Wednesday 25 May 2011

Write For You is coming to Hartlepool

A lot of people we meet say, "Oh I've always wanted to write..."

So true to our belief that, if you have a book in you, we can help you to get it out, we are launching a brand new writing course in Hartlepool... with a difference.

The course will be for anyone who wants to write:

+ Fiction, such as short stories or a novel

+ Non-Fiction, such as business books, local history, biography or hobbies

+ Poetry and prose

And at the end of the course, we will be publishing a collection of all of the suitable work that the participants have produced.

On top of that, if you choose to work on a business book, or a full novel, you can publish it through us at 10% off the usual costs.

Why are we doing this?

Local colleges often run 'creative writing courses', but what we have found that most people want isn't just to be able to write, it's to see their work in print.

When you attend this course, even if you only produce one poem or a very short story that you're proud of, you'll see it in print in the collection for that course. You'll be able to buy copies at trade rates for your friends and family, you'll see it on Amazon and other retailers, and you can even get it into local book shops and libraries.

Because of the location and evening schedule of this course, we're aiming it at people who live in these areas:

Hartlepool
Darlington
Seaham
Stockton On Tees
Middlesbrough
Redcar
Billingham
Cleveland
Teeside
County Durham

Although anyone is welcome from any area.

Currently planned to run for 12 weekly evening sessions, the course will include the following:
  • Planning what to write
  • Becoming an author
  • Structuring your work
  • Overcoming writer's block
  • The critical process
  • Editing and proof reading
  • Understanding copyright and publishing
  • Marketing your work

Each week, we'll review and critique what participants have written, so we'll waste no time during the course itself, and our approach is suited to all types of writing, whether you want to write poetry, your grandmother's life story, a business or self-help book or a book about local history or your hobby.

At the end of the course, we will take all of the participants' chosen contributions and publish them as a collection, and we'll even organise a launch event and author reading to publicise your work to friends, family, colleagues, clients and the media.

We're in the process of organising this now, so if you are interested, register with us so that we can keep you posted. We're also looking for the right venue, so if you have any suggestions, let us know.

Either leave a comment here or visit www.cgwpublishing.com and use the contact form there.

Saturday 14 May 2011

Pitching for Business in UK plc


The Apprentice is back on television in the UK, and with it comes the inevitable media focus on entrepreneurial business skills and, in particular, the art of pitching.

Almost every episode of the popular, business based cross between a reality program and a game show features the contestants having to make a pitch.

They pitch for business, pitch for orders, pitch ideas and they pitch to keep their jobs in the boardroom showdown at the end of each week's task.

What does this say about the bigger world of business in UK plc?

For a start, pitching is something that everyone in a business needs to do at some point – even if it's only in their interview and annual performance appraisal. Most staff have to pitch ideas, pitch for resources and pitch themselves for promotions.

And one thing that I can say, having seen thousands of pitches first hand, is that UK plc's HR department needs to invest in developing our collective pitching skills if we are to compete on a world stage.

Does this mean that staff in other countries outshine us? No, definitely not. I believe that our front line business men and women are easily amongst the most professional and capable in the world. But to compete, you have to be more than good enough. You have to be better. Much better.

One of our authors, Paul Boross, works with people to refine their pitch. As 'The Pitch Doctor', he helps them to focus on their key message, connect with the audience and get their message across. So what are the most important tips that The Pitch Doctor can offer you, and the contestants in The Apprentice, to make sure you make the most of every opportunity to pitch?

Here are Paul's Seven Secrets to a Successful Pitch, taken from his book 'The Pitching Bible', available from all good book shops and published by CGW Publishing at £14.99, ISBN 9780956535825.

Secret 1: It’s All About Them

Apparently, a fear of public speaking is one of the most common problems in the world of business. According to one survey, people fear it more than death.

There are many, many techniques that you can learn to overcome any fear of presenting, but you don’t need any of them. You just need to master the first secret.

Think about the worst presentation you have ever seen. Did you find that the presenter just read from the slides, didn’t interact with the audience and droned on even though no-one was listening? Did the presenter appear ’self conscious’?

All of these problems arise from the same source: the first and most fundamental mistake that people make when pitching is that they focus on themselves instead of on the audience.

Secret 2: By The Time You Start, It’s Already Too Late

When does a pitch start? Most people say the pitch starts when you show the first slide, when you stand up to speak, or even when the audience walks into the room.

They are wrong. The pitch starts the moment the audience buys the ticket or the moment your audience first commit to listening to your pitch. It is then their expectations start to form, and that is the point from which you must be able to influence them.

Secret 3: Steady, Ready, Pitch!

The audience has to be ready to listen before you start speaking. Get their attention and build rapport with them. Avoid ice breakers, because they actually distract from the topic of your pitch and break this rapport. Pausing before you begin is a sign of control, so take all the time you need.

Secret 4: Dream The Dream

Your pitch, your idea, was created in a dream world. In order for that dream to become a reality, you need to draw the audience into that dream.

Drawing the audience into your dream with rich, vivid, emotional, sensory language allows you to convey far more than you ever could describe in facts, figures and ‘benefits’. Bring your pitch to life and let your words carry the sights, sounds, feelings, tastes and smells of success.

Secret 5: Mind Your Language

While 93% of your message may be conveyed non-verbally, there is no doubt your language conveys the raw information your audience needs to make a decision.

For example, traditional sales training advocated selling ‘benefits’ rather than ‘features’. A nice idea in principle, but let down by poor execution. The traditional ‘feature means benefit’ model of presenting something is actually the wrong way round. By the time you’re half way through describing the feature, the audience is already thinking about the benefit. Otherwise they have no interest in it whatsoever. When you finally get round to the benefit, it will be different to what they had in mind. Even the most subtle difference will break rapport with your audience. Do that enough times and you’ve lost the connection altogether.

Try ‘benefit because of feature’ instead, and you’ll win more pitches.

Secret 6: Say It Again, Sam

No doubt you have heard the old presenter’s adage “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then tell them again”. Get your message across in as many different ways as you can, and realise all of the different communication channels you’re not using: the way you dress; the way you walk into the room; what you say in the invitation email. All of these communicate your intention, and when they are aligned, you multiply the power of your message.

Secret 7: The End… Or Is It?

Every rock star understands the importance of an encore. It’s the thing most concert-goers rave about. Some performers make the audience wait for up to an hour before being reluctantly coaxed back onto the stage for one more song…or two…or 10.

I wouldn’t expect your audience to be shouting “More!” at the end of your pitch, but they should certainly be feeling it. So, what’s the encore to your pitch? Do you send a DVD with the video highlights? A copy of your presentation for them to refer to later? A thank-you email or call? As an absolute minimum, you must send a follow up message.

Friday 13 May 2011

Light at the end of the Apple Tunnel? No it's Another Train Coming...

We previously posted our experiences of getting a title up for sale on the Apple iBookstore, and at that point we thought that we had reached the end of that long, winding and painful road.

How wrong we were.

We stripped out all of the extraneous formatting from the raw html file and it passed both epubcheck and preflight verifier. Those are the tools that Apple say must verify your file in order for it to be accepted into the iBookstore.

But, guess what? Although Apple insist on your epub file passing the epubcheck formatting standard, Apple don't follow the standard properly, so when your file passes all of the checks, Apple still reject it.

Worse still, they don't actually tell you why.

If we wanted to find out, we would have to buy an Apple Mac computer so that we could run the Apple software that talks to the Apple iTunes store. And, not surprisingly, we're not keen on that idea. So we had to get our distributor, Ingram, to rebuild the file from scratch. They know how to get the file to pass Apple's entrance exam, even though they can't tell us how to do it or even explain what the problem was.

Money for old rope, as they say.