Welcome to my blog. The following should give you a good idea of what to expect.
Let’s start with the basics, such as, Who am I? I am a 37 year old editor and have been working in publishing for 13 years. In that time I have published nearly 150 books, so I’m not short of experience. My first publishing job was with John Wiley & Sons Ltd, where I rose through the editorial ranks to become Executive Commissioning Editor of the Capstone imprint. Capstone is a funky little business, personal development and self-help publisher and it was a priviledge to work for them for over 5 years. In Jan 2008 I joined Headline Publishing. Headline are one of the big boys, and proudly sit within the Hachette Group which also includes Hodder & Stoughton, Orion, John Murray and Little, Brown. I was brought in to start a business book programme, called Business Plus, from scratch. There is a sister (or is that big daddy?) Business Plus programme in the US, and the editor, Rick Wolff, is responsible for such outstanding bestsellers as the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series, How I Play Golf by Tiger Woods and Jack: Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch. So, no pressure then!
Its because I’m starting a list from scratch that I thought it would be interesting to do a blog. A blog is after all an online diary and I thought it could make interesting reading for aspiring publishers, wannabee authors and literary agents to follow the progress of a list that starts off with one man, a desk, a computer and a few pencils to something which hopefully grows into a group of books that get noticed by the market and build their own reputation. I’d particularly like to demistify some of the hyperbole that surrounds most media-based industries and give readers a real sense of what its like to be a publishing editor. I also think there are plenty of publishing blogs out there tackling the really meaty issues of retailer discounting, the future of e-books and the battle for survival of the independent stores. I’d like to offer something a little more down-to-earth, human and interesting.
Perhaps its worth just quantifying my interest in business books. I really enjoy working in the genre because many business books that are published are nothing short of terrible. That may sound like a contradiction, but its a well-established trusim that business books are often poorly written, thinly-veiled promotional vehicles for their authors, sometimes bordering on vanity publishing. At its best though, a really great business idea can still literally change the world. Business is the key economic driver in the world today, and the stand-out books such as Freakonomics, Black Swan and The Tipping Point can change the way we think about our world and our interactions with it. Who wouldn’t want to be involved in that?
Like any public musings, I’m dependent on your feedback. So please post comments whenever you feel moved to, and want to either violently disagree or harrumph in quiet approval. Opinions make the world go round, so I look forward to hearing from you.
John Moseley
Publisher, Business Plus
