Thursday 23 February 2012

CGW Publishing Entered into the Bookseller Industry Awards 2012

We have been entered into the 2012 Bookseller Industry Awards in the category of Best Independent Publisher.

We're obviously very excited about this, and our entry reflects the unique way in which we support our authors, helping them not only to sell books but to grow their businesses.


The shortlist will be announced at an event at the London Book Fair in April and the winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in London on May 14th.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Of the People, By the People, For the People

In his blog on The Bookseller, John Pateman talks about a new operational model for libraries that is being trialled in Suffolk - handing over library management to volunteers.

Well, for some time now, I've been watching what's been going on in the High Street; major chains disappearing and more and more charity shops replacing them, with 'superstores' and also niche stores specialising in furniture, white goods, even designer labels. I think this is the next retail revolution, driven in part by the likes of Freecycle, Gumtree and Ebay that make second hand culturally acceptable. Tatty furniture is rebranded as 'shabby chic' and old T shirts with holes in are 'retro'.

So why shouldn't more services go the same way? I think libraries are an excellent example. The hub of the community, libraries offer free access to literature for all, so why shouldn't they be managed and run on the same basis? The population is ageing rapidly and we have a growing group of people who want a third career, would often be happy to volunteer and have a lifetime of management and operational experience to bring.

I guess the trendy phrase is 'social enterprise', but it amounts to the same thing; of the people, by the people, for the people, as Number 6 would say.

Ask The Pitch Doctor in Real Business Magazine

Paul Boross, aka The Pitch Doctor and author of The Pitching Bible, now has a regular column in Real Business magazine, where he'll be answering readers' questions about presentations, pitches and other public speaking problems.

In the first column, Paul answers a question about how to approach speed networking events, which will be invaluable to anyone hoping to develop their business through networking in these tough times.

The NLP Practitioner Manual in Training Zone's Book Club

The NLP Practitioner Manual by Peter Freeth and Stepheni Smith is being featured in Training Zone's Book Club.


Peter is currently working on the sequel to the book, entitled Genius at Work, which we are hoping to have in print by early summer 2012.

Dreams Do Come True at Waterstones, Preston

Trudie and lloyd Thompson will be be appearing at Waterstones book store in Preston on Saturday 10th March 13:00 to 15:00 to sign copies of their book, Dreams Do Come True, and answer your questions.

We've heard that they are also talking to a national newspaper about their remarkable story, so expect to see a lot more of them over the coming months.


Coaching Authors Choose CGW Publishing for Their First Book


Ronna Smithrim and Christopher Oliphant, authors of Accepting the Radical: You Can Not Be Fixed, have chosen CGW Publishing to get their first book into print.

“I was thrilled that a publisher was interested in my work and have not been disappointed”, says Oliphant, who had previously been considering self publishing as an alternative to every author’s worst nightmare; endless rejection from the traditional, risk averse publishing houses. However CGW’s Christopher Greenaway recognised the quality of writing in the book and the potential of the subject as fitting with the existing range of books and addressing an important niche in the market.

“There’s no doubt that the self-help book market is saturated, with everyone from Donald Trump, Jack Canfield and Paul Mckenna through a range of minor celebrities and business gurus, down to every street corner life coach publishing a book or ebook.”, says Amelia Hartley, CGW’s co-founder and Director. “The proliferation of ebook readers such as the Kindle, iPad or Kobo have also lowered the barriers to producing a book, and that has definitely impacted on the quality of what’s out there. So when we see a book that is genuinely well written, with clarity, passion and strong case studies, we know that it will stand head and shoulders above the rest of the books out there.”

CGW Publishing specialise in working with authors whose books are written to support their service businesses, by packaging their intellectual property, providing additional revenue and demonstrating credibility.

“We launched and ran a successful management consultancy for ten years, and the books that we published in that time played a huge part in our success”, says Christopher Greenaway, CGW Publishing’s Managing Director. “The publishing imprint that we launched back in 2002 has evolved over the last ten years to become CGW, and we’re now very proud of the authors we’ve attracted and pleased to apply our expertise in this area to helping them grow their businesses”

For the authors of Accepting the Radical, the primary push behind writing the book came from their clients. According to Smithrim, “Their push came from two questions. The first being, “This teaching is really powerful, why haven’t you written a book?” The second was, “Are there any books that teach acceptance?” The answer to the second question was a sad, “I know of only one other author and she who wrote from a Buddhist point of view.” Any other books that talk about acceptance apply conditions to acceptance or support it in one sentence and then contradict that support in the next sentence.”

Like many expert authors, Smithrim and Oliphant found it relatively easy to get their ideas down on paper, but less easy to organise those ideas into the structure required for a book. Oliphant says, “The writing was easy. I have taught the material often and the words just flew from my mind on to the page. The editing process was another matter. I worked with a wonderful editor who helped my structure my ideas and wouldn’t stop until the text made each concept clear to her. This process with my editor also gave me some insight into just how difficult these ideas are to understand: how they run contrary to much of the popular thinking of today.”

Oliphant summarises the publishing experience by saying, “CGW Publishing have been professional and thorough. They delivered a quality product quickly and efficiently, saving us months of work in text formatting, cover design and the many mysteries around getting a book ready for print. Christopher went above and beyond in the graphics work, proofing editing and both text and eBook formatting and we remain very grateful to everyone at CGW Publishing for all their hard work.

Accepting the Radical by Ronna Smithrim and Christopher Oliphant, published by CGW Publishing, is available now from all good book stores, ISBN 978-1-9082931-0-7.