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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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Now displaying: February, 2017
Feb 27, 2017

It's The Extraordinary Business Book Club's half-century episode! And we're celebrating with an extraordinary selection of Best Bits from episodes 41-49: 

  • Michael E. Gerber on creating a legacy
  • David Taylor on being the best you
  • Martin Goodyer on the single strong idea
  • Heather McGowan on visualizing information
  • Emma Serlin on the psychology of speaking
  • Susan Heaton Wright on overcoming the fear of speaking in public
  • Kelly Pietrangeli on building the platform before the book
  • Scott Pack on what it takes to crowdfund a book successfully
  • Guy Kawasaki on crowdsourcing feedback to improve the book 

It's an incredible line-up, and the themes reflect the very best of The Extraordinary Business Book Club, from the big picture to the tactical details of communicating your unique message in a multiplatform world. 

Plug in and play, and lose yourself in half an hour of inspiration, ideas and insight. And cake. 

Feb 20, 2017

Susan Heaton-Wright has performed on many of the world's greatest stages as an opera singer, but it was only after she'd had her baby that she realised the skills she'd developed - being able to walk into a room with confidence, to project her voice clearly and perform in front of an audience - could be invaluable to business people. 

A whole new business emerged, and now Susan helps people speak in public effectively (she also has a side-line in providing live music for events, but that's a whole other podcast...). 

In this episode we talk about the beautiful synergy between writing and speaking, and how authors can create and use speaking opportunities strategically to promote their book and build their business.

There's a bit of podcasting love going on too: Susan is the host of top podcast Superstar Communicator, and occasionally the interviewer/interviewee roles get a bit muddled...

Feb 13, 2017

'I don't think many authors would put themselves through what I put myself through. How many authors are confident enough or stupid enough to send their manuscript to a thousand people who they have no idea who they are, and just say, "Okay, just tell me what you don't like."'

But over the course of 13 bestselling books, Guy Kawasaki has discovered that this is in fact the best way to create his best book. 

'There's no doubt in my mind that the crowd improves my books,' he says. It began when he sent out his first manuscripts to a select few beta readers and noticed how invaluable their feedback was.

'Then I figured out that... maybe you don't know all the intelligent people in the world firsthand, so maybe you should broaden your net.'

Now he puts up publicly the table of contents and then the full first draft, turning on the comments function and inviting anyone who's interested to give their opinion. The feedback helps in the rewriting, and it also completely changes his relationship with his readers, who become invested in the book and its success. 

An incredibly inspiring episode, and Guy keeps it real with his advice on getting the darn thing done and not messing up your cover. 

Feb 6, 2017

When Emma Serlin founded the London Speech Workshop, she came at the science of effective communication from two perspectives: her professsional background in the theatre as an actor and director, and her academic background in psychology.

The result is a powerful theory and practice of communication - The Communication Equation. At its simplest it's an equation: 

Authenticity + Connection = Engagement

In this episode we explore how understanding the principles of both performance and psychology can help you communicate more effectively, with important lessons for writers as well as speakers, and how bringing together diverse perspectives and experiences can generate creative insights for your business and your book. 

There's also some practical advice on adapting face-to-face exercises for a book and the power of stories. And, as you'd expect, Emma has a really, really nice voice. 

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