Book Blog gig widens at CHC

My new mantra about blogging comes from the phrase Hillary Clinton made so popular -- it takes a village. Or, I guess the truth is, in my case it does.

After nearly a year of guilt in which I struggled to post twice a month, I've decided to take the advice we give our clients every day and figure out a way to post frequently. So, I'm sharing the space and my colleagues graciously offered to help me fill it. "Barbara's Blog" officially becomes "The Push Behind the Book" and will feature the thoughts and ideas of everyone here at CHC and some beyond.

Sara Schneider, our Digital Media Director, will weigh in often about the growing importance of digital media, blogs, social networks, and the online world's increasing clout in launching a book.

Dennis Welch, who heads our Christian Division, will write about faith-based books and what makes them succeed or fail.

I will continue to weigh in on the publishing community at large.

And we plan to invite our authors and others in the publishing community to guest blog on their great books and how they are being received by the world at large.

We’re trying to make our blog more than just a forum for our ideas -- it's part of our effort to educate ourselves in every way we can about digital media and how it’s truly changing the way books and ideas are introduced into the market. Being active participants in this world has really been the best teacher of all.

Media, media, media

Our authors have been getting some great media coverage recently and we wanted to start sharing it on our blog. We (primarily I, Sara, aka the CHC digital maven) are going to be doing this a couple of times a month, but will post more frequently with big hits come in.

Last Friday night Stall Points authors Derek van Bever and Matt Olson were interviewed on Fox Business Network's "America's Nightly Scorecard." We've just started using RedLasso.com to get clips, and highly recommend it if you can get a beta invite. Here's a link to their interview here. Derek and Matt are blogging and the book also got some nice online attention as well: here and here.

In her June 26 "Ask Annie" column last week, Fortune's Anne Fischer had nice things to say about Steve Little's The Milkshake Moment. The discussion continues on her blog, where people are posting their own "milkshake moments" or (or lack of them).

Finally, last week also saw the debut of CNBC-TV producer extraordinaire Gloria McDonough-Taub's new business book blog, Bullish on Books. The woman is inundated with business books everyday, so she really knows what she's talking about! Our own Jack Mitchell's Hug Your People was mentioned in her inagural post.

Business Books provide "practical magic" to PR Firm

This time last year, I wasn't baking cookies, shopping for holiday gifts or doing anything remotely holiday related. I was getting ready for the challenge of my life -- launching my own firm.

I would love to be able to claim that the minute I walked away from a steady paycheck and a job I'd devoted a decade to, that I slipped into the CEO's chair with a flourish. But as with so many things in life, it didn't work quite that way.

I'd say that the enormous thrill of being in charge lasted until about lunchtime on day one. The giddy feeling of accomplishment that came with writing "president' in the title line of my email signature was like bubbles in champagne -- great, and gone quickly. By afternoon, I realized that I actually had to do something to dig in and get my public relations firm in gear. I had to turn my great business idea into the semblance of something that actually, well, did business.

Lucky for me, I had a solid ten years of reading business books in my favor. What's more, I actually got paid to read some of those books that I turned to in year one, when I provided PR support to the authors. This came with the huge fringe benefit of tucking the pieces of wisdom into my back pocket for the day that I needed them. And it quickly became empty-the-pockets time. While I had taken some small steps toward my own firm, on January 1 this year it was, as my favorite-CEO Larry Bossidy would call it, "execution time."

Here's what I learned:
From The E-Myth by Michael Gerber, I was reminded that I now had TWO jobs. One doing the PR work I was familiar with and one was running this thing called a company and involved things like payroll and tech support.
From First, Break All The Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, I learned that I could flout conventional wisdom in selecting and rewarding my team.
From Seduced by Success by Bob Herbold, I learned not to get giddy with my company checkbook when my first clients climbed on board.
From The Middle Class Millionaire by Russ Alan Prince and Lewis Schiff, I learned that entrepreneurs who stayed with their line of business even in the face of setbacks and failures, are the ones most likely to succeed. I also learned to worship Ben Franklin, but you won't understand why until this book actually launches in February!
And in the aforementioned Execution by Larry Bossidy, I learned that the best leaders have the confidence and power to push their plans into reality.

I realize this is anecdotal evidence of the power of business books, but it comes from everything I do and see every day.

Year one has been quite the ride. The end of it finds me very grateful for everything I've learned and with a heart full of thanks for my team, Dennis Welch, Sara Schneider and Lew Campbell, who never hesitated to do anything and everything it took to move us ahead.

And for those of you who also have not purchased your holiday gifts, consider a business book? You really can't go wrong.