The young and the restless: For all of the traditionalists who think self-publishing is kid stuff, top thriller writer Barry Eisler has news for you. The Times best-selling author made waves in the publishing world this week by turning down a $500,000 deal to put out the book on his own. But it was the story behind Eisler’s decision, as revealed by Galleycat, that really caught our attention. “My wife and daughter and I were sitting around the dinner table, talking about what kind of contract I would do next, and with what publisher,” said Eisler. “And then my eleven-year-old daughter said, ‘Daddy, why don’t you just self-publish?’”
There IS something in a name: With the dust settled on this year’s Cicero Speechwriting Awards, our friend David Murray at Vital Speeches of the day noticed an unusual common element among the winners – there was a high correlation between good titles and good speeches. Some of our favorite examples (courtesy of Master Murray):
- “Shift Happens”. . . If the speaker is willing to be this irreverent with a speech title, maybe the speech will be edgy too.
- “Money: The Root of All Happiness?”. . . That’s a reversal of conventional wisdom that inspires the listener or the reader to resolve it.
- “There Is More Than One Inconvenient Truth”. . . Again, we need to get to the bottom of this one. Is the speaker challenging Al Gore and his movie, or what?
Social promotion (author style): When it comes to flacking your book through social media, Nathan Bradford argues on his blog that there is no such thing as too early – even before you have written a word. In fact, Bradford suggests the best time for authors to start flogging through blogging and tweeting the drums is three years before your book comes out. To make his case, Bradford cites this insight from social media marketing guru Seth Godin: “It takes three years to build a reputation, build a permission asset, build a blog, build a following, and build the connections you’ll need later.”
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