The Business Cohesion Model

Roger Payne's new book is due for imminent release.

This thought provoking book challenges leaders to think and take action if they are to improve the offering and performance of their organisation... it should be read and acted on by every Chief Executive and their senior leadership teams.

Howard Betts

Centre for Leadership Studies

Exeter University

What is The Business Cohesion Model? It is a concept based on the basic premise that no individual is perfect. Thus, all organisations are made up of imperfect people. The imperfections vary and have different effects on the performance of the business. The aim of The Business Cohesion Model is to minimise these organisational imperfections by aligning people and teams within the brand.

If you agree with the imperfection argument, then you have taken the first step in addressing what is necessary for an organisation to achieve optimum brand performance. Everybody, irrespective of their position or status, has a duty and responsibility to develop, deliver and sustain the brand offering of the business.

The Business Cohesion Model takes you through a sequence of topics, each encouraging you to think about the different issues that face your business. It will challenge and test any preconceived beliefs, values and operational standards, so be prepared, and willing, to follow your instincts as you develop your own ideas and your own Business Cohesion.

The Business Cohesion Model will be available from the 15th July from all good book shops at £19.99.

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.

An Author's Role in Book Marketing

We publish business non-fiction, mainly, and that is always a niche market. Very few business books sell in large numbers, because not all readers are 'business people' with a need to develop their careers, presentation skills, leadership skills etc.

Therefore, for most business authors, the way they actually make a living from their book is as a marketing asset for their business. People who run service businesses in particular have a difficult time demonstrating value, and a book is a good way to capture intellectual property. There are many ways that a book adds value to a service business.

So our criteria is more like, "Can this book add value to the author's business?"

We look at what the author's business is, what they're doing to market that, where a book would support them, how many they are likely to sell and so on. We turn away books that are badly written, and we do look at what else is in the market. We also look at the author's credibility in their field of expertise.

Our selection process is similar to that of a traditional publisher, but we look at the author's business as a whole, not just their book.

Size of network is not that relevant, actually. We did some research into social media and found that marketing 'experts' advocate the use of things like Twitter, but in reality their use of such tools is misleading at best:

http://cgwpublishing.blogspot.com/2010/12/cgw-publishing-and-absem-announce-fry.html

In terms of a personal network, real people you know, they are probably not the potential target market, so they're not that valuable either. Where they are useful is in building and communicating the author's credibility, but that involves a bit of engagement on their part, which they aren't always willing to give.

We have one author who spends a significant amount of time networking, but a lot of the people he knows just want something for nothing, and when push comes to shove, they shy away from doing anything tangible to help promote the book. However, the biggest jump in his book sales has come about when he delivers a lecture to a special interest group. One of the things that we help him with is publicising what he's doing, which he had never done before, and recognising the value in it. When he delivers a 'free' talk, the deal is that the organisation publicises it and his book and sends an email to all their members with a discount code. That's just one example, of course. The main benefit for him is that the book builds his credibility which gains him more work. We turned his book content into a lecture, and when he delivered it a media festival, he was invited to seven other festivals to deliver the same lecture.

The author is vital in marketing the book, because the book is a mechanism for getting the author's ideas to the reader. Therefore the reader isn't interested in the book itself, they're interested in connecting with the author's expertise, or creativity, or sense of humour or whatever the book is about, and the author's personal credibility is therefore key.

This is why the big publishers see ebooks as a threat, because once we free ourselves of the pleasure of holding a chunk of paper, what we really want is to connect with the author's mind, and the delivery mechanism will evolve to support the way that people live and work.

The size of a network does not necessarily denote credibility. I would say that our decision process involves something like this:

Is the author credible in their chosen subject?

Is their book well written? Is it accessible? Does it convey the right expertise to the right people?

Is the author committed to developing their business, and is there the right business environment for the book to make an impact on their business success?

Is the author looking for a partner relationship that allows us to add value, or do they see the publisher as the dogsbody who puts their work on the shelf?

Ultimately, the success of the book must be a partnership that engages the reader, the publisher, the author and the author's business.

Cutting Out the Middle Man

Fanseyeview reports that Amazon and authors are cutting out the middle man, in this case the publisher.

Well, in every market we see a long term trend of price wars at the retail end squeezing margins across the whole supply chain. As an ecosystem, the publishing world produces a few gems and a lot of noise, for example the ever-increasing pile of self help books from minor celebrities.

For a few years, the print end of the supply chain has reduced costs, through digital technology, then a move to Asia and China, where we can get a 250 page book printed in relatively small quantities for £0.78 (about $1).

While it's easy to focus on the greedy retailers such as Amazon and their cut-price-to-win-market-share-at-publisher's-expense strategy, we shouldn't overlook the role of distributors who are still looking for 50% of cover price to hold stock for a publisher.

The evolution of any market in this state is "disintermediation", or the cutting out of the middle man.

However, it is easy for people to see the publisher as the middle man, and say that with self publishing, who needs a publisher?

Duh....

Self publishing means that the author becomes the publisher. And then, instead of writing, or talking to readers, or holding signing events, the author spends his or her spare time managing orders, maintaining ISBN records, designing book covers, formatting manuscripts, setting up pages on Amazon, setting up distribution arrangements, locating niche retailers and all the other things that we do as a publisher.

So disintermediation can't take out the publisher. Remember, this is the publishing industry. You can't take bakers out of the bakery, all you can do is get the baking process closer to the customer.

In the case of publishing, you can't get the reader any closer to the author, otherwise the author would never sell any volume of books. Having read a few news stories, blogs and other commentaries on the subject, it seems that most people overlook the fact that the author's work is not the book, the book is a physical product that the publisher creates to convey the author's work into the reader's hands.

Projects like Unbound are not a revolution in publishing, and they don't replace a publisher. Unbound is a publisher, they just have a different business model, as outlined in my previous post.

Print costs are rock bottom. Cover prices and sell prices are rock bottom. Who do we cut out? The people who actually turn the manuscript into a saleable book? Or the people who take a cut just for moving the book from one place to another?

Why is Amazon moving into publishing? Because they know that it's the retailers and distributors who are the middle men.

Join the Social Revolution

Well, as much as we hate social networking, it seems that Google loves it.

Specifically, Google's latest indexing algorithm attributes more importance to incoming links from social networking sites, particularly Facebook.

So while we've been avoiding it for some time, we've set up a Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/CGW-Publishing/134630879948358

Now, don't get excited. We're not looking for friends, or to play games, or for any other tat that proliferates in social networking.

However, if you would be so kind as to 'like' our page, and we get 25 people to like it, we get our very own page name! Ooooohhhh!

And that means better search engine something or other, according to the experts.

You can also just visit our main site

www.cgwpublishing.com

and click the 'like' button in the top right. And while you're at it, give us a Google "+1".

Thank you!!

How to Get Published

Well, maybe not. How to get a publisher to take you seriously, at least.

Here's another submission email from an author (Just the first paragraph, the full email is very long):

Please forgive me if I am not following your existing submission rules, but by some reason I could not find them. Maybe by my indolence, mostly. I hope that even I did not follow them and you are likely overloaded by similar freaks like me you will find time to review my proposition.

Spot the problem?

The writer (a poet) has used words like 'forgive', 'indolence', 'freaks' etc. These are not good words to use. Let me explain why.

When you ask someone to like your poetry or come to your poetry reading, you might call yourself a freak and it might be funny for some people.

When you ask a publisher to invest in you, you are asking them to make a business decision. It is not easy to work with someone who puts themselves down, and it does not give a publisher faith or confidence in you if you do not show confidence in yourself.

Don't apologise. Submission guidelines are here for the publisher's benefit. It saves us having to ask the same questions every time someone sends a 'best selling' manuscript. But what we need is a solid reason to make a business investment. Whether we like something, personally, does not make a big difference. What is important is that we feel something will sell. Publishers are experts at getting a product to market, and that product is not your poetry, it is YOU.

So my advice is, before you contact publishers, think about your email or letter and show that you have confidence in yourself. Not arrogance, it does not help when an author offers us a book and says it is a guaranteed best seller because it's fantastic.

What is very important to remember is that the question of how good the book is really makes no difference to how well it will sell. You might think your book, or poems, are wonderful. Your friends might. Even we might like them. But the issues you must address are:

How well do people really know you? (Your name must sell the book)

What are you doing to promote yourself and your work?

Do you take your work seriously? (The writer's words suggest that he would like to but does not)


Remember, when you contact a publisher, you are not asking them to like your book. I can like your book without wanting to invest in you as an author.


The bottom line with any investor is that we want to know, "Will this investment show a return?"


And the answer doesn't lie within your books pages, it is within you.

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.

Announcing 'The Fry' as the unit of Internet marketing value

(Read more on the Fry, Twitter and internet marketing here)

As social networking becomes the latest battleground of the Internet marketers, the value of individuals will be measured and quantified from the amount of news and relevant information that they contribute to the world.

To counter the hype coming out of the Internet marketing guru's camp, we've developed a simple way for anyone to understand the truth about Internet marketing through social media and ensure trust and credibility are given to the right people.

In the summer of 2010, we were working on a new book for hopeful business authors called Write For You. In writing the chapter on marketing, we began to research the 'Internet marketing gurus' who advocate using sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as marketing tools, and what they found was startling. It turned out that the Internet experts had next to no value, while individuals who were traditionally newsworthy were very valuable.

Let's continue with the press release...

“This all started when we received a newsletter email from someone we know, a sales manager turned small business consultant and social media marketing expert', says Greenaway. “We knew that the image he portrayed bore no resemblance to the reality of his business, and so we started to look into what he was really up to”

Hartley adds, “We began to research Twitter, since this was the tool that the marketing experts seemed to be pushing most”. What she quickly found was that the Internet marketers were using a very simple and a very old trick to make it appear as if they were popular, when in fact they were extremely unpopular. In many cases, their real popularity was so low that they have a negative effect on the amount of information in the world.

“We live in the information age. We have twenty four hour a day news, advertisements pushed to our mobiles, advertising on just about every Internet page and TV program and possible more blogs, Facebook profiles and Twitter feeds than there are human beings on the planet. Socially, we have developed a thirst for knowledge, and therefore the marketers of the world have evolved to meet that need”, say Greenaway and Hartley as they expand on their idea. “In the information age, we value people for how much information they add. This isn't a new idea – we've always valued people who had news from the front line or gossip from the manager's office. Technology simply adds a new level of immediacy to the problem.”

Greenaway and Hartley continued to piece together the different pieces of this puzzle, and in July 2010, they developed a simple system that anyone can use to determine the true value of someone who purports to be an Internet marketing 'expert'

(See the chart at the bottom of this post for more Fry ratings)

In their book, Write For You, they tell the story of what happened next.

“The most popular British writer on Twitter, Stephen Fry, who on July 16^th 2010 was following 53,497 people and was followed by 1,616,454 people. This meant that Stephen Fry generates 30 times more interesting thoughts than he consumes, so we decided to use Stephen Fry as a measure of newsworthiness and give him a value of 1 Fry.

In comparison, Jerry Springer, the American TV host, is worth 50 Frys. He contributes 50 times the amount of news as does Stephen Fry.

Oprah Winfrey, the American TV talk show host, is worth 6,625 Frys, or 6.6 KiloFrys.

Clearly, people who are traditionally popular carry more authority, because people want to hear what they have to say.

Paul O’Grady, the British comedian turned TV presenter and author, changes the picture quite significantly. He has only 13,340 followers, but he isn’t following anyone, so his value is infinite. But for the purposes of calculating a number, we must assume that he is somewhat interested in at least someone, so we added an arbitrary variable to our formula which gives him a value of 441 KiloFrys or 0.44 MegaFrys.

The singer David Bowie, by our formula, has a value of 1.54 MegaFrys. He contributes 1.54 Million times the news value of Stephen Fry.

At the other end of the scale, an Internet marketing guru in America, who has lectured at Harvard Business School on the value of Twitter to businesses, scores just 0.03 Frys or 30 MilliFrys.

She is followed by 59,427 people but is following 59,080 people, a difference of just 447. While Internet marketing ‘experts’ focus on the 59,427, what we need to look at is the 447, because this indicates the value that the person adds.

The Internet marketers try to convince us that having 59,427 people following you is good for publicity, but the fact that she needs to follow 59,080 people in order to attract her followers is very bad indeed.

The way that Twitter gurus advocate building a following is to say to each other, “Hey, if I follow you, will you follow me? It will be good for both of us!” No, it won’t.

If you're lost in a remote jungle, you won't survive any longer by saying, “Hey, if I eat your leg, you can eat mine!”

A British sales manager turned small business consultant and social media expert has 1,216 followers who enjoy reading about the fact that it’s sunny today. He is following 1,235 people, so he produces less news than he consumes. His news value is less than zero Frys at -0.02 Frys, or -20 MilliFrys. What’s worrying is that he advises businesses on the importance of social media marketing.

The smaller the number of Frys, the less interesting the person is. A negative number means that on top of being grossly uninteresting, the person actually detracts from the amount of news in the world.

An American Internet marketing guru who says that he “helps businesses to elevate their status in the online world to maximise their marketing exposure” as he “travels the world imparting his wisdom” is worth -0.05 Frys, or -50 MilliFrys.

His unnewsworthiness is surpassed only by the British singer and TV presenter, Cilla Black. She measures in at -1.76 Frys.

In fact, none of the Internet marketing gurus who we found advocating Twitter as the latest business marketing tool scored any higher than 9 MilliFrys, which is disappointing when you notice that Dick Van Dyke of “Cor blimey Mary Poppins!” fame scores just over 3 Frys.

A dancing chimney sweep is a factor of a thousand more important than the most successful Internet marketer.

This is especially disappointing if you have paid Internet marketing experts people a lot of money to build a social media marketing campaign for you. You would literally be better off spending your money with a man who dances with penguins.”

A simple calculation of the difference between creation and consumption, between import and export, immediately reveals who is actually creating value. And in any business, creating value is the way to make a living.

The key is to use these tools to create a genuine following. Don’t simply follow other people, concentrate on saying something of real value. If you're not already interesting, and let's face it, most people aren't, then having lots of people following you doesn't make you interesting. Remember, in the world of social media, they're not following you; they're stalking you.

CGW Publishing is a British independent publisher of business books, working with expert authors to create a service business around their intellectual property.

(Read more on the Fry, Twitter and internet marketing here)

Fry ratings chart: click on the the chart to see a full sized version