One client I worked with... had a book that constituted less than 100 pages. They had this mistaken belief that their manuscript wasn't a "real" book. I reminded them that Dances With Wolves, by Michael Blake, was originally a book with only 99 pages. In fact, many felt it was only written for the movie because of its' short nature. Whether that is true or not, it was a very visual book and translated extremely well to the silver-screen. Another short book that is well loved by anyone who reads it is, "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran. At only 96 pages, it has captured entire generations of non-religious people and is spoken of with reverence. When it was first given to me, I did not read it for darn close to 10 years. It sat in my library as an "unopened" gift. I am never certain why I didn't read it right off the bat, yet profoundly grateful when I finally did read it. Why? "The Prophet" is a life-changing book. That "life-changing" quality is what matters most. Is the book complete? Will it change a person's life for the better when they read it? If it doesn't, then, I don't care if it is an employee manual or fiction, your writing job is done - whip that cake out of the oven and let Readers eat their fill! Wait, did you guys hear me correctly? An Employee Manual - changing lives? Well, yes. The correct one, the one that actually informs and transforms can change lives. I am not talking about the dry, tirade from management that preaches safety not practiced by management. I am talking about the real Employee Manual (EM) that helps set them up for success. It is an iBook they can download onto their phone and has all the preferred employee-customer scenario outcomes embedded in video form. If seeing is believing, then your employees can follow the examples and mix and match them in tone and action depending on the situation. iBook EMs can also provide a visual index on terms you want them to know - on top of best practices and product information links. Think of it this way. Pretend you are a Hospital Administrator. The worst headache your receiving department, nurses, and staff have to deal with is the fact that one medical instrument has 10 different billing codes. Surprise, surprise, in a custom-designed EM, you can actually load these codes in an index. Once the EM is on the iPhone, your Admitting Clerk, ER staff and Lab staff can all refer to the EM for something that seems completely unrelated, yet is profoundly important for day-to-day operations, like billing codes. You can customize your book any way you want. And here is another secret... The well written internal business book is often short on words, yet deep with explanation. In the past, these books were huge 3-inch binders. However, modern technology allows us to embed 3-Models, entire database models, and hyperlinks into infinity. What if you are a politician? Then you can build a book that has a map of every registered voter, their voting patterns, migration across districts, demographics, past concerns and even police reports for their area. Moreover, we can build an entire directory from your city hall with cross-references on Chamber of Commerce members and their latest information. What would that kind of information mean to you? Trust me, it would be priceless. Obviously, this can't be done with an eBook. eBooks are scalable in a very limited, crippled fashion. But an iBook can easily be less than 100 pages, yet contain decades of material, maps, databases, and details unimaginable in past centuries. Fortunately, you live in the 21st Century - it is a piece of cake!
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Details
About the Blog: Why Your Book Matters WYBM is a Blog for self-publishing authors of all kinds. Many people immediately think that all authors write fiction. This is one of the greatest myths in the Book Industry! We work with teachers, business owners, politicians, charity founders and even hospital administrators.
ArchivesCategories |