Two new books out this week!

I’ve had a busy year! Two books down (and out) already and amazing offers on Expat Entrepreneur too.

Find Your Passion can be bought here. Thanks to Andrea of Expatwomen for her great foreword.

Expat Writer – Release the Book Within here. Big thanks to Debs Jenkins for her foreword. Debs attended my first RBW course and has now published 33 books – including this one!

and if you want to get £80 worth of free gifts when you buy Expat Entrepreneur be sure to click here. Don’t miss out.

Jo

Put pix in your prose

Last week I went to a fabulous presentation at WIN in Amsterdam. Given by Powerpoint guru, Nick Oulton of M62, we learned that people remember about 10-15% of a presentation that is made up of words and bullet points but a massive 60% if they have pictures in it.

So, if you want readers to remember what you tell them in YOUR books, make sure you have some illustrations.

Jo

Two down – many to go!

I have surprised even myself. Two months into the year (almost) and I have already written two books and submitted them to the publisher!

Watch out for ‘Find Your Passion’ second edition, now with 11 case studies and a fully extended introduction. In fact, this book has gone from 98 pages to a whopping 170!

And, at last, ‘Expat Writer- Release the Book Within’ is on its way to the shops. Daft, wasn’t it, that I had written so many books yet none of them were about writing! This one shares all the secrets of my hugely popular Release the Book Within workshop. Again, watch out for this one!

Both books will be launched at the Families in Global Transition conference in Houston next month and both will be for sale via Bookshaker from March 28th if not before!

And, can I keep this up, you wonder? You bet, in March Sue and I submit the second edition of Dates to Zodiac Publishing. And in April? I have a rest! Come on, I am not bionic!

Jo

Structure – the key to success

I’ve been talking to many potential authors lately – and the one thing that they all have a challenge with is structure. They know what they want to say, but they have no skeleton framework to hang their words of wisdom on.

The secret of a good book is in the structure. You need what we Book Cooks call a ‘recipe’ for each chapter so that the reader knows what to expect (once they’ve got past chapter 1). You need a plan of what elements will be in each chapter, what the theme of each chapter will be and the stories, knowledge, experiences, visuals (charts, plans, pictures, cartoons) and case studies that you want to cover in that chapter.

Not only will this ensure that you have a clear vision of where you’re going, but it will also banish writer’s block! You’ll always know what to write about next, it’s simply a matter of fleshing your skeleton out.

As one of Napoleon’s marshalls said ‘Time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted”.

Lesley

Sell your books and do more at BookTreasureHouse

I try to look in my junk mail folder once a week just in case something slipped in there that I needed. And today just that had happened when I found a note from Book Treasure House. They will provide you with your own websites and shopping cart for your books absolutely free of charge. The catch – well I think it must be that if you find it too hard to do it all yourself then they will help you out – for a fee. But this has to be worth investigating. They also have lots of tips, a newsletter and much more.

In my book, the more exposure you can get the better.

Good luck

Jo

more writing opportunities

and now I have a need for writers who can write about 10,000 words on some of the following:

Canary Islands
Crete
Croatia
Cyprus
Malta
Sardinia
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Russia
On the following topics:
1. Land and People
2. Values and Attitudes
3. Religion and Tradition
4. Family and Social Relationships
5. Food and Drink
6. Language and Communication

For this particular exercise, the author needs to be able to research
secondary sources, not necessarily to have deep personal experience of the
country.

If anyone is keen please email me or leave a comment here.

Jo

Book Cooks’ clients work with Barbara and Allan Pease

What a coup! Jim and Emma Wheat have been working with us for almost a year now and not only have our help in the kitchen, but also have won the body language gurus (you know the book about ‘Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps’?) to help them along the way. And then VIVA magazine wanted to write about it. Read about the Wheats’ journey of a lifetime here. And subscribe to their newsletter and win all kinds of goodies at the same time!

Bring it on Jim’n'Em

Jo

authors needed – tons of experience not necessary!

Over the last few years I have been helping Kuperard to find authors for their Culture Smart! Series of books. And now they are after some more authors who can write 30,000 words on how to actually ‘live’ and work in specific countries. The series already has 44 books and they are now looking for:

Dubai (or the UAE)
Oman
Nigeria
Canada
Jamaica
Venezuela
Cambodia
Sri Lanka

They pay a one off fee (it used to be £1000) for the books, expect them to be written within the next few months (a year tops) and no royalties. The books sell particularly well to the American market. For some of you, being seen as an expert who is an author can really boost your business, so I would not get hung up about the money side of the deal. This is a great opportunity!

If you want to know more I suggest you look at the series at www.culturesmartconsulting.com and then get back in touch with me so I can connect you with the appropriate series editor.

Good luck!

Jo

What a read!

For years I have had a copy of Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande on my wish list. Well, I just got a copy – second hand, 1996 edition – and this book, written in 1934 is every bit as inspiring as I thought it would be.

One section, at the start is all about the 4 difficulties faced by writers. One of them, of course, is suffering from block. Brande says you cannot be beaten by it and have to teach your brain to just get writing at will. She suggests that you start off by committing yourself to just writing about anything every day at a certain time, say at 4 pm until 4.15. Everything stops for this date. If you break it repeatedly, or find yourself trying to do it at 11 instead, then it only goes to show that your urge to resist writing is stronger than your urge to write – so ‘give up’ she says! Give up!!? Can you imagine?

She has a point. Reading those stern words I realised that my urge to resist going to the gym was stronger than my urge to be fit – like a red rag to a bull I gritted my teeth, thought ’sod you, Dorothea’ and got on my bike to go the gym!

Rough love rules

Jo

New Robin Pascoe book out

In my writing classes I find myself often recommending Robin Pascoe’s books. They are a great example of a book that is based on first hand experience, packed with advice, expert opinion, laughs and anecdotes and which reads as easily as a novel. Her latest book came out a couple of months ago and I thought you might like to read the following review by Anne Huscroft.

If you want to find out more about Pascoe, go to her site at www.expatexpert.com.

Raising Global Nomads
Robin Pascoe

Expatriate Press
$US24.95/€ 20.00/£15.00

Paperback, 220 pages

Another gem for expatriate families, this ‘expat expert’ shares with honesty and humour the challenges of parenting abroad.

Helping children become independent, self-sufficient, kind and respectful of others can be achieved through teaching them values. No matter where you life, there is no bigger investment than developing effective relationships with your children.

Excellent practical advice includes keeping family routines and rituals unchanged to provide a safe haven or familiarity to a newly moved family. A realistic overview of the challenges of culture shock is interspersed with honest examples of her own successes and failures.

By exploring ways in which adult issues associated with expat life “the moveable marriage, work-life balance challenges, culture shock, cellular ties that bind) affect child rearing being done far from home,” solutions are discussed and suggested.

Sharing the inner thoughts of her own experiences, the reader is guided through life as an expatriate family. The complexities of growing up as a global nomad are identified so that parents can give their children the skills and knowledge they need to survive and thrive. Establishing boundaries and limits and sticking to them makes realistic sense.

One area often overlooked is repatriating global nomads. Practical advice on how to deal with children returned to their “home” country makes sense.

The author shares her personal mistakes with wisdom and advice, ensuring you creates valuable memories while helping children to acquire cultural-sensitive life skills.

Anne Huscroft