They say the American Indian name for Milwaukee means “the good land”? or “gathering place by the water.”? But last week it was the Windy City that was the good land, the gathering place for a group of business book authors, industry insiders and 800-CEO-Read folks.
Over the course of two days, we covered everything from how to write a better business book to the health of the marketplace to putting together an author kit to getting more speaking gigs. (And that’s just skimming the surface.)
Here’s what a few of the authors are saying about the pow-wow:
For two days, we challenged each other to contemplate how we approach business books. How authors approach writing. How publishers approach working with authors. How retailers approach selling. What a book means for a career, to an individual and to a type of business.
Here’s what Ray Bard, founder of Bard Press, had to say about an author’s role in selling his or her book:
Bottom up, Word of Mouth, Customer Experience–these are what you have the most control over. So, what you’re doing is looking at ways in your own network, on your platform, where you can talk about customer experience. As a publisher, we work it from the inside out. But you have to think, What’s your speaking platform, what’s your core audience, where are your contacts, have you gone through all of that which you can build?
As the 8cr newbie, I can’t think of a better way to learn the ropes than meeting the authors–the creators behind the ideas that fuel our interests and sustain our business. Expect to hear lots more about this great event.
