn’t even know what that was at all at that time.
And so, we started editing books for them and eventually they sent us a book that was in such shambles that there was no way we could work on it. And so we kicked it back to them and said, you know, we can’t really, you know, this isn’t even at a state that we can edit it. So they said, well, can you just write us a new one? And, you know, during the course of, I’ve started a couple different companies and you know, one of the things that has been, I don’t know, I don’t say no. I will say yes and then, you know, figure it out on the backside and make sure…
Alison Jones: …so entrepreneurial…
Kevin Anderson: …that we’re bringing what we can. You know, you put your reputation on the line, but you make sure that you follow through, right? And so we said, well, sure that sounds feasible, you know, yes, we could.
I didn’t have any cracks in the pavement. I said, absolutely, we can do that. Let me get back to you with a price.
And then, so I went back and figured out with the team, which people we had that were going to be the best writer, who had experience writing a book, who was available, what was the price going to be? And then we went back to them with a proposal that looked like we had done a million of them.
And so that was start, that’s what started the ghostwriting business. And, over the years, I mean that was probably back in 2000 and, well, I don’t know, seven or eight, maybe nine actually by the time the ghostwriting came along. And then, over the years, we just really started, anytime we thought we could improve. You know, bringing in-house editors from the Big Five at a really high level, people that had edited Brene Brown or Simon Sinek, like bringing them in-house so that those editors could work with the clients.
Bringing in extra editorial teams, that was also in-house, so we didn’t have to be dependent on freelancers. You know, these kinds of things we built over time and anytime we thought we could do something better or integrate some other element or service into the process then we just, you know, we did so.
But yes, it was something that just came, it was never part of a plan, there was no business plan, there was never any investments or anything like that. It was always just, you know organically growing and just jumping on opportunities as they came up.
Alison Jones: It’s so interesting, isn’t it? There’s a great phrase that they always say the best people in publishing are no longer in publishing. You know, they’ve all gone off and done… and it’s a real shift in the dynamics of the industry and I’m really interested in what it is because it’s not just ghostwriting and editorial.
I want to come on to some of the other stuff that you do that I found really fascinating, sort of looking through the website. But why is it you think that people, that writers reach out to you, what is it that they know that they need that you’re giving them?
Kevin Anderson: Well, yes, I mean it’s really, you know, people come to us because they want the best editorial support they can get. So, you know, a big reason that a lot of people don’t self-publish in fact is because they, you know, they’re concerned about the quality of the editor that they’re going to have on their book.
And so with us, they’re able to come and get that calibre of editor that they would get at Harper Collins, at Random House. Because we have them on our team, we’ve made that a part of our company is to have that level of editorial talent on the team.
So writers come to us from all stages in their book writing process. Some come to us obviously with looking for a lot of help with book coaching or ghostwriting and others have already written their book or a really skilled, even bestselling writer, and they come to us just to have that editorial guidance from someone who’s published hundreds of books and dozens of bestsellers.
So sometimes it’s sharpening the edges and just really fine tuning a product. And other times it’s really coming up with the whole concept and figuring out what’s going to work from a book. Some people come to us without a concept. You know, they’ve already written a couple books and they want to come up with another one and they’ve got a couple ideas, but they really want help figuring out the whole picture, the structure and also making sure that it’s something that’s going to be marketable and that they’re actually going to have a target reader that’s going to buy the book.
Alison Jones: And it’s interesting because this is, in the old days, this is the sort of work an in-house editor at a publisher might have done with their authors and just don’t have the overhead, the resource to do it anymore.
Kevin Anderson: Yes, well, that’s right. Well see a lot of the editors that are on our team right now, the reason why they’re on our team and a big part of the reason why we were able to attract that level of talent you know, is because in their previous jobs at the publishers they weren’t even able to edit during their working hours.
Like they got into this job mostly because they love books, they love working with authors. But by the time they were editorial directors or at executive editor level positions, they found that most of their actual work with authors and editing the manuscripts was happening in the evenings and weekends, you know, on their own time.
And, you know, they were doing merchandising meetings and design meetings and all these other things that weren’t really their first love in the first place. And so what we were able to give them was, Hey, look, you can work on books, every day, all day, eight hours a day, we won’t ask you to work evenings and weekends. Just come and just really deliver this talent to authors and actually work with the authors. So our approach with working with authors and our approach with our in-house team is very collaborative. It’s very hands-on with our clients.
So, that was something that really attracted both our clients and our in-house team. And you know, of course we have a full benefits package. We pay our team what they would get paid at a big house or more. So it’s something that kind of makes everybody happy and it just, you know, it was good timing for us the way that the publishing industry, the traditional publishing industry was starting to really consolidate and, you know, a lot of people at the higher levels were getting unhappy with what they were doing and so that really worked in our favor to attract some really high-calibre talent.
Alison Jones: Yes. Practical Inspiration Publishing has had a similar sort of bounce from people who just don’t want to work in the way that traditional publishers work anymore and want to be more flexible and, you know, all the kind of good stuff. Really interesting.
As I said, you do more than just the editorial stuff that you started off with and I noticed particularly you talk about strategic direction and you talk about navigating the publishing industry, and I thought that was really interesting.
It isn’t easy. So just tell me a little bit more about what people don’t know they don’t know.
Kevin Anderson: So, yes. And that was another one of those things, like when we started, we weren’t doing any of that partly because we had no idea. We didn’t know anything about the publishing industry. You know, we were just focused on writing books. But more and more of our clients, they really wanted that extra help.
And because we had so many of them, you know, at that time, like early on we were doing maybe a hundred clients a year. Now we’re doing about 500 different clients a year. But we just found there’s this huge need, where people just didn’t know where to go. A lot of people were getting scammed. A lot of people were going to self-publishing or hybrid outfits that were just scamming them.
And, so eventually, you know, we just said, you know what? We really got to figure this out and make sure that our clients are not only getting editorial or writing services, but that we can, you know… and it also made sense because, you know, we had this great funnel of clients, of writers, of authors, and we were doing really high calibre work with their books. So there was these great books, great writers and, you know, agents and publishers, you know, they’re looking for sources that are reliable and that are going to give them high-calibre work that they can trust.
So it actually made a lot of sense for us to start to bridge that gap. And so, we really got deep into what we call publishing navigation, which is, you know, figuring out what the author wants, what their goals are, but also what’s realistic with their platform, with what their book is about. Like what’s realistic. Is this something that can sell to a big five publisher? Does their timeline even make sense and their goals make sense with that kind of a route? Or should this go to a hybrid publisher? Should they think about self-publishing? Should they self-publish this book and then, you know, work towards their next book being a traditional published book?
All these questions we’ve kind of figured out with them early on in the process, which is important. And, put a whole strategy together for, you know, and it usually is like, there’s often a plan A and a plan B. You know, let’s figure this out, let’s shoot for, you know, whatever they say, shoot for the stars, and if you miss you hit the moon. You know? But at least we’re giving it our best shot.
Whereas others they say, look, I need to book out in six months. You know, I’ve got this big event coming. You know, I only need options that are going to serve that purpose. And, a lot of times, those conversations that we have with the bigger picture, they can really shift the whole direction.
Like the authors will come, the writers will come to us with one idea in mind and then after we kind of look through everything, yes, we’re going in a whole different direction. I mean, it’s always going to be, of course, their choice. We will support the author whichever way they want to go. But after kind of just talking through it, you know, one example is there was this billionaire client, Tom Golisano, actually, I got his book right here, was a Wall Street Journal…
Alison Jones: …Built Not Born.
Kevin Anderson: Built Not Born. That’s right.
But when he came to us, he had it in his mind he wanted to write a memoir. And, you know, he had made billions of dollars. His company was worth $40 billion. He started it from a $3,000 credit card. Really rags to richest type of a business entrepreneur success story.
But the fact is that, you know, as you know, I mean, memoirs are really hard to sell for one thing. Even if they’re a famous person, they’re hard to sell. And if you’re not a famous person, it has to be incredibly well written or just be an absolute like never heard before story with all kinds of, you know, and you still got to write it like a novel. You got to write it in a way that grips people.
And anyway it was just clear that when he came to us, his idea was because everyone had told him, you know, you need to…
Alison Jones: …you should write a book. Yes.
Kevin Anderson: Right. And in his head he was like, okay, I should write my whole life story. And you know, but anyway, after kind of having these intense publishing discussions and just planning the whole thing, we were able to kind of talk through how this actually would, in terms of selling a book and selling something that is going to be at a high level, and he really wanted a traditional publisher.
We said, you know, we kind of directed him in the direction of a business book. You know, come up with something that’s still story driven, has things about your life, all these great stories that you have, but that has a structure and a message that we can target business authors and entrepreneurs. And of course he had this great platform to connect with them because Paychex is a payroll company and it serves literally hundreds of thousands of businesses in the US. So, he had a great audience that he could target with these books.
So anyway, that’s where someone came in thinking they were going to write a memoir, but then realizing that is actually a different book that would make the most sense and still, you know, check off all the lists, all his checklist of what he wanted from the book.
And then of course, not of course, but once that sold, hit the Wall Street Journal bestseller list, we sold it to Harper Collins. Then the next book, you know, then we came up with the memoir after and we sold that one to Harper Collins. And that way he already had kind of an audience you know, built through his first book.
And so we sold the memoir and released that about two years later.
Alison Jones: Yes, and it’s a really good example of how you, and publishers also do this, they sort of act as the ambassador for the reader. So they…
Kevin Anderson: …yes.
Alison Jones: …the author who has their goals and their ideas about what this is going to be and say, well, we represent the reader and what do they need from you? And it can be slightly different. And also the fact that the publishing landscape is so fragmented now, it’s so flexible. There are so many different ways to publish. I mean, that’s fantastic. You know, you have options. But people aren’t born knowing what those options are and what the different pros and cons of them are, are they? So…
Kevin Anderson: …yes. And it’s complicated, it’s complex, and traditional publishing is antiquated in many ways, and it takes a long time. You know, people, our clients can’t believe it when they’re like a year, a year and a half really, you know, from the time. And I haven’t even written, you know, and that’s after the pub deal is signed, you know..
But there’s just so many options and there’s so many ways, and that’s why we never went into hybrid publishing is because we really wanted to be an advocate for the author in a way that was not biased towards one avenue or another, or one publisher or another. And, you know, we really kind of help direct them and then do warm handoffs, paint the whole picture and then get them to the right people that’s going to ensure that the book is a success for them and achieves their goals, which are very different for every author.
Alison Jones: And you talk about publishing being antiquated. I mean, you won’t hear any argument from me there. It is what it is.
How do you see it developing over the coming… it’s so fascinating. I mean, I’ve been in the industry, what, 35 years and people have been talking about the death of the book the whole time. So, and here we are.
So yes, what do you see changing, shifting? What’s most exciting for you?
Kevin Anderson: It’s a good question, yes. And you know, you see, that you know, when Kindles, when the electronic books came out, everyone thought that was going to kill the hardcover, kill the paperback, but that didn’t happen.
Audio books are obviously very hot right now and continue to be. And I think you’re going to see a healthy tale with the audio books. I personally love audio books, especially for something that’s like either easy listening, so to speak, or if it’s really clear directives like a business book or something. I really enjoy it because I can do it while I’m in the car, while I’m walking.
Alison Jones: I mean that feels to me like an additive thing. It’s a slightly different market almost, isn’t it? Or it’s not competing with print books in the same way. It’s a different affordance. It’s doing a different for you.
Kevin Anderson: Yes, exactly, yes. But it’s still, the thing that ties it in though, is it’s still a long form, single entity. It’s got weight to it. It’s not a white paper. It’s something that you can really sink your teeth into. And, I think, people, you know, in some ways the more that social media and a lot of this kind of, you know, this 30 second clips and everything, the more that things get, the attention span seems to narrow, I think there’s also the reverse that happens, that people really value that long form thing they can really feel, isn’t just a flash in the pan, but something that actually has something weighty to say.
And that’s what you see. You know, you see some of these podcasts like, you know, Joe Rogan who’s going on for three, three and a half hours. I mean, people, you know, there still is definitely a desire for people to have something that they can really sink their teeth in and that feels more important than what can be expressed in a 30 second clip or even, a 25 page paper.
In terms of the future of books, you know, obviously AI is the big trendy thing to talk about.
You know, we have lots of opinions on that, both pros and cons. You know, for the record, we do not write any book, any original content, original content from AI is an oxymoron in itself. But we’re very pro human when it comes to the creative output of what’s writing on the page.
But there’s a lot of other ways that AI can really help a writer and boost their output. But we’re obviously, that’s a big thing that we’re figuring out right now is how to use AI, how to, you know, where it can be used and where it shouldn’t be used, its limitations. But I don’t see AI having any major impact on the book as a medium that’s going to be valuable and that people are really going to connect with.
Alison Jones: I think it’s going to make those points of differentiation much more isn’t it? Because you’re
Kevin Anderson: going to…
oh yes.
Alison Jones: …slew of AI generated sludge and, yes.
Kevin Anderson: That’s been an issue for sure, is just like, like for instance, one of our clients, his book came out it was a New York Times bestseller.
It was Read Your Mind from Oz Pearlman. He’s been getting a lot of media all over the place. When his book came out, it was purchased by Viking, which is Penguin Random House, about 50 different AI titles, all fake books, all with similar titles, but pretending to be him, like it would even have his picture. It was a fake picture. It was all AI generated picture, AI metadata. And there was at at least, there’s probably more than 50, at least 50, all of them, all of them pretending to be his book.
Alison Jones: Wow.
Kevin Anderson: You know, and just in general, you know, AI titles, there’s just been a whole glut of just really poorly written and conceived and often illegitimate, fraudulent books that have been, you know, that are just getting churned out.
But they, they’re pretty, for a critical eye they’re pretty easy to spot. And what we’re seeing is that, especially with memoir or, well, almost any genre actually, the only genre that AI is really chewing up, at least in our industry, is the really low hanging fruit, the stuff that’s just like a generic book about something that everybody, that all you have to do is look on the internet and you can find out how to do it. Like how to, you know, like financing 1 0 1. Okay. You know, AI can write a book about that. It won’t be original, it won’t be interesting. It won’t have any unique voice to it. You won’t have any unique stories or spins on it. But sure, if that’s your goal is just to write a generic book, that just summarizes a bunch of information, AI can do that for you.
Now, there’s a whole bunch of ethical concerns, you know, related to that. Are you sourcing the people who that material’s actually coming from? You know, there’s all kinds of stuff that I don’t agree with, that make it unethical.
Alison Jones: Plagiarism, the hallucinations that, yes.
Kevin Anderson: Exactly, all of that stuff, you know, but just in terms of the quality. That’s where, you can get there but in terms of writing something original, unique with a voice, with an edge, and also like, you know, a good writer or is like a journalist, or especially like a ghostwriter, like when you’re interviewing someone, or a good editor when you’re interviewing someone, coming up with a concept for the book, kind of wrestling with the stories, you know, you can’t be in an echo chamber.
If you’re just typing into AI and using that, it’s only going to feed back what you’re giving it. Whereas a skilled journalist or an editor is going to really know, they’re going to be able to look into your eyes. They’re going to be able to know, they’re going to sense the room, they’ll be able to see when you’re holding back and judge whether that’s a time to kind of go for it and pull it out or wait until a better time.
You know, there’s all these nuances in the human element that come to writing a book, and also just bringing out stories, bringing and finding the pieces of connective tissue between your concepts and your stories and your ideas that that just, for now, AI is just not there. Maybe in 50 years, you know, they’ll have some kind of thing connected to your brain that can make this all happen.
But for now, what we’re seeing with AI generated content is very poor quality, very unoriginal by definition, not empathetic, and just not really rigorous, interesting content. So even the ethical issues aside, we’re just not seeing very high calibre stuff. And we notice it too because we see it, you know, we’ll see it a lot with our clients, you know, because they won’t tell us sometimes, you know, and they’ll suddenly write a chapter with AI or whatever, and I mean, it’s pretty easy to spot.
Alison Jones: It’s so easy to spot but so it’s easy, and this is the thing, isn’t it? It’s, because it’s there, it’s so tempting and I think that a lot of people who are not confident about their ability to write think that AI is actually going to do a better job than they would. And this is I think, one of the big challenges that I, you know, I try to explain to people. I, everybody would rather hear your voice, even if it’s imperfect. We have editors for that, you know.
Kevin Anderson: Definitely.
Alison Jones: Don’t ever think that AI can write better than you because it’s might be more polished, but it’s empty, it’s soulless,
Kevin Anderson: Not to mention, it could disqualify you from a publishing deal altogether
Alison Jones: Absolutely. Publishers are really nervous about this. They’ve got to warrant that it’s human written.
Kevin Anderson: Oh yes, exactly. yes. I mean, and AI detection software, it’s a bit of a cat and mouse game, but I mean, they’re always getting better. I mean, we check stuff through AI detection software because we don’t want to, you know, have the wool pulled over our eyes either from a writer.
But yes, I mean, it could disqualify you even from a publishing deal altogether if they detect that there’s AI, you know, if some of your content that you’re passing off as original is actually developed from AI. So a lot of risks in using it.
Alison Jones: What do you love about writing, Kevin? What do you get, because I mean, when you spend all your day helping other people write, what does writing look like for you?
Kevin Anderson: So I’ve never been, I mean, I’ve written some books and whatnot, but my skillset is never a professional writer, because I can’t, I’m not, I take too long. I’m too slow and I’m too distracted. And I just, you know, I would need help of a professional editor to guide me through the whole process.
Alison Jones: I bet you know…
Kevin Anderson: …I love…
Alison Jones: …some people who could help with that.
Kevin Anderson: Yes, I do know a couple people. And, you know, and that’s really been, the crux of our whole business is just really finding talented people to help others do what they can’t do themselves as well. And so, you know, my skillset, I suppose, is really just creating a place for really talented people who really love writing books, to come together and do it at a really high level.
You know, my role is very much just creating space for that to happen, creating space for obviously figuring out the client side, handling all those logistics, the contracts, the website, like the marketing, all of that stuff to feed…. you know, literally feed the families of writers and creatives and editors.
And so that’s really what gets me the most excited, is being able to keep writers working and paid for writing books to support those creative arts to have a place where editors can really work on books and work with authors. And also just giving people a voice because so many, and this is where the ghost writing comes in too, is just giving people, or book coaching, you know, giving people a voice who on their own would never be able to get these stories out.
You know, there’s so many important stories and messages and ideas and stuff from people who just aren’t great writers, who are like me, who would take years to write like 10 pages, you know, because they keep wrestling with it back and forth, you know, they really can give them a voice to get that out there and really connect with readers.
So that’s really the passion for us, is helping make that all happen.
Alison Jones: Yes. Brilliant.
If you were to give somebody listening who is at the start of this journey, I mean, obviously you’re going to say it comes to us, but apart from that, what would be your sort of one big tip for someone who’s just setting out on the writing the business book journey?
Kevin Anderson: I’ll give two. One of them is get help early. Get somebody on your side that’s not AI, that knows the whole, you know, I mean, not a bad idea to start with AI to help you kind of see what if you know nothing about the publishing industry, although, beware, be very wary of that.
But get a professional who knows what they’re doing, who understands the bigger picture, even just an hour conversation with that person could save you hours and hours of time and frustration because they’ll be able to answer questions about the bigger picture, answer questions about what’s feasible or possible for you and your journey and just give you that confidence that you’re on the right track to move forward.
You know, a lot of mistakes that we see are that people come to us too late. They think, oh, I just want to do this on my own. And then once I’ve got everything done, then I’ll come to you. And then sometimes you look at it and you say, wow, geez, you know, if you would’ve come to us in the beginning, we would’ve saved you a lot of pain and heartache here because, you know, 75% of what you did there is actually not going to work to what you actually think it should be doing for you.
So yes, that would be a big thing is just, you know, you’ve got to have a good foundation. You know, you can always change things later on, but it’s important to just be aware of your big picture direction before you get going and just getting some professional help early on is key.
Alison Jones: Now you said two and that was your first one. Have you got a second?
Kevin Anderson: Oh, yes. Well, so, the second one would be to just, for a business book in particular, you know, just always keep your reader in mind, right? You know, it is important that it’s your book. It’s your voice, it’s your stories, of course.
But what do readers really want to know? What’s the promise to the reader that you have to bring? And just keep them in mind that, because ultimately, you know, I assume most authors, they’re not going to want to write a book that’s just shouting into a canyon with nobody to hear it. Right? The whole point is that you’re connecting with a reader.
So just think about what does the reader really need? You know, one of my pet peeves with books, with a lot of modern books is, I understand there’s a level of repetition that’s needed to kind of drive a point home, but at the same time, you know, in this day and age, try to be efficient, give meaty good content.
I know there’s the saying, you know, write like you’re writing to a sixth grade level person to make it that understandable. I understand all that, but one of the tips I would have for any business writer is just keep your reader in mind, respect their intelligence level. Also respect the fact that if you’re talking over them, that’s also going to be a problem just as much as talking under them. And just make sure you have something to say that’s going to be meaningful to them and that they’re going to want to, that’s going to be applicable somehow or another in their life.
Alison Jones: Brilliant. I mean, that’s kind of everything you need to know about starting writing a business book right there. Thank you.
And I always ask my guests to recommend a book. I’m guessing this is going to be really hard for you, but what book would you recommend…
Kevin Anderson: …yes…
Alison Jones: …us?
Kevin Anderson: Okay, so I’ll have to, obviously I’ll have to, I got to promote some of my clients’ books. So I will say Read Your Mind because it is brand fresh. It’s a New York Times bestseller. It’s been a bestseller month after month. His name’s Oz Pearlman. The nice thing about this book is it’s a great business book, but it’s also a great book for, you know, life skills in general.
That book will teach you how to gain an edge in terms of remembering people’s names, in terms of setting the stage of the conversation that’s going to be to your advantage. And you know, there’s a lot of great business lessons that he’s learned over the years and then there’s a lot of great personal lessons.
So it’s a great book that you know, if your partner is not a business person, you both can read it together and you’ll have all kinds of takeaways for interpersonal dynamics with your business. And they’ll have all kinds of takeaways for just how to impress people at a dinner party.
So, but it’s a very good book called Read Your Mind. It’s from the world’s leading mentalist.
Alison Jones: Fantastic. And I’m just puzzling over the idea of having the kind of marriage where you read a book together, that’s not going to happen for us. But wouldn’t that be lovely?
Kevin Anderson: There’s been a couple over the years. Usually they’re relationship books for me and my partner anyway. But yes.
Alison Jones: Brilliant. Kevin, it’s been so much fun talking to you. You’ve given us so much wisdom. Thank you so much. Where can people find out more about you, more about KAA, if they want to maybe see what you do?
Kevin Anderson: Yes, so the website is ka-writing.com. So ka-writing, like writing a book .com. And that, you know, when you go there, if you’re from the UK you can flip over to the UK side. We have a whole UK team. And then there’s a US team as well. And from there you’ll be able to see everything we do, the ways we do it.
You’ll also see our writers’ retreats that we do, we do these amazing writers’ retreats in Tuscany that anyone is welcome to go and be a part of.
But yes, it’s a great resource too. There’s lots of, not only Qs and As, but a lot of just articles and advice on the publishing industry in general.
Alison Jones: Thank you. I’ll put that link up on the show notes @extraordinarybusinessbooks.com and yes, thank you so much for your time today. It’s been terrific.
Kevin Anderson: My pleasure. Thanks Alison.
