Posted by Jon
teve Jensen, who does a fabulous job co-ordinating the speaker programme for the APMP conference each year, writes asking for suggestions regarding books to be sold at this year’s event.
Made me wonder about my wish list. How about this for a top five?
Machiavelli’s “The Prince”, of course. The best covering letter in history, and a perfect guide for proposal people on how to deal with their sales colleagues.
teve Jensen, who does a fabulous job co-ordinating the speaker programme for the APMP conference each year, writes asking for suggestions regarding books to be sold at this year’s event.
Made me wonder about my wish list. How about this for a top five?
Machiavelli’s “The Prince”, of course. The best covering letter in history, and a perfect guide for proposal people on how to deal with their sales colleagues.
“Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson. Won the Pulitzer last year. We talk about great proposals being ‘a joy to read’, and this novel fits that description than any other. I strongly believe that the best way to learn how to write better is to read more!
“Let’s Get Real, Or Let’s Not Play” by Mahan Khalsa. I don’t agree with every word by any means, but it’s the most wonderfully provocative and entertaining book on selling.
The awesome “Copy-Editing : The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Authors and Publishers: Books” by Judith Butcher. Should have pride of place on any business writer’s bookshelf (next to a good dictionary!), even though it’s not cheap. Great for settling arguments: “Should my bullet-point list have semi-colons at the end of every item?”
“Why Business People Speak Like Idiots” by Fugere, Hardaway and Warshawsky. BJ and I are forever buying books for one another; this is the best he’s fired my way in the past few months. I know he’ll post about it at some point, so I won’t steal his thunder!
Then again, maybe Steve wouldn’t appreciate such a tongue-in-cheek list. And although BJ and I have been asked to write a book by a most eminent publisher (you heard it here first!), perhaps I should wait until we’ve done the hard work and nominate our own volume in a fit of immodesty.
“Let’s Get Real, Or Let’s Not Play” by Mahan Khalsa. I don’t agree with every word by any means, but it’s the most wonderfully provocative and entertaining book on selling.
The awesome “Copy-Editing : The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Authors and Publishers: Books” by Judith Butcher. Should have pride of place on any business writer’s bookshelf (next to a good dictionary!), even though it’s not cheap. Great for settling arguments: “Should my bullet-point list have semi-colons at the end of every item?”
“Why Business People Speak Like Idiots” by Fugere, Hardaway and Warshawsky. BJ and I are forever buying books for one another; this is the best he’s fired my way in the past few months. I know he’ll post about it at some point, so I won’t steal his thunder!
Then again, maybe Steve wouldn’t appreciate such a tongue-in-cheek list. And although BJ and I have been asked to write a book by a most eminent publisher (you heard it here first!), perhaps I should wait until we’ve done the hard work and nominate our own volume in a fit of immodesty.