The book editing has begun.

I was never great with submitting homework and waiting for the teacher to hand it back, crossed through with red ink. In fact, it became a hate – hate relationship. So you can just imagine how I felt sending off 55,000 words in the form of the manuscript for my first book, Winning Presentations.   

However, it turns out this process is somewhat different, and my nerves have subsided, just a little. I have Michael Hanrahan, from Publish Central in charge as my editor. His editing pedigree is pretty impressive, having worked with Oxford University Press, Random House, Hardie Grant, Overland, and John Wiley & Sons Australia. This week, we had our kick-off call to align on expectations – that never happened with schoolwork!   

Now, instead of feeling nervous, I’m really very excited to be working with Michael to make this book the best it can possibly be.   

Turning what I teach and coach into a book hasn’t been anywhere near as straightforward as I first thought. But it is critical that this works as well without me, as it does when I am physically there to conduct proceedings. I see this book as a game-changing confidence booster for sales and strategy professionals. Those who need to craft compelling stories that sell ideas and solutions. I continue to see a massive gap between run-of-the-mill presentation skills training, and the very real need for capabilities to bring strategy, creativity, ideas and solutions to life in the type of presentations that do this work justice.    

From book coaches to professional editors, I am at least practising what I advocate. I’m hiring specialists and getting an outside perspective to make sure this book delivers!   

Stay tuned to hear what happens when I get my homework back.