Thursday 17 April 2008

Reader Feedback

My book is not for everyone.
You have to ‘get it’, and not everyone gets it.

It’s not a traditional business book, it’s not full of management theories, it’s not a how-to guide, there are no To-Do exercises at the end of each chapter. It’s just about a mindset, an attitude.

But it’s great when my style and message resonates with an audience. I have had some good feedback from readers. One reader emailed me at 02:45am, his head buzzing with ideas after having read the book. He only bought it – on impulse – that afternoon. He found the book spoke to him directly, but also questioned (rightly) that being filed in a bookstore under ‘Small Business’ might not the best place for it. He wrote,

“The essence of the book for me is about managing a catalysed change in mindset, the 'something has changed in my outlook, but I'm not quite sure what to do about it, I could sure do with some help’ ".

And that’s a good way of looking at it. Yesterday I heard from Lydia in Seattle. Lydia is a talented photographer who'd picked up my book in her local Borders. She has been considering taking the Leap to become a freelance photographer but was struggling with last minute doubts. She emailed me about that inevitable courage required to go it alone:

“This has been the scariest thing I have ever done; it's been hard to drone out the negative voice in my head saying "what if you fail?"But in the past week I feel that there has been a shift in my attitude and I am gaining more clarity as to where the hell I'm going and what the F I'm doing. I just felt the urge to write and say that I'm very grateful you wrote this book, I love the way it's written, it has been my saving from my self and that nagging voice in my head. I just feel more empowered with this knowledge”

And whatever the commercial return for the book, whatever the royalties I receive, this kind of feedback is the best reward I could get.

Check out Lydia’s website here.

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