Back in episode 286, I set out a list of things that editors hate and how to avoid them. Apparently that was very helpful, but lots of people have suggested that I needed to do a more positively focused companion episode, so here it is: what makes editors’ hearts sing?…
“We knew that a handbook had to be incredibly practical… we tried to help people to really work through the stages that you need to think about.” There could hardly be a more important topic for businesses to engage with today than sustainability, and yet most businesses are still at…
‘It starts off as me working out what I think, and then it becomes something I’m going to share with other people… The point at which I allow myself to start imagining a reader is really important.’ Writing isn’t just a tool for communication, and your book isn’t just a…
They told Christian Busch that it would be ‘academic suicide’ to do his PhD on the science of luck. But it turns out that luck isn’t a random force at all: the results may be unpredictable, but the process of becoming luckier is a simple matter of creating more connections…
Whether you need to focus on building your following or your partnerships, or simply be a bit braver at making new connections, there’s inspiration and ideas for you here.
‘We’re designed as cyclical creatures, from the most basic microcycle of breathing in and out to the annual cycle of the seasons, and if the New Year to come is our time for resolutions and purposeful action, the days before it, these Twixtmas days, are a time for gathering our…
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…
‘No one wants to be preached at or talked down to, or made to believe it’s fancier than it is. This is not rocket science. This is just good, plain common sense. You need a framework. There are lots of them out there. This is the one that works for…
‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ It might not sound like the most positive of mantras, but that simple question lies behind Sonya Barlow’s astonishing success: one of 2020’s Most Influential Women in Tech, a top 50 BAME entrepreneur, LinkedIn’s Changemaker 2021 for Gender Diversity and Inclusion and Marie Claire’s…
What’s the magic by which the Word document you’ve been working on for so many weeks and months is transformed into a book? Jo Bottrill, head of Newgen UK, is a book production expert who’s worked with thousands of authors to perform exactly that magic, and in this conversation he…
