APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur. The One Book You Need to Self-Publish.

Guy Kawasaki knows how to enchant, there's no doubt about it. That's why he was able to write a business book called "Enchantment" and get away with it. I managed to catch an online interview with him talking about his last book, APE, where he not only explained very clearly the advantages of self-publishing over publishing, but also highlighted that you should write a book because you want to write a book and not any other reason.

He got me. I had to read his book.

So I went to the APE the book's website and found the area where they offered to send you a PDF copy in exchange for a review. So here I am, ready to tell you how much I loved the book. Of course I will also let the authors know (the book is co-authored with Shawn Welch), following my own advice from a previous post.

APE: Author, Publisher and Entrepreneur - the review.

****As an Author, I loved it.****

I've never been "properly" published and the only contact I've had with publishers was when I tried to get my translation of When Five Years Pass to market in 1998. I got great feedback from editors and theatres' literary managers. However, they all said the same thing: Lorca, beyond his three tragedies, doesn't really sell. And maybe they were right, as When Five Years Pass has indeed not sold very well (you can still buy it though!). So when self-publishing became a (cheap) reality, I decided to go for it and forget about traditional publishing.

Which is one of the reasons why I liked this book. It goes into some detail to explain the traditional publishing process, so that as an author you can make an informed decision of where you want to put your efforts. The detail continues when the authors lay out a series of writing tools, including the different word processors available.

It also has valuable advice about writing the book per se and my favourite quote has to be:

"Your first and most important reader is YOU."

Enough to keep me motivated.


****As a Publisher, it made me re-think about how I'm writing my book.****

Now here is where you might notice that I don't know much about publishing a book. I didn't realise that there were two types of editing: content editing and copyediting.

As I have written my books, I have passed them around a few friendly hands to correct my spelling, grammar, tell me where I'd lost the plot and other general thoughts. What I hadn't realised was that the job of the editor starts before the book is written and they can help you to structure your book. In fiction, they might even suggest scrapping a character or changing "your voice".

Now, with three books in the writing, I'm taking my time to decide how the book should be structured, what kind of tone it should have etc etc. I even asked my friend Tomás to help me find the structure for one of them.

The book also has plenty of advice and tips to make the book as professional as possible.

"These ways of avoiding the "self-published" look are simple and easy, and they increase the attractiveness, professionalism and marketability of your book."

****As an Entrepreneur, it's made my life easier!****

The good thing about self-publishing is that you can spend your time writing your next book instead of trying to pitch your current one to an editor or agent. The bad thing about self-publishing is that because you don't have an editor or an agent, you have to spend your writing time promoting your book. 

This is where APE: Author, Publisher and Entrepreneur comes in sooo handy. As well as plenty of links to platforms where you can promote your book, it has some detailed advice on how to build your personal brand. I love the way it dissects "trust" (something I'm a bit obsessed with myself), "likeability" and "competence". This way of promotion is not necessarily new (if you read enough blogs and books on using social media for your business you will be already very familiar with the concept) but here the concepts are explained beautifully, and illustrated by the story of how the authors met.

A word of warning: if you are reading this on a device connected to the internet, you will go MAD if you follow all the links the book contains. So make sure you make plenty of notes and don't use the links as an excuse for putting off the real work!

*****APE****

That's it. I have other thoughts, but I will leave them for my APE review on Amazon.

This is probably one of the longest and most detailed reviews I have ever written, but that is because this is one of the most detailed guides to self-publishing I have ever read. Even the summaries add value!

(PS If you want to buy the book, click on the image in this post and I will take a miniscule percentage of your Amazon purchase. That can be your way of letting me know you liked this post.)

Loved a Book? Tell the Author!

I've been writing since I was seven and was lucky enough to always have a readership (thanks, Mum!). I've always had friends, or friends of friends, or sisters of friends, or friends of mum who enjoyed reading my work and giving me some sort of feedback. One of my mother's friends even wrote two full "critiques" on a play and a short story I wrote when I was in my late teens.

So I've always known that it was worth spending my time writing and that there was always someone, somewhere, who would listen to what I had to say.

Now that I've ventured in the self-publishing world, I'm still craving for people to tell me what they thought of my book. Let me rephrase that: I'm still craving for people to tell me what they enjoyed in my books. Sometimes it's friends or people I know who tell me, sometimes in passing or weeks after they've read a book I didn't even know they had purchased. My bestseller amongst friends and acquaintances has been The A to Z of Spanish Culture, the only completely new book I've written so far specifically for publication - all my other books had actually been written in the 90's or are compilations of material I already had lying around, sometimes with added content.

It took me a year to write The A to Z, since I decided it had to be written to the time it was ready to be sold, so it's very heartening to 1) see that people buy it, 2) know that people read it and 3) learn that people like it.

It's often difficult not to like what your friends create, so I expect my friends to have kind words to say about my books, while also listening to what they are not saying as a clue for where there is room for improvement.

When acquaintances tell me they have enjoyed it, my heart starts to race a bit faster. I've received two such e-mails so far: one from mother-of-friend and one from friend-of-parents, telling me how much and why they enjoyed the book.

And then, this week, I received an e-mail from a reader who really liked "When Five Years Pass". In the same way as The A to Z holds a special place in my heart, so does this little known Lorca play. I battled during my theatre practitioner and teaching days to get this play recognised by the British public as a much more worthy classic than "Blood Wedding". It's rarely performed because the language and story are not straight forward. The surrealism makes it not as "accessible" as other plays. But it is precisely that surrealism that makes the play fantastic. And I wish you could all read Spanish, because the language... well, the language is out of this world. That's why Lorca was killed: not just because he was gay, not just because he was left-winged but also because he was an artist ahead of his time with plenty to say.

So, back to the title of this post. To get an e-mail from someone who enjoyed this play was really, really special. Unless your book gets reviewed, you never know if there's any point to it being out there. I'll be honest, I much prefer no reviews to bad reviews but at the same time, no reviews make me feel like maybe the book is a bit, well, blah.

If you particularly enjoy a book, tell the author. Send them a note, you'll often get a reply. Write a review online, with a couple of lines on what made the book special to you. Make the world a better place by spreading a bit of feedback, a bit of joy and encouraging those whose work you enjoy to write a bit more.

You can read the review on When Five Years Pass here.

Change of Direction or Evolution?

The last month has been about "getting on with it".

Getting on with defining what I stand for in the world of "leadership and team development", getting on with finding different ways of making money as the Spanish crisis has affected my voiceover work and getting on with writing, for the first time, for money.

If you've read any of my stuff before, you'll know that I really enjoy writing. If you read any of my books, you'll see that I write in short bursts. That's why blogging is great for me. (I always noticed how when I worked with Forbidden Theatre Company, I produced the best work during the Freestyle Performances, which were bursts of work rather than full-length shows.)

What Do I Stand For?
Thanks to a workshop I attended yesterday (or rather, thanks to the people who made the workshop the great experience it was), I have realised that the importance of what I do in organisations and with individuals, in terms of developement, lies in my ideology and not in my methodology. Let me explain.

I always talk about using theatre-based concepts, when what I should be talking about is the "ensemble". I give great importance to the Unusual Connections made between the experiential activities and the workplace, as a way of learning, when I should be talking about the importance of "invisible leadership" and the need to keep everyone involved and growing. I go in great detail about how the exercises work, when I should be talking about how my practice enabled actors to turn into directors, teachers, writers and even producers.

So, there, that happenned last month. Now thanks to Trine Garrett, most of this is starting to come through the Unusual Connections website. Slowly, I hope it will all be there.

What Have I Learnt?
In writing a couple of guest blog posts for other people, I realised how much I've learnt over the last years. Having stayed away from Social Media for a long time, I realised the potential it has for networking and learning. I was approached by the owner of the PaidTo.co.uk site and so I wrote an article about how to use LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. It's a different style to that to which I'm used to (i.e. I ramble less and don't go off on tangents), so it's been a great experience. Do have a look and tell me what you think.

I also wrote a post as a response to "Adventures", a very entertaining and special blog series hosted by InMovement. "A Little Bit Rusty and a Little Bit Scared" is about my attempt to learn how to ride a bike again, at the age of 40. Of course, it is about much more than that, that's the beauty of the Adventure series. Have a look.

So, February was good. It was really good.

March is going to be a lot more social. I am giving a talk at the Hub King's Cross on virtual teams: Virtual, not Distant and I'm running a team-away session for a laboratory.

Can't wait!

Loved: Eleven by Mark Watson

ELEVEN is the second novel I've read by Mark Watson and I continue to be impressed by how much his own voice and personality disappear behind his writing: the mark of a true artist. What does remain are his warmth and un-pretentiousness (if there is such a word, which there probably isn't if I go by the red squiggly line under it in my editor).

Eleven is SO easy to read. Without realising it, you are transported backwards and forwards in time, you are interested in what's going on in Xavier's workplace (a radio station) and his flat, you are let into his friendship with Murray (his sidekick) and get a glimpse of the life of his neighbours, which are never exactly what they appear to be.

To describe the plot would do a disservice to the book, as it's remarkably simple. Xavier, a radio presenter, left his Australian life behind five years ago due to an incident which I won't reveal here. That's mainly it, but the ease with which Mark Watson tells us about his day to day life and those around him, make it difficult to put down the novel.

Xavier changes through the book, like all well-written heroes. He is more than a late night radio show presenter - he cares about his listeners (in spite of him trying not to) and although he tries to keep his distance, it's not always possible. During Eleven, we share the moment in Xavier's life in which he can finally move away from his past by changing his approach to life and those around him.

What I loved most about the book was the range of characters (eleven of them!), with their futures marked out for them. There are more than eleven, but it's eleven characters who create a chain of events with the broadest of consequences. The novel is a reminder of how the smallest of our actions can affect the lives of others - not just to those around us, but to those linked to us by eleven degrees of separation.

You might also want to read: 

You might want to visit: www.markwatsonthecomedian.com/

New Year, New Social Media Platform.

I know, if Social Media sites continue growing, soon updating them will become a full-time job.

Oh well, as long as we're all still having fun...

I've joined Audioboo and hope I will continue to use it. This is a platform for "boos" which are short podcasts of under 3 minutes long (or longer if you have a Premium account), which you record through their website or App. It's great, really easy to use. It's also great for me, because I'm not used to recording anything without a script or to doing live broadcasting, so I can also use it to become better at, well, talking into a mike.

I hope to continue using it. We shall see whether it becomes my new Twitter (where wonderful things happen) or whether it goes down the same path as my Squidoo account... which I haven't visited in over a year. All bets welcome.

For now, here is the link to my Audioboo page, where you can listen to my "boos". Let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

http://audioboo.fm/Piluks

Reasons to be Twankful - thanking Twitter for 2012

I try not to get caught up in the whole Christmas/New Year "thing" and I know that 2013 is only a week away and not a whole year, but as the world stops around me for a few days, I can't help thinking about the last 12 months.

One thing I loved doing this year, which I never thought I would say, was being on Twitter.

I've had many conversations with people about why it's so wonderful and have come to the conclusion, that like many other great tools, there are many ways to use it, it just depends on what you want to get from it.

I don't have a smartphone, so I mainly use Twitter through Hootsuite on my tablet, which means I'm not on it all day, just at certain times.

So, let me get straight into my reasons to be Twankful.

1) I found a new business partner after meeting lots of new, great people!

Not just that, there is much more to it. It's a bit of a long story, but can be traced back to Twitter.

Back in April (I think), I opened a new Twitter account to publicise my book The A to Z of Spanish Culture. As I was following people, I got a nice Direct Message back (you can see what this is in this other blogpost about Twitter) from Steve at @thisisspain saying I could publicise the book through his site and also, would I like to join a Facebook group (you can read more about this here).

I joined the group WABAS, which is now my main reason for going on Facebook and in September, when I went to Madrid for a few weeks, I decided to try to meet some of these virtual people in the flesh. To cut a long story short, I ended up going to a networking event, the Guiripreneurs (best name ever!), where I met Kirstin Donovan, with whom I have now set up the project Teambuilding Madrid. Plus, it was lovely to meet Maxine, Graham and Pierre in the flesh.

There you go. All traced back to Twitter.

2) I've connected with someone who understands me!

I'm always searching for like-minded people in the "learning and development" world and managed to find someone who shares the importance of exploring what makes us tick and what makes us enjoy working together, through physical exercises and play.

I started following Catherine from In Movement on Twitter after I read one of her blog posts and she reached out, with a personal direct message. (If you want to see how Twitter can be used to connect and meet new people, I suggest you follow her.) I thought that someone who had taken the time to look properly at who was "following" her was definitely worth talking to. We had a chat in October and are planning to meet in person in January. As she is based in Manchester, without Twitter it would have been difficult to make contact. Thank you, Twitter!

3) I got back in touch with someone I grew up with. 

I know most people are doing this through Facebook, and in a way, I did too.

His brother had posted a link to a video where my friend Pablo was seen giving being weightless a try. Knowing he was a journalist, I thought he must be on Twitter. I found him, (going by the wonderful name of @mono_pensante (thinking monkey)) he was happy that I found him and last September, when I was in Madrid, we had lunch. Furthermore, he's a science correspondent, so I'm always interested in what he has to say.

If anyone would have said our former 7-year-old selves that we would re-kindle our friendship from something named after the communication skills of a bird, we would have been left puzzled and confused.

Well, that's it for now.

I'm not sure whether three reasons to be thankful to Twitter make a post, but I wanted to share them with you to show that Twitter, as well as other social media platforms, can be useful and easily translate into the real world. I think that's what's important, to remember that these virtual worlds don't exist just parallel to our real one, but in connection to them.

Use them well, use them wisely or don't use them at all.

Something a little bit different.

2012 has definitely been the year of the App for me. The year of technology, to be more precise. Making full use of my Kindle, using an iPad for work and pleasure (let's face it, the only way I can tell whether I'm working or playing is by what time of the day I'm active).

So, as I prepare to write the last post of the year (Reasons to be Twankful) I'd like to leave you with the audio version of one of my poems.

I hope you enjoy it and that it doesn't stress you out, as it's from my poetry book '31 Poems for the Angry Commuter'.

Happy listening!

listen to ‘The Underground, a poem for the angry commuter’ on Audioboo

Ode to the London Underground

If you prefer to listen to the audio version, here it is.

listen to ‘The Underground, a poem for the angry commuter’ on Audioboo

4 minutes for the next train.
3 minutes.
2 minutes.
1 minute.
Still one minute.
Where is it?
One minute still?

Here it comes.
Mind the gap.
Mind the yellow line.
Mind the idiot with the suitcase.

Ouch!

Get off the carriage.
Get off the carriage.
Come on we haven't got all day.

Let the passengers off the train first!

But they're not getting off, they think they have all day!

Run in, run in, push, the doors start closing...

Stand clear of the closing doors.

I'm trying, I'm trying!

Maybe I can sit there... no, I can't.
The priority seat is empty, shall I...?
No, I won't be able to relax, wondering whether I should give up my seat.

If the lady looks a bit old, will I offend her?
If a lady looks pregnant, will I offend her?
If I don't give up my seat, will I be offending society in general?

Where is the rule book???

Meanwhile I will just stand here and stare into space.
Or read the adverts.
But I don't want anyone seeing me reading the one about the dating site for professionals.
They'll think I'm desperate.
But I have a boyfriend.
They'll think I'm not happy.
But I'm just curious.
They'll... never mind, no-one's really looking, no-one really cares whether I read that stupid advert or not.

Maybe I'll read another one, the one about problems with your bladder...
Can one not read the adverts without wondering about what people will think?

I'll just look around.
He's wearing an interesting jumper.
His shoes don't match his trousers.
He caught my eye.
He'll think I'm staring.
I'm not, look, look how I look at everyone else in the carriage as well.

I look at the woman who's chewing gum. Can't stand it.
I look at the boy who's biting his nails. Can't stand it.
I look at the girl who's just sitting there... with her iPod full blast:

Get some proper headphones!!!

I don't like her music.
Shall I say something?
Shall I stare at her until she feels intimidated,
Until she feels like she's intruding in my auditory space,
Until she's so ashamed of her uncivil behaviour that she snaps the wire in two and never listens to loud music in the tube ever again?

I'll just grab that seat over there instead.
Take out my Kindle.

Now I can relax.
I have my own space.
I can just sit and read.
Enjoy the silence (kind of).
Enjoy the fact that I can do nothing but read.
I love the tube.

Oh shit, my stop!

Keep Your Options Open...

... and you'll get more out of life.

I've never considered myself an adventurer. I'm not a great risk-taker. I don't mind going out of my comfort zone but sometimes I consider myself a bit antisocial.

But every now and then, I just push myself to do something because I know it will be good for me.

Such was the case last September. Well, the story starts earlier than that. Some months ago, I opened a Twitter account to publicise my book, The A to Z of Spanish Culture.  Early on, a fellow "twitterer" reached out, Steve Hall from thisisspain.com. "Hey," he said. "You might be interested in joining a Facebook group, made up of writers and bloggers in Spain."

A Facebook group, moi? To do what?

I might not be adventurous but I have a lot of time for people who reach out. It usually works out ok (except for last week when someone from a LinkeIn group invited me to connect with them and straight away went into a hard-sell, but that's another story...).

So, I joined this Facebook group, full of mainly British expats who have set up shop in Spain. I couldn't believe it, just like me to meet new people in Spain (a rare occurrence as I mainly see just my friends and family when I'm visiting) and they happen to be mainly British.

To cut a long story short, I fitted right in. I disagree on the whole with how much Spain has to offer (of course, they're there out of choice and I left the country out of choice) but the group soon felt like somewhere pleasant to hang out online.

Then in September, I went to Madrid for three weeks. Wouldn't it be great, I thought, to meet some of these people? So, rather nervously (did I mention I'm not very sociable and like my cosy, close group of friends?) I posted on the group to see who might be up for meeting up. A couple of people said yes and we set a date.

And then, someone said. "Oh, I've just realised that I have organised a networking event on that evening. Why don't you all come?"

Argh! Networking is an important part of being self-employed and a business owner but I can only do it when I don't realise I'm doing it. In any case, I read through the agenda for the event and saw that we had to do a 30 second introduction to the whole group. Great.

"Ok," I suggested. "Why don't we go for the welcoming drinks and then leave before the "formal networking" begins?"

But, on the day, chatting to the wide variety of people there, I began to enjoy the conversations with all these entrepreneurs, these "Guiripreneurs" as the group is called. ("Guiri" is slang for foreigner in Spanish.) Meeting so many people together who were determined to create or begin to create their own work was very energising.

Now we're getting to the point of the story where the reason for this blog post becomes clear. (Took me a while.)

Talking to a woman at the event, we realised we were both in the professional development industry and so we decided to have coffee the following week, to find out more about what we both did. And then the unexpected happened. We have set up a project in Madrid. At no point in my career had I ever thought of working in Spain, much less of opening a business-type venture, but the suggestion from Kirstin that we run something together was difficult to resist.

So, in a month we have developed a range of teambuilding courses, created the website and have our first prospect meeting lined up. It's not the best of times to pursue a business opportunity in Madrid, but then again, we have very little to lose and a lot to gain, even if it's just the experience of working together.

The venture is called Teambuilding Madrid and through it we deliver teambuilding courses in English, with a focus on productivity, change or presentation skills. The courses are delivered in English, so we are actually offering three benefits for the price of one: team growth, skills-based training and the opportunity for participants to practice their English.

Let's see how it goes - and do drop me a comment below if you know of anyone who might be interested in our new venture!

The White Tiger and Last Man in Tower

I know very little about India and that's one of the main reasons why I really enjoy reading Aravind Adiga's books.

The White Tiger drops you bang in the middle of contemporary India - in between city and village life; in between castes and lifestyles. The main character of the novel is an astute chauffeur determined to escape his fate, whatever it takes. Through him we see the roughest side of Indian society, made more palatable by the epistolary form. I do love reading novels written in the form of letters - somehow it makes me feel closer to the characters in the story.

I read The White Tiger a few years ago and as my memory erases the content of novels before I can say "I really enjoyed it but I can't remember the plot" this is all I can say about it right now. I wanted to write about Last Man in Tower, which I finished only last week - but seeing as I also enjoyed Adiga's first novel, I thought I'd talk about them both.

Last Man in Tower is precisely about that: about the last man who stands up to the ruthless developers who want to knock down a residents' tower in Mumbai, to build a luxury complex.

Masterij is a retired school teacher who holds on to his Rubik cube and the memory of his dead wife. The thought of being bought out and driven away from his neighbours not only fills him with sadness, but also gives him a new mission in life: to represent the powerless but hard-working people of Mumbai.

As a range of characters emerged with their fears, their quirks and their dark sides, I found their presence lingering in my mind and having to constantly grab my Kindle to read about whatever they were up to next.

As all great writers do (and I do consider Araving Adiga a wonderful writer), Adiga reflects a world which is not divided into good and bad people and I ended up both agreeing and disagreeing with most characters' actions and words as the story progressed.

A bit of suspense, a bit of humour, in-depth characters and a reflection of contemporary India make this one of those books that stay with you for a long, long while.