Sister Snog

Stand out from the crowd
Wouldn't you just love the press to fall in love with you. Course you would. The obvious call. Send out a press release. Picture it landing on a journalist's desk. Lost amongst a pile of other press releases. Now imagine the same press release with a book accompanying it. Different story.

Start with your heart. End with your head.
It's tough to get all the way to the end of a book  if you're striving for perfection first time round. Forget the minutiae. Word count. Grammar. Chapter lengths. These can wait. Just give yourself permission to write. No holding back. See where the incredible journey takes you. Then when it comes to your second draft, tackle it head on. Some paragraphs will stay. Others go. A perfectly natural part of the process of what can be a rather cathartic experience.  

Find the magic number
Books don't write themselves. If you're serious about writing a book it has to be a daily commitment rather than a commitment for a whole day. Top tip. Get a timer. Set it for 45 minutes. Write. No delicious distractions allowed. Everyone has a magic number. After a couple of sessions you'll find yours. Even 10 minutes a day can lead to a best seller.

The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43
Singer Harriet Goodwin cut back on touring because she had small children. Then she stumbled on her second career. As a children's writer. She woke up one morning, convinced a dream she'd had was the plot for a novel. She began writing for 10 minutes a day when her children were napping or at school. Religiously.

Something in the woodshed
In 2009 The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43 became book of the month in Borders and was shortlisted for last year's Blue Peter award. Ms Goodwin is now working on a second book in a shed at the bottom of her garden. She hasn't given up her day job and still gives concerts but finds writing complements her singing. Proof there can be harmony between two careers.

So what are you waiting for? Time to release the book inside.

Jacqueline Burns
Publishing Consultant
publishabestseller.com
@writersclub
 

Mags and rags
PR is traditionally associated with paper print such as magazines and newspapers. But there's also an incredibily accessible arena ready, willing and eager to hear about you, your business, your expertise, thoughts, observations and opinions. PR is the perfect passport to fame, fans and followers in the digital world.

Forget-me-not
Think about what happens when someone reads about you or your company in a mag or rag. Unless you're a household brand such as Heinz, Max Factor or Dove or an A-Lister such as Cheryl, Madge or Kylie then chances are they'll struggle to remember your name. Let alone your website.

Right click. Left click
How many time has a business or brand grabbed your attention while you're getting your locks coiffed or your pearlies cleaned and you're having a Gracia fix. Then when you get back to the office you've promptly forgotten all about them. Well that could be you. However if someone happens to stumble upon you online, they're just a click away to becoming a follower or fan, client or customer. Tantilising eh?

Hop on the Merry Go Round
Online PR is a virtual circle. To create a digital footprint all you have to do is get tip-tapping on the keyboard. Write a blog. Or an article. It'll start a chain reaction. A mention here. A tweet there. Write more. Get more mentions. More tweets and re-tweets. The result. A flow of visitors to your site. Increased site traffic leads to higher ranking on search engines when surfers search under your key words and phrases. Google-icious. Bing! Bong! Print is 'ere-today, 'istory-tomorrow. A digital footprint sticks around. Now how cool is that!

Cheap as chips
Online PR and marketing is a gift. Beautifully wrapped with a big bow. The cost. Your time. Forget paying for all-singing-all-dancing brochures, which are quickly out of date. Postage. No charge. All you need. A well conceived email accompanied by the relevant documents. A press release. Photographs. Articles. Followed up with a phone call. Small investment. Big return.

Trackability
Hitting the headlines in the mags and rags and tracking site visitors back to a specific article or offer is not an exact science. Tracking online PR and marketing on the other hand is rather more straightforward. By accessing web statistics you can see the addresses of the sites where your visitors are coming from. Then you can make more than an educated guess on how the stats correspond to your efforts and activity. And, on that note...

Buyability
...if you're getting a flock of clicks from a particular site, but no one's buying, you can make more than an educated guess why that might be. Perhaps they're clicking through on a message that doesn't really convey what you're selling, that might need a tweak. Equally, gateway sites that drive traffic should be treated with love, care and attention.

Fame costs!
Indeed. But before you think about sending out another press release via snail mail, stop.  Take a good, long look at email and give some serious thought on how you could become the one to watch in the digital sphere.

Paula Gardner
Do Your Own PR
Twitter : @doyourownpr

Many workers have been affected by transport disruptions. Technically it is their responsibility to get up earlier and find an alternative route into work. In reality, many employers arrange home working which reduces stress and improves productivity.

If you don't have an established car sharing or lift sharing scheme, you should be careful you don't end up setting up liability for uninsured drivers. You should not be ordering or directing employees to get into a car with 'Fred' if you don't know that 'Fred' is insured. If the car is a fully insured company car that's different.

Hourly paid workers are not usually paid except for the hours they work, though salaried workers may be on a different basis. You should check your contracts to see if you do in fact pay people on an hourly basis, or some other way.

Annabel Kaye (Tanguera) is Managing Director of Irenicon Ltd, a specialist employment law consultancy.
T: 08452 303050
F: 08452 303060
W: www.irenicon.co.uk
Twitter: AnnabelKaye

Girlfriends in High Places was an eye-opening study about the rise and rise of the New Girls Network. The study published in 2004 showed how these networks were forming an essential part of the business framework. Each with their own brand, identity, personality and loyal fans. Today that’s still the case. Even more so. If you’re in business, being a member of a business ‘network’ or two is essential if you want to build up your resources, enhance your reputation, create opportunities for your empire or career and get a step closer to your next customer or client.

The New Girls Network
Women have been networking as long as men, if not longer. The only thing is  women have been doing it slightly longer on a different and rather more subtle level. The fairer sex, have been getting together in far more imaginative settings than the golf course or a dusty private members club. In fact, a trip across the channel demonstrates the power, impact and far-reaching influence of women’s social networking dating way back to the seventeenth century.

The women of French Salons

Interestingly enough, by delving into history and looking to France we can find the forerunners of the intelligent, self-poised, clear-sighted, independent modern woman who now forms the backbone of the New Girls Network. These were the women who provided a beautiful, unwitting blueprint for today’s entrepreneurial woman. Their remarkable variety and originality made the French Salons of the seventeenth century so influential. The Salons were a place where intelligence blended with practical knowledge.  These progressive women were usually very clever and rather brilliant. And it was their cleverness and brilliance that was exercised to bring into stronger relief the talents of their friends. They may have taken centre stage when it was their turn, but they also made sure they dipped into the wings at the appropriate moment. Everyone should know when their fifteen minutes of fame is up and it’s someone else’s turn! Their peculiar gift was to inspire others and that’s the case with today’s inspirational women.

Similar but not the same
By the same token, the real New Girls Networks don’t see men as a threat.  Quite the opposite. It’s all about equality in terms of ability but different in terms of make-up. Similar but not the same. The differences are complementary and should result in harmony. Men and women simply do things differently, relish different things and operate at their best in different environments.

A curious nature
Women are also naturally curious with a healthy appetite for information and want to find out about each other. And this hunger for tasty tit bits goes way beyond the business arena. In fact, business talk often comes way down on the agenda at the early stages of a relationship.

Balls in the air
Women share certain characteristics.  And multi tasking is one of them. They know what it’s like to juggle work and home by looking after the children, cooking for the freezer, making sure legs and armpits are hair free, keeping the team at work happy, balancing the balance sheets, being energetic in the bedroom and ensuring clients and customers are totally and utterly delighted.  Phew!

The ultimate trump card


It’s certainly not a major disadvantage to be female in business. Actually it’s a trump card if played well and with confidence. The only barriers to success are personal demons coupled with a lack of drive, determination or dedication. Why did Sex And The City become a must-watch-series and a blockbuster? Because it glamorised different female stereotypes. What’s more it made it more than ok to be one of those stereotypes. There’s no doubt there’s a breed of business woman who gives the V-sign to convention and actually sets her own standards.

Lunching or lobbying
So, if you are a woman in business or climbing the career ladder and you haven’t joined forces with a bunch of like-minded business women you’re missing opportunities.  Whether you’re into lunching or lobbying it doesn’t really matter. There’s a club or group that will ring your bell and open doors for you that may have otherwise remained shut.

So, what are you waiting for?

Why don't you twitter this blog post?