You want to do what??

How to create a bilingual leadership book featuring amazing imagery, as a global project? Lucky we had a GREAT team for that…

Rainer describes it best:  Enjoy the video!

Mary Mangos started off wanting to co-author to book with another writer, and concluded at an early stage of the process that this book – Finding Your Wellbeing was better suited to writing it herself to truly reflect her own brand and personality.  We set about working through the process of developing and refining content that has become an extention of her business as a Coach and Psychologist. The cover is a warm, smiling and ‘feel good’ one that makes you want to pick up the book, and there is also a workbook that goes with it. This is a much  needed book for our times, and was launched on World Mental Health Day 2021.

Greg came to us with a book that was mostly written…. 28,000 words. BUT we took most of that, chopped it up, and he happily wrote an additional 20,000 words to create this masterpiece for men who are trying to figure stuff out.  We dropped 2/3s of the first draft, but he was delighted with the result.  Sometimes you gotta unpack most of what you have, in order to create more of what you need if you don’t start with a solid plan.  We took Greg through our Tri-Variant Framework and it all made sense, so that the extra writing was incredibly easy. In Greg’s own words:

“Writing that first draft (on my own) was like like pooping a pumpkin – by comparison the second/final draft was like laying an egg!”

Real Men do Downward Dog has been a best seller and continues to perform well both in direct sales and on most platforms online, and has helped Greg to secure a number of speaking and media opportunities in 2021 and 2022.

Unpacking 80,000 words into two books…

Andrew came to us with 80,000 words written of a book that was somewhat confused about its target reader. In many ways it was for the ‘end user’ consumer of his specialist services, and in many ways it was also targeted towards the licensees he was developing and training within a very large specialist industry. We got around a table, cranked up the whiteboard, and came up with a deconstructed version. It turned out that he actually had two books – each similar, but quite separate. This makes them both much easier to market, and will be easier to get reviews and access marketing opportunities.

The best part is that Andrew’s writing has been elevated to a much higher level, and we have seen both books develop into significantly better versions of the one he started with.

Sometimes you have to start with the plan before you start to write.

Starting over but making the book better…

Some books start as one thing and end up being something completely different. For example, Yvonne came to me wanting to get help to promote her book, but ended up with a bit of a re-write. Once her market was clearly identified and she could see the value in phrasing her content in a way that made it more like she was having a conversation with friends than a ‘lecture’ type book with lots of tools and resources. Again, unpacking some of what someone starts with can be challenging. This is why it’s so much easier to start with a good plan and direction from the beginning.

Getting better outcomes…

Jennifer had written one book and published it with a large, well-known indie publishing company tied up with a traditional publishing company. She didn’t feel they had done a great job of it, and wanted to do another book. Jennifer is a brilliant writer, but was uncertain of her abilities, and also a little jaded by her experience with the previous company. Her story, a mega-sized memoir, had to be edited, designed, formatted and reviewed before publishing, and the earlier book needed some revitalising too. We also took care of her website, social media, and Amazon launch and we’re currently talking with a leading PR agent in the USA about her book.

David Stannard, Paradise Rescued

Did you hear the one about the Englishman, living in Australia, who accidentally created an organic boutique vineyard in the South of France and started selling wine to the USA? David Stannard is that man – and his unique and intriguing story is told over the several books that Dixie Maria Carlton has helped him to write, produce, publish and use to extend his career direction as ‘the vision guy’.

Paradise Rescued: From Cabbage Patch to Cabernet Franc was released in 2014, followed by It’s Not About the Dirt in 2016. In 2016 David was awarded an International Silver Stevie Award for Marketing (<$5M budget) against Telcos who were spending millions on marketing, while David’s budget was a mere fraction of that. But utilising his books as the leading marketing tool for an international specialist winery was something the judges found to be totally unique, and a powerful way of sharing a brand and message. In 2017, David’s third book, Essential Wine Tips for Newbie Connoisseurs, was released. David’s fourth book, The Power of a Vision is due to launch in July 2019.

David also now speaks around Australia about his story, and shares his message about the power of having a vision that can be shared pictorially with any dynamic and engaged team, in any sized company. Learn more about David Stannard here.