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Email Newsletters We Like
You probably don't need more email, but consider adding
these free newsletters to your email subscriptions.
These publications have great content any consultant
can use, they're well written, and these publishers
wouldn't dream of spamming readers.
Got a suggestion on a favorite newsletter for MCNews
readers? Send
it along.
Client Loyalty
Andrew Sobel, a leading authority on client relationships,
publishes a newsletter each month on the skills and
strategies needed to build enduring client loyalty.
Look for Sobel's interview in this issue of MCNews.
www.andrewsobel.com
Inside Consulting
Tom Rodenhauser, founder and president of Consulting
Information Services, publishes Inside Consulting,
a weekly email column that comments on events affecting
the consulting industry. www.consultinginfo.com
WordBiz
The Word Biz Report, published twice
monthly by Debbie Weil, was the first e-newsletter about
on-line copywriting and the business of words. It launched
in July 2001, and now has over 8,000 subscribers worldwide.
www.wordbiz.com
MarketingProfs.com
This on-line publishing company specializes in providing
strategic and tactical marketing know-how to Internet
and off-line marketing professionals. The MarketingProfs
newsletter is published twice monthly. www.marketingprofs.com
SpeakerNet News
SpeakerNet News is a weekly newsletter
and discussion list that is sent to over 3,500 professional
speakers, consultants, trainers, and authors. You'll
find tips on sales and marketing, travel, technology,
PR, conducting better presentations, and other key topics.
www.speakernetnews.com
Michael Katz's E-Newsletter On E-Newsletters
Michael J. Katz is founder and Chief Penguin of Blue
Penguin Development, a consulting firm that specializes
in the creation and management of effective E-Newsletters.
Katz publishes his newsletter bi-weekly.
www.bluepenguindevelopment.com
Keeping the Key
Mark Brownlow knows email marketing and newsletters.
He's lived and breathed them for years, having written,
edited or published over 1,000 email newsletters. Brownlow's
newsletter, Keeping the Key, uncovers
the common themes, strategies and tactics you can use
to get your email anticipated, opened and read. www.keepingthekey.com
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Meet the MasterMinds:
Angela Hoy on Electronic Publishing
 Angela
Hoy is one of the most successful self-publishers on
the Internet. A former television reporter, Hoy started
publishing her own magazine, The Writer's Markets
Report, in 1997. She has since rewritten industry
standards for electronic publishing and is frequently
interviewed and quoted in Internet and business magazines.
Hoy is co-owner of Booklocker.com
and WritersWeekly.com,
which is the highest-circulation freelance writing ezine
in the world, reaching more than 67,000 writers each
week. She is also a well-known on-line author. Her books
include How to Write, Publish & $ell E-Books,
How to Publish and Promote Online
and Buzz Your Zine.
The entire interview is posted on the
site. Read
the interview
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Before You Quit Your Day
Job
By Michael McLaughlin
We all have war stories about job interviews, both
the triumphs and the bombs. When I was considering a
career in consulting, I had an epic flameout. I won't
bore you with all the details, though they still
live in my mind, but what I learned about consulting
that day left an indelible impression.
There I was, sweating through the interview across
a massive desk from the 'Big Firm Partner.' As the interview
was wrapping up, I got the standard, throwaway question,
"Do you have any questions you'd like to ask before
we conclude?" I didn't. In fact, I wasn't even
sure I wanted to be a consultant, whatever that was.
I mumbled some inane question like, "What does
it take to be successful in this business?" He'd
probably heard the question hundreds of times, but he
didn't act like it. He answered with three basic points
that I remember to this day:
Get comfortable being uncomfortable. It's normal
to feel tense and nervous at a job interview. That's
how you'll feel every time you meet a new client, deliver
a proposal or begin a project. It's a fact of life in
consulting: you are in the spotlight, and it isn't always
comfortable or easy. You will constantly be thrown into
new situations, with new people and cultures to decipher.
You've got to do that fast, and get comfortable even
when you're not.
Have something to say and someone to say it to.
It's table stakes that you have to be competent to deliver
on everything you promise. To be the best, however,
you really need a compelling point of view that is valuable
to clients. And someone, preferably a buyer, has to
be willing to listen to you. The best consultants perpetually
re-think and refine their message, not just to meet
client needs, but to anticipate them; then they
find places to deliver the message.
Sell….always. It's a myth that some consultants
sell, while others deliver services. We all sell, all
the time. You sell and re-sell every project you're
working on every day. You sell yourself, your ideas
and, if you do it right, your services. This is a sales
business, no matter how you look at it.
I wasn't surprised when, a week or so after that interview,
I received the dreaded, thin rejection letter. I was
naively gratified that the letter said they would keep
my resume on file for future openings, but I never did
hear from that firm again.
That lost opportunity was instructive though, and those
three things carried me through other interviews. What
three (or more) things do you say are vital to a consultant's
success? Write
and let me know.
"Everyone lives by selling something."
- Robert Louis Stevenson
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This Month's Featured MasterMind:
Andrew Sobel--An Author's Take on Publishing
 Meet
Andrew Sobel, a leading authority on client relationships
and a noted business strategist. He is the co-author
of the bestseller Clients for Life: How Great
Professionals Develop Breakthrough Relationships
(Simon & Schuster), which is in its seventh printing.
His articles and work have been featured in a variety
of national media, including USA Today,
The Sloan Management Review and Consultants
News, and he has appeared on a number of national
radio and TV programs, such as CNBC's Today's
Business.
Sobel was a senior vice president and managing director
for one of the world's largest management consulting
firms. He has spent 20 years advising senior executives
in 30 countries.
Sobel, who just finished writing his second book, Making
Rain: The Secrets of Building Lifelong
Client Loyalty, talked to MCNews about the ins
and outs of writing a book--how to pick a compelling
topic, work with literary agents and publishers, and
the vital role of promotion.
* * * *
MCNews: How did you get started writing nonfiction?
Sobel: I'm one of those closet liberal arts
types. My undergraduate major was American literature,
and I've always enjoyed writing. Throughout my business
career, I harbored the desire to write a book. But for
many years, I didn't have an idea I thought was persuasive
enough. And, working at a big consulting firm you don't
have much time for that either. To write a book,
you must enjoy writing, be motivated to write and
have a compelling idea.
MCNews: Most consultants, with their hectic schedules,
would find writing a book to be a daunting task. Is
it as hard as people think?
Sobel: The first book is the hardest. There
is a substantial learning curve to the process of writing
a book, getting a publisher, promoting the book and
leveraging it in your business. The value chain is long
and complex, and the process requires enormous concentration
and devotion every step of the way. It's like starting
a new business--there's a lot to learn.
And, psychologically, it's especially difficult if
you're doing it in the middle of or after a substantial
career in business. In your work with clients, you're
accustomed to top executives listening to what you say,
respecting your ideas and following your advice. When
you set out to write a book, all of a sudden you're
on the bottom rung of the ladder in the publishing
industry.
Agents and editors just aren't going to listen to you
the way people listen to you in a business meeting.
You'll tell an agent or a publisher you've got this
great idea, and they'll just yawn at you.
There are over 100,000 books published a year. And,
there's almost no subject that hasn't been written about
many times, so they've heard it all.
If you have an idea you're excited about, you will
have to use all your powers of persuasion to get other
people excited about it. It gets better once you have
a successful book, but the first time around you are,
to some extent, starting over.
MCNews: What are the advantages of working with
a large publisher? Do you think an author should consider
self-publishing?
Sobel: There are a couple of big advantages
to working with a large publisher, namely more credibility
and better distribution for the book. If you meet with
a senior executive and you have a book that's been published,
for example, by Doubleday or Simon & Schuster, it's
a stamp of credibility.
If you self-publish your book or use an obscure publisher,
you will have trouble getting it reviewed in major publications
and it will not be sold in the big chains--most likely
it will sell a few thousand copies a year at best. You
do have a shot at getting much better distribution with
a large publisher.
I'm not saying self-published books aren't good, but
they serve a different purpose. They can help you a
lot with your own personal marketing, but they don't
provide the same credibility or potential for wide distribution.
MCNews: Should an author expect to derive significant
income from book royalties?
Sobel: The average business book sells 8,000-10,000
copies at best. A very successful business book might
sell 20,000 or 25,000 copies. Authors have to be
realistic about what they're going to sell and the royalties
they will receive. Hardcover royalties are typically
15 percent of list price, and it's less for trade paperbacks.
The real earning potential for a book is not the income
derived from royalties, but for the work that follows
if you are able to capitalize on it. Royalty income
is perhaps 10 percent of the total incremental income
you might expect over time from a book in terms of enhancing
your reputation and drawing clients to you.
Most business book authors, and I'm one of them, reinvest
the royalties, and more, in their publicity. In fact,
a properly promoted book is somewhat of a loss leader
to generate future consulting income. If you hire
a publicist, send out copies of the book for review
and do a book tour, you have to finance all that. You
are investing a lot of time and money upfront with the
hope that the book will build your reputation. It's
a tricky formula.
MCNews: How do you choose a focus for a book?
Sobel: It's a combination of things. It has
to be something you know a lot about, so for a consultant
it's got to be pretty close to your core as a professional.
There has to be some originality to it. For example,
if you're going to write a book on leadership there's
got to be an unusual spin to your approach because there
are already at least several hundred books on leadership.
Daniel Goleman's book Primal Leadership,
for example, focuses on the emotional connections around
leadership, so it has a different spin from the other
popular books on leadership. Whatever your subject,
if you want to get the attention of a major publisher
your approach must have uniqueness.
In my experience, there tend to be two types of publishers
for business books. There's a group that looks for the
next breakthrough or leading edge idea--it's no longer
interruption marketing but permission marketing; it's
no longer teamwork, but individualism. Then, there are
other business book publishers who like fresh but solid
treatment of a subject that has really good nuts and
bolts to it, even if it's been done before. I think
you can go either route. Which is good, because there
are very few breakthrough ideas left.
So, think of a new topic or a totally different spin
on an old topic. Or, write on an old idea, but make
it the best book ever on how to implement that idea.
MCNews: Assuming you have a solid idea or an interesting
twist, how do you get some degree of certainty about
marketability before you put pen to paper?
Sobel: If you want to go through a literary
agent, which I personally would recommend, that can
be your first test marketing--to see if you can interest
an agent in a proposal. All non-fiction business books
are sold based on an outlined proposal, which is essentially
a business plan for the book. Unlike a novel, agents
and publishers never want to see a whole manuscript
for a non-fiction book; they want a proposal.
Another preliminary step is to socialize the book with
other consultants, business people who read a lot, friends
and family, if appropriate. You might say to them, I'm
thinking about a book on X and, honestly, how does that
strike you? Some people might say, that's an intriguing
idea, or they might say, I've seen five books on that
subject--what's different about yours? You will probably
change a lot based on this socialization process.
MCNews: Recent business books seem to be formatted
with shorter chapters and more visual interest. Do you
think the Internet has turned us all into scanners,
and that business books are getting less dense?
Sobel: Yes. As one editor said to me, the
ideal business book today is one people can read on
a long plane flight. I think there is some truth
to that. I read a lot of books, but I don't have a lot
of patience anymore for 400-page business books. I read
the first chapter and then scan the rest.
MCNews: You've mentioned that it's a good idea to
have a literary agent. Why?
Sobel: Because agents know the editors. It's
possible to go directly to publishers, but you have
to identify the right acquisition editor. The big publishers
have lots of different acquisition editors, who specialize
in different areas. It's just like selling anything:
you have to find the right market and the right buyer.
A good agent will know all that.
You do need to be aware that, typically, agents take
15 percent of the royalties due to the author.
MCNews: Do publishers prefer to deal with agents
rather than authors?
Sobel: Publishers will work directly with established
authors because they are known commodities. But, publishers
get thousands of book proposals every year. The first-time
author is at the bottom of the heap for attention, so
an agent helps get that attention. When editors get
proposals from agents they respect, they take them seriously
and respond in a reasonable amount of time. Agents get
proposals to the top of the pile.
That being said, just because an agent isn't interested
doesn't mean that you don't have a good idea. Stephen
Covey went through over 20 agents with his manuscript
for Seven Habits of Highly Effective
People before he got one to take the project.
And, there are many other examples--Chicken Soup
for the Soul is one--of the same thing happening
to other authors who have gone on to be successful.
MCNews: How much effort should an author expect to
put into the promotion of a book?
Sobel: Promotion requires an enormous amount
of effort from an author. Writing a book is only the
first hurdle in the value chain of book publishing.
Promotion is so important that a publisher's interest
in your book depends a lot on the perception of your
ability to effectively market the book. Impressive credentials
help, but you must include in your proposal a persuasive
plan of what you will do to promote the book.
A publisher will not be interested in an author
who is not going to put money and time into promotion.
That's because the publisher is not going to promote
it. Unless you get a major advance for the book, which
is rare nowadays, the publisher just won't put much
effort into it. They will put out 50-150 business books
and see which ones stick. Of those, 10-30 books will
do well, and the rest they don't worry about.
So you have to relentlessly promote your book.
You have to develop speaking engagements, network, publish
articles based in your book, and hire a publicist, if
you can afford it. For some business book authors, promoting
their books is their full-time job
If you're going to publish with a major publisher,
you've got to be prepared to invest in it. If you self-publish,
I think it's a bit different. Then, you can be low-key
about it, hand your books out to clients and use them
to promote your other services. With a self-published
or small publisher book, you don't have to pay to print
thousands of copies of your book until you need them.
MCNews: What one piece of advice would you give to
someone who wants to write a book?
Sobel: It has to be a labor of love. There must
be something about the process of developing your ideas,
writing and then communicating those ideas that is satisfying
to you personally. You've got to have a passion for
your ideas and for writing. Otherwise it will be
hard to sustain the project from start to finish.
From idea conception, to selling your idea, to writing
the book and promoting it is a two to three- year project.
Consultants are accustomed to three, four, or maybe
twelve-month projects. To write a book, you've got to
have the stamina for a longer haul. And, that kind of
stamina does not come from mercenary motivations. It
has to come from your love of a subject.
You need an infectious enthusiasm for your subject
to get other people excited about it. Have you ever
met an entrepreneur who was totally jazzed about a new
idea? Think of yourself as that entrepreneur with the
passion to see you through your new business.
MCNews: Thanks for your time today. We're looking
forward to your new book.
* * * * *
Visit Andrew Sobel at www.AndrewSobel.com
to learn more about his book, and check out his free
newsletter, Client Loyalty,
and other services.
Comment
about this interview
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Need a Book?
In many parts of the world, summer moves into full
swing in July, so there's no better time to kick back
with a book and a cool drink and give in to the lazy
days of summer.
To celebrate the season for reading, Bookreporter.com
brings you their Summer Beach Reading Lists. If you
need a book, have a look by clicking here. www.bookreporter.com
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This Month in History
You may know that the U.S. celebrates its birthday
on July 4th. Did you know that 30 other countries have
similar celebrations during the month of July?
Most nations of the world designate a day each year
as their National public holiday, commemorating independence
or the formation of their nation. Here's a sample:
Canada (July 1); Belarus (July 3); USA (July 4); Venezuela
(July 5); Bahamas (July 10); Mongolia (July 11); France
(July 14); Belgium (July 21); Egypt (July 23)
Happy Birthday to all the nation born in July!
* * * *
July is Anti-Boredom Month. What's even
more amazing is that 2002 is the 17th year for
this event. The Boring Institute encourages
people to look out for extended periods of boredom
in their lives as a warning sign of more serious
problems, like depression and self-destructive
behavior. And you thought it was just the summer
doldrums!
* * * *
On July 8, 1932, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
fell to a new low of 41.22. The crash began in the autumn
of 1929, sparking a decade of economic stagnation known
as the Great Depression. Since then, the U.S. market
has come a long way: on July 1, 2002, the Dow closed
at 9,110.
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Coming Attractions
In August, we'll feature interviews on
public speaking for the consultant. Bert Decker, an
expert in personal communication, joins MCNews to discuss
how consultants can maximize the impact of speaking
opportunities. Decker, who's also a best-selling author,
has been featured in the New York Times,
Business Week, and on 20/20,
and was a commentator for NBC's Today
show for the Presidential Debates.
We'll also discuss how consultants can market their
speaking services. Vickie Sullivan, author of Springboard
Marketing and speaker-marketing specialist,
has launched hundreds of people into the wild world
of public speaking. Our in-depth interview will cover
the nuts and bolts of marketing, from topic selection
to the use of speaker's bureaus. Don't miss it.
In addition to the usual features, look for our article,
"Seven Tips For a Winning Proposal."
That's all for this month, see you in August.
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The End Page
"Now this is not the end. It is not
even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the
end of the beginning." - Winston Churchill
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Management Consulting News ISSN 1539-2481,
Washington, DC, USA
Copyright © 2002 Management
Consulting News All rights reserved
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