Books and shows to get you writing

Learning tools in the digital age are more close to us than ever and with the *power of free* we an access amazing content produced by professionals who pour their talents and skills to inspire, challenge and give us a push to get take matters in our hands and stop “waiting to be discovered”. First, here are a couple of podcasts to make the most of your commutes:

The self publishing show

By Mark Dawson and James Blatch

Mark is an experienced and successful writer and self published author and the James is getting the hang of the learning curve. That’s a very interesting middle ground from where you as a listener and newbie can learn from both perspectives.

They interview writers who share a lot of insight about their winning strategies to write, balance work, make the most of all digital tools available.

Listen here.

The extraordinary business book club

By Alison Jones

Alison Jones is an editor, publisher and book coach specialised on business books and by business I mean -all businesses.- She interviews entrepreneurs, professionals, publishers, and leaders from many areas, that have use the great tool of book writing to pivot their businesses build a personal brand and take their expertise to a whole new level. She also has a great book to go with this journey, scroll down to read my review about it.

Listen here.

And here are three books that will cover critical aspects about self publishing:

• The technical and legal aspects of authoring a book and self publishing.
• A compelling guide to walk you through the process of making a book proposal, defining your ideas and practical tips and exercises to maximise our efforts.
• And last,  how to develop and implement a parallel plan to set your career in the right path maximising your network, creating goals and be mindful and efficient with your time and effort.

Let’s Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should

by David Gaughran  

*The* book you need to read about self publishing.

More overwhelming than not knowing where to start when it comes to self publishing, is where to look for advise. The plethora of books about self publishing makes it really hard to find out the right one for you. David Gaughran makes a superb recap of the state of the publishing industry, both print and digital and how to avoid getting caught up in scams of pseudo professional publishers and abusive business practices of “respectable” publishing houses.

Let’s Get Digital definitely makes the case about the numerous benefits of going solo, but it doesn’t leave any rock unturned when it comes to analysing all the steps you need to take to be in total control of your work. Self publishing also means that you will be person responsible for your own success, and scary as this can be, if you accelerate your learning curve and find a strategy that can allow you to combine different activities to generate active and passive income you will become more efficient and mindful about your work.

It is so much more than “putting your work out there” learning to engage with your readers grow your audience, rate a community and evolve personally with your work requires discipline, an open mind and direction, which is something this book provides.

This Book Means Business: Clever ways to plan and write a book that works harder for your business.

By Alison Jones

Editor, podcaster and writing workshop expert Alison Jones poured an enormous and valuable amount of tips and really practical tips and exercises to help you going from “having an itch” about writing to finish with a rounded book proposal.

Earlier this year (2018) I took one of her free online book-writing challenges and it was a great experience that really pushed me think outside the box and step in the shoes of an editor and a reader and really challenge the ways I normally communicate and write to be read.

I have to say that between “Let’s get digital” and this book you will find some parallel ideas and some that are slightly divergent but I think that by reading both points of view, from an independent and successful author and someone lie Alison who brings her expertise and very cleverly adds the voices of many talented authors and guests of her show, you get a wider and clear understanding of how publishing works and how to make it work for you.

I also highly recommend her podcast “The extraordinary business book club”  as a way to expose yourself to other people’s ideas, the craft of writing and how to profit in an ethical, and creative way of all the talent and experience you already have!

Become A Key Person Of Influence: The 5 Step Sequence to Becoming One of the Most Highly Valued and Highly Paid People in Your Industry 

by Daniel Priestley  

This book is not really about self-publishing, but hear me out when I say that your personal growth can’t be detached from your professional development. In order to get a more rounded professional success, some good coaching is needed, and this book *really* breaks down how to make the most of your network, experience, skills and opportunities in the digital age.

There is no magic solution, this is not about “being one with the universe”, this book helps you refocusing your work and mindset to better, clearer and more ambitious goals. After all, if you are willing to set new challenges for yourself, like writing a book, self publish or simply take your work to “the next level”, you need professional and practical ways to set an achievable plan to maximise al your efforts.

If you are anything like me and spend most of your days relentlessly working, then you need to know that sometimes is not about how much you put in but where is that energy going and if it’s making the desirable impact. I never learnt that at college, heck! No one ever told me that at any job I’ve had, but this book really has helped me become more mindful, assertive and even to value my own work in a way I hand’t done before. It is book is a great tool that will pay for itself.