So, having written my book, and to be honest a question I pondered whilst I was writing it, how should I try and get it published. I say ‘try’ because we’ve all heard stories about people trying to find an established publisher only to discover that they receive a billion manuscripts a day and only think about looking at a couple; OK a mild exaggeration, but no doubt it’s a tough route to go. What are the options? Self-publishing sounds like one option, but in fact it covers a multitude of possibilities (and let me say right now that I’m no expert on any of them). These range from essentially paying a company to publish your work for you to sending it to an on-line company who do nothing more than print one off (or send it electronically) when a request arrives. Paying to be published strikes me as a risky […]
Monthly Archives: July 2009
Getting Published: So I’ve Written My Book
I pondered whether to use this blog on consumer behaviour to detail my book-writing journey and have decided that, since the book is (of course) about consumer behaviour and market research, it’s fair enough. And I’ll be explaining elements of psychology that crop up along the way too, so I hope it will be interesting from a number of angles. So, I’ve written my book. And writing a book is quite hard. Between making the decision that I wanted to write a book and sitting there thinking, “Bloody hell, I’ve finished” there were weeks of sitting and researching and typing and hoping and wondering. The wondering is quite preoccupying. Writing is a very solitary process and you occasionally wonder if what you’re writing is worthwhile, whether anyone would be in the least bit interested in what you’re writing about and, perhaps most worryingly, whether you’re capable of writing at all. […]
Meeting a Murderer
The man walked onto the station platform very casually. Most of the other people around me paid him little or no attention at all, but I found my eyes drawn back to him repeatedly. In fact, I had to work hard to make sure that he didn’t catch me looking his way a little too often. I tried to size up the situation. The group around him were standing too far away to be friends, but they were close enough to suggest they weren’t strangers either. I guessed they were fellow commuters, familiar with one another, but not with each others’ lives. They didn’t know what I knew about him. Instead they had been taken in like so many others by his relaxed air and general bonhomie. I considered what it was that had first made me recognise him; what unconscious reference had caused me to notice him, fixate my […]
Gimme Some Money
Ok, I admit it. This blog has nothing to do with consumer behaviour. I tried to tie it in, honestly I did, but it would have been so tenuous, it’s better to come clean and say this is really all about a great night as a consumer of rock music of the silliest kind – ooh look, I said “consumer”! I was lucky enough to be invited to Spinal Tap’s recent “One Night World Tour”. Naturally they played two gigs because they also played at the Glastonbury festival. For those not ever so familiar with the work of Spinal Tap, or who would enjoy a reminder, here’s a brief taste of guitarist Nigel Tufnell being interviewed about Stonehenge (a subject that has been something of an obsession for the band and about which they wrote a song): The guys from Spinal Tap put on a hugely entertaining show… Had some special […]
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