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The Extraordinary Business Book Club

Alison Jones, publisher and book coach, explores business books from both a writer's and a reader's perspective. Interviews with authors, publishers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, tech wizards, social media strategists, PR and marketing experts and others involved in helping businesses tell their story effectively.
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The Extraordinary Business Book Club
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Now displaying: May, 2016
May 28, 2016

The Space Within: Finding your way back home is a very different type of business book. And to be fair, Michael Neill - transformative coach and mentor to CEOs and 'creative spark plug' to celebrities, CEOs and royalty - is no ordinary writer. If you're getting tired of chasing after the next 'how to do', if you're finding that no matter how many books you read or courses you take or videos you consume you're still restless and uncertain, this is probably the book for you. As you read it, you'll probably have the sensation that it's not so much telling you something new as reminding your of something you already knew, but had somehow lost or forgotten. 

If you're struggling with ways to express your thinking, this will be a particularly helpful episode. We talk a lot about metaphor and the role of writing in balancing what it is you do without necessarily articulating it: 'putting words to the music', as Michael so beautifully puts it. 

I don't have favourite episodes, obviously. But if I did, this would be one.

May 23, 2016

This week I'm interviewing Patrick McGinnis, the only other person I've ever met who broke the Myers-Briggs scale for extroversion. He's got some great tips on finding stories and integrating your book with your website, as well as some fascinating insights into the thinking behind his new work, The 10% Entrepreneur. In a world where no job is risk-free, this is a guide to carving out a portfolio life: balancing the security of the day job with the upside and fun of entrepreneurship. 

May 16, 2016

Promoting your book is just as essential and can be just as creative as the writing of it. In this week's episode, book PR expert Ben Cameron shares a host of practical tips on what to keep in mind as you write your book to maximise your chances of getting effective media coverage once it's published. What do you need to take advantage of opportunities to promote your book, and how can you position yourself so that journalists come to you when the right story breaks? 

Get the transcription of the interview over at www.extraordinarybusinessbooks.com

May 9, 2016

In this episode, Rachel Bridge, author of Ambition, talks about reclaiming a word that's got a bad reputation. Over the years she has interviewed hundreds of the world's most successful people in all spheres of life and has found a remarkable consistency in their attitude and habits, and this book is based on two simple, central messages: that life is short and you are capable of so much more than you imagine. It's a powerful kick in the pants, and a great example of the 'journalistic' approach to writing. 

There's also fascinating detail on how she goes about revising the first draft multiple times (her first reader is her mum!) and how to know when it's time to stop revising and ship the book. 

If you're sceptical about social media, you might also be inspired by the story of how this interview came to happen at all: via the magic of Twitter.

May 2, 2016

Something a little different this week. Marcus Woodburn is Vice Presidents, Digital Products at Ingram Content Group, a company at the epicentre of the global book and ebook ecosystem. One of their most recent and most interesting acquisitions is Aer.io (formerly Aerbooks), which enables publishers and authors to sell their books natively on the social web and from their own sites (unlike Amazon's widgets, this is a direct sale and gives the seller access to the purchaser's data, which is vital for building a relationship for the future).

I think this is revolutionary - it turns the entire web into your shop front, and reduces the friction between the impulse and the decision to buy. It's even more exciting than that: you can create new versions of a book for specific channels, so for example you could create or customise a book for clients on a particular course.

It's live in the US but - frustratingly - not yet available in the UK and EU as Ingram are still ploughing through the Byzantine tax regulations that govern our markets. I'll be first in the queue to try it out on Practical Inspiration titles once it's live.

Marcus and I talk about how bookselling is changing, and the opportunities the new tools and channels open up for business book authors.

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