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Publishing Choices: the hows, whys, and what’s to publish a book
Jan 28, 2010 Favorite URLs View Comments
At a recent think tank conference that I attend yearly, there were an overwhelming number of very smart, interesting folks who wanted to know about publishing books. Some wanted to know how to get to a publisher or choose a literary agent; some wanted to know which type of self-publishing to persue; some wanted a ghost writer. But there certainly was a lot of interest.
I have written/published 8 books. One was a NYTimes Business Bestseller. Two were Amazon best sellers. One was a self-published ebook. One was with a tiny publisher, one with a medium sized publisher, one with a large publisher. I’ve used one agent, 10 book publicists, had one live book tour and one virtual book tour.
I’d like to think I know the book publishing market a bit. Read More..
As A Single Woman
Jan 26, 2010 Sales Related View Comments
This past Saturday morning I woke up early for my longest workout of the week: pecs, shoulders, biceps and triceps and an hour of Body Step. I hate hate hate the gym (it’s a sadistic series of tortures that play on our guilt and vanity), but it must be done, alternate choices being what they are.
I then took myself out for a Starbucks, and sat for a while as I perused last week’s New Yorker and listened to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me on NPR. Then I drove to my ‘country’ house (just 15 miles from my downtown Austin loft) and sat in the sun, in my hammock next to the pond, reading and listening to some Keb Mo and Elvis, while the sun warmed me.
Around 4 I drove over to Barnes and Noble to indulge one of my passions: perusing bookstores for interesting titles. I bought a few: Joyce Carol Oates‘ short story collection from 1966 (who knew?), Oliver Saks’ “This is your brain on music” (anything by Saks is brain candy), Thomas Frank’s ‘The Wrecking Crew‘ (I heard him discuss his fascinating views on government last week on Bill Moyers), and an interesting-seeming book called “Your Inner Fish: A journey into the 3.5 billion-year history of the human body” by Neil Shubin. Just the title is almost enough. Read More..
Change is necessary. How can we make it fun?
Jan 25, 2010 Sales Related, Top Posts View Comments
These are heady days. Global business changes, environmental disasters, political upheavals. Change, Change, Change. Maybe it’s time to have another conversation about what change is. And at the same time, maybe discuss why it’s necessary to know how to change, since change is the only constant.
It’s a myth that change is difficult. Indeed, it’s not the change itself that’s difficult, it’s the underlying systems issues that balk, not the new idea or request. Here is why – and there is a very specific reason.
Systems – those interdependent rules, roles, politics, assumptions, and relationships, that make up the teams and families, companies and groups that we each belong to – are designed to operate as a whole, with all moving parts bought into the idiosyncratic rule that govern that entity. Read More..
How Can We Accept Innovators?
Jan 22, 2010 Sales Related View Comments
I am an innovator. I conceive and develop new models that I believe need to be in the world, and then I find a way to get them implemented. I have been hearing a lot of queries on this, lately, with folks offering different definitions, so I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring.
Being an innovator is a dark and lonely job – but someone has to do it. The problem with innovation is that it butts up against the status quo, and people don’t know they need it (The ‘change’ issue is another topic and I’ll discuss that next week.).
The telephone was invented in 1876, but wasn’t used between two cities until 1883. We all know the story of the Web – Bill Gates ignored it, almost to his peril, for many years until his team implored him to consider it. And of course no one was interested in laptops either for many years (What do we need them for?).
As the inventor of a decision facilitation model that can be used in sales as a way to lead buyers through their unconscious, internal, off-line decisions, I’ve heard for over 20 years that it was unnecessary, as the ’sales’ model took care of it (Thankfully there are enough visionaries in the world who hired me to teach their sales forces or I would have ended up like van Gogh – dead, with one ear.).
Now, apparently, I’ve hit the 100th monkey and the model is being recognized as a necessary way to help buyers manage the behind-the-scenes stuff that sales doesn’t address. Read More..
Reality vs. Manipulation: how do we see the world?
Jan 21, 2010 Random Thoughts View Comments
Here are 2 stories/jokes that show us all that how we view the world is definitely a biased process. As sellers, we view the buyer’s world according to how we think our product will fit a buyer’s need. As buyers, we view the world according to how to maintain stability and encourage buy-in as we seek excellence in our status quo. Solution purchase? The last thing we need.
It’s all about how we view the world. Viewing the world from another’s perspective and without bias opens up reality. The real question is: do we have the flexibility to truly enter another’s experience? Read More..
Wikipedia: a blessing and a curse
Jan 19, 2010 Favorite URLs View Comments
Sometimes being a thought leader is frustrating. OK – it’s often frustrating. I usually know how to be patient, or recognize what is happening so I can make some sort of sense of stuff going on. But this time I’m stumped. This time Wikipedia has me totally flummoxed.
Given that I have developed a decision facilitation model that is being used in sales called Buying Facilitation®, and that people are starting to use the phrase regularly, I kinda thought that putting up a generic page of text about it would help folks define it properly. Read More..
