Students of finance don't typically expect to be grappling with theology and philosophy. But over a long career in Wall Street, Dr Kara Tan Bhala has collected many fascinating real-life stories that demonstrate just how central an understanding of ethics is for a career in finance. She's also shown that it's possible to write about complex ideas in a clear and straightforward way, using stories rather than abstract theories. (Parable, as she points out, is simply an ancient name for case study.) A fascinating topic, and an equally fascinating conversation with a groundbreaking woman.   

The internet is a funny old place. Most of us can't live (or certainly work) without it, and our online relationships and conversations are just as real and valuable as those we have offline. But we're complex beings with lots going on under the surface, and the internet is no different.  Psychologist Ian MacRae is fascinated by the 'dark' side of online - the 'unconscious of the internet' - and how we can use a more nuanced understanding of that to better inform our online lives.  He also has some wise words on how to go about pulling complex ideas and vast quantities of research into a readable book - even when it means creating a volume of untold stories as a byproduct... 

When it comes to writing a business book, are you a planner, or a pantser? If your natural style is more seat-of-the-pants than perfectly planned, you'll love this unapologetic take on writing from Lucy Cohen - lying on a settee, writing from the heart, ideally after a large glass of red wine.  But don't be fooled: there's nothing insubstantial about her take on the realities of entrepreneurship and where you need to focus for long-term success (hint: forget the first million).  A joy of a conversation, taking in business, anxiety, oversharing, and powerlifting. 

How do you generate, manage and sustain the energy that's needed to write a business book? Physically, mentally, socially and even spiritually, there are many aspects to this question.  Luckily there are many great writing and business brains on hand to answer it. Learn from the best:  Simon Alexander Ong on the different types of energy and how they work together to create flow;  Rob Wozny on how the spiritual energy of purpose can power writing;  Sam Dogen on why writing is like exercise, and the interplay of mental and social energy;  Mark Hayes on drawing energy from others and particularly the power of the podcast;  Bernard Marr on the flywheel effect of the conversations you have at work and the conversation you have on the page;  Katy Murray on breaking down big creative projects and generating the 'starting energy' you need to tackle them;  Felicity Cowie on the importance of being fired up, and the need to contain that fire;  Sara Tate on managing the energy-sucking effects on uncertainty and coming out the other side stronger;  Zena Everett on just getting started.  Whether you're energized or exhausted as the holidays draw to a close, I guarantee you'll find something here to light you up. 

'[We're] not actually dropping into the deep flow work and thinking that we have when we write, because that feels wonderful; we're switching all the time from one thing to another.' Are you crazy busy? Of course you are. Me too. Rubbish, isn't it? Stop multitasking (you know it's not working) and take half an hour to listen to Zena Everett, author of The Crazy Busy Cure, and purveyor of sane, practical advice on how to stop wasting time on stuff that doesn't really matter and focus on the stuff that does.  Like writing. 

'If you stay consistent, you grow your brand, you grow your message. I think sooner or later, something good will happen and you won't be able to anticipate what it is.' What story about money do you buy into? Sam Dogen, aka The Financial Samurai, wants you to rethink financial freedom, and he's used writing as the way to enable his own extraordinary life-after-work.  Think you're too busy to write? Don't listen to this if you want to be able to keep telling yourself that... 

'How often does anyone really start with a blank sheet of paper? Certainly not at my age, you know? You don't, you start from where you are... we want to make the effort to rebuild something that we love and we've invested in, a business or a relationship, whatever it might be. And that is both more complex and more interesting.' Sara Tate and Anna Vogt were fascinated by the idea of failure, or rather, what we do AFTER failure, for both personal and professional reasons. It's a truism to say that we learn from failure: what is REALLY happening in that period of time between failure and success? How do we rebuild - personally and professionally - when we're knee-deep in rubble?  From their own experiences and from those they spoke to in their podcast The Rebuilders they created a book - which in itself was a process of rebuilding for Sara after a lifetime of avoiding writing because of her dyslexia.  A powerful, inspiring and often moving conversation about life, grief, resilience and hiding from our children. 

'It's not very difficult to write a book, but you need to start writing... I put my content on LinkedIn, for example, and this is where you then get feedback and it just gets you into this routine of writing. And you can then very quickly build up a really good volume of content, that you can then turn into books.' Futurologist Bernard Marr created history at the Business Book Awards this year by having two books published in the year, both of which went on to win in category, and one of which - Business Trends in Practice - went on to win the overall Business Book of the Year award. It was, he says, 'slightly embarrassing'.  Discover how he did it in this fascinating conversation - and prepare to have your mind blown along the way as he reveals some of the trends he's been writing about and the impact they are set to have on our businesses and our lives. 

"How do I discover my change making contribution, and how do I do that in a way so that I don't fry myself in the process?" The balance between stepping up to make an impact in the world and stepping back where necessary to protect our own wellbeing and energy can seem an impossible one to find. And that's why Katy Murray argues that change-making is first of all an inner process: recognising and overcoming the various barriers that hold us back, and identifying the most effective way to use our energy to maximise our impact.  She also shares the process she used to plan and write her book, which involves decorator's paper, getting outside, and listening to wailing women... 

'The process of writing, the process of reflecting on where we are right now and what must happen for us to move forward towards where we want to be, this is a process of living with greater intention.' What's your most precious resource? Time? Money? Or is it, in fact, your energy?  No matter how smart or skilled we are, if our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy is depleted, day after day, we won't be showing up to do our best work. In this conversation, Simon Alexander Ong reveals how we can design our lives to maximize our energy, so that we can maximize our impact. Spoiler alert: writing is one of his secret weapons...

Ever wondered how a journalist picks which expert to provide a quote on a story in your industry, or why a national paper runs a story on your competitor and not you?  Media relations might seem like a dark art, but when you understand what journalists are looking for, it's easier to pitch a story that will grab their attention, so that YOUR business can benefit from that powerful exposure.  In this week's conversation, Felicity Cowie talks about life as both a journalist being pitched and a consultant helping businesses pitch effectively, and she shares the two essential questions every journalist asks themselves that decide whether a story will run or not.   

'Having a book has really begun to change how I think about my business and my brand... I am truly surprised about the ripple effect it's having.' At the risk of being meta, there's a lot about conversation in this conversation. Conversations between managers and their sales team that empower and enable; conversations that spark ideas and reveal needs; and the conversation that the author has with the reader - on the page, and beyond the page.  Fascinating insights into sales coaching, the writing process and the impact of a book on a business.       

Storytelling is one of the most basic human impulses. And in the digital age, it's also one of the most complex and confusing: how do you choose between the multitude of channels and tools to help YOUR story connect with the people who matter the most to your business?  Rob Wozny has been in the storytelling game all his life, as a journalist, content strategist and professional business communicator, and he's put that lifetime of expertise into his new book, Storytelling for Business: The art and science of creating connection in the digital age.  In this conversation we talk about both the art and the science of business storytelling, and also the misery and magic of writing a book about it... 

In 1907, pioneering psychologist William James wrote this: 'The human individual lives usually far within his limits; he possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use. He energizes below his maximum, and he behaves below his optimum.' That insight reflects the message of my guests on this podcast recently, and inspired the title of this episode: we CAN do hard things. This isn't just about writing a book – although writing a book is a damn hard thing to do – but more generally about the things that simply feel beyond us, too big, too far out of our comfort zone. Prepare to be inspired by insights from: Tim Bradshaw, Richard Rumelt, Corinne Sawers and Eric Lonergan, Graham Eisner, Daniel H. Pink, Catherine Sandland, Louise Third, Brian Moran and Michael Lennington, and Peter Elbow.

'If you've got something that's important, meaningful to you, that needs to be heard, why not say it on one of the biggest platforms?' Have you thoughts about giving a TEDx talk? If so, you've probably got lots of questions. How do you apply, for a start? How do you put together a TEDx-worthy talk? How on earth are you supposed to do it without an autocue? And perhaps most fundamentally of all, given the huge amount of time and energy involved: why do it in the first place?  In this episode I draw on the wisdom and experience of a wide range of TEDx speakers and particularly Catherine Sandland, the fabulous speaking coach at TEDxNorthwich, to answer all these questions and more.  The red dot is waiting... this is where you begin your journey. 

'Writing is a form of figuring it out. And in fact for me, sometimes it's essential. It's like, what do you think about this? I don't know, I haven't written about it yet.' Dan Pink has written quite a few books, and they've done pretty well. So how does he do it? It's about showing up, he says, especially on the days you don't want to, and it's also about curiosity, hunches, thinking onto paper, and structure. (The structure REALLY matters.) Discover too why regret is such a positive force for good, and why feeling better doing necessarily make us do better.  (But you certainly won't regret the time you spent on this.)

'We don't compromise rigour and intellectual honesty, but we try to make it as accessible as possible.' I don't know what you and your life partner achieved in lockdown. Eric Lonergan and Corinne Sawyers wrote a book.  They brought their complementary skillsets - Eric in economics and monetary policy, Corinne in climate and sustainability - and produced Supercharge Me: Net Zero Faster, a call to action for policy makers and individuals alike to embrace the challenge and indeed the opportunities of reimagining our world more sustainably.  They also discovered a way of writing together that preserved those individual perspectives while creating a unified argument. And a lot of it happened over the dinner table... 

'The basic failure of strategy work is a failure to define the challenge that you're trying to meet.' Richard Rumelt is one of the world's leading authorities on strategy. He's also a keen rockclimber, and it was climbing that gave him the inspiration for his new book: The Crux.  In this wide-ranging conversation we talk about why strategy is such a controversial concept in business, and also why writing is such an important discipline for business thinkers. 

Do you make a difference? Or do you make excuses?  Tim Bradshaw has done many remarkable things in his life, from military training to endurance events, and when I spoke to him he had just returned from a relief mission to Ukraine.  He's simply living out his mantra: #BecauseICan. And it turns out that writing a book was the adventure that took him further out of his comfort zone than any that had gone before...  Ready to be challenged? 

"We all want to grow our business. And we often do that by spending quite a lot of money... But the reality is in front of us, we have all the new clients we need." Graham Eisner perfected his technique for asking clients for referrals without embarrassment on either side at Goldman Sachs, and has been teaching business owners how to do it to grow their business ever since. At its heart, his method involves a simple but profound shift in mindset: a belief that people genuinely want to help. It turns out this is an incredibly helpful mindset when it comes to marketing your book, too - and Graham generously shares his pro tips in this energising and practical conversation. 

'You cannot go into PR without building relationships.' Louise Third has embraced this principle in the planning and writing of her book PR on a Beermat, first by partnering with the originators of the beermat idea to develop it for PR, by writing collaboratively with partners, and by involving journalists and other media professionals to share their expertise in her book.  In this fascinating conversation we talk about PR, the role of a book as part of a business's storytelling, visual thinking, self-publishing and more. Energising and inspiring listening. 

'I think it's kind of a miracle. How can a human mind... all by itself, come up with an idea it never had before? You know, in a dialogue, I can understand how I can get a new idea from you, but how can I get a new idea from myself? That's amazing.' So much of writing is about trust - trusting yourself, that you will find something worth saying; trusting that the words will come and that others will find something of value. If you can't trust yourself to take that first step, you'll never write anything.  Peter Elbow knows this from experience. Having been shut down by a supercilious tutor at university he ended up dropping out of graduate school, simply unable to write the papers he was required to submit. But what he discovered in the process was to transform his own writing and that of the thousands of people he's taught it to since then - free-writing.  What's more, he discovered that free-writing isn't simply a tool for getting unstuck, it produces writing with more energy and clarity. This episode might just change your life. 

'Accountability is... probably the most empowering concept you have to live the life you want to live, when you understand it.' When we speak about accountability in business, very often the context is negative. It's about consequences and blame. But if we see accountability as ownership, it's a radically different, more empowering concept. That's what Brian Moran and Michael Lennington discovered, and they drew on their long-standing accountability to each other as business and writing partners to bring out the full significance of that understanding in their new book.  This week's conversation is not only a fascinating rehabilitation of a tricky term, but also a masterclass in writing collaboration. 

Put an author in front of schoolchildren and you can guarantee that before too long, one of them will ask: 'Where do you get your ideas?' It's a good question, and one that's just as important for business book writers. In this week's 'best bits' episode we look back over recent conversations to see, well, where DO authors get their ideas?  (So if someone asks you that question from now on, you can tell them: The Extraordinary Business Book Club podcast.) With insights from: Cathy Rentzenbrink, Robert Kelsey, Jinny Uppal, John Howkins, Christian Busch, David Grayson, Helen Beedham and Catherine Stothart. 

'[Writing] is a craft. It's no different to knitting or painting by numbers or whatever, you just have to learn the craft. It might take practice and it might take learning a few rules, but, you know, they're not that scary.' For Robert Kelsey, writing is an essential business skill in the knowledge economy. And he won't accept excuses. In this conversation he shares his fear-free approach to effective business communication, and his tips for getting started and keeping going. We also talk about the new landscape of publishing, and the extraordinary resilience of the printed book.  Energising and insightful listening. 

'I delighted in writing it. That doesn't mean I found it easy.' Time management has been seen as an issue for individuals for too long: Helen Beedham argues that the real issue is systemic. The way that organisations manage and value time, she says, is broken. And it's not just a productivity issue, it's hurting our wellbeing and working against inclusion and diversity, too.  Developing that insight into a book was something of a rollercoaster - as her family will attest... 

'Expressing an idea and getting it out there is a very skilful process... the principle is to get the other people as interested in the idea you are.' Creative work is to a large extent invisible - which makes it tricky for managers to manage. It also means that we're left with the challenge of making our invisible ideas visible if we're going to do anything with them.  In this fascinating conversation I talk to creativity expert John Howkins about that process, the naming, defining and describing of a new idea, together with his best advice for writers (and his confessions about his own writing process...). 

In a world that screams 'Just Do It!', inaction has a bad reputation.  But sometimes, strategic inaction is exactly what the situation demands - and much more productive in the long run than the rush to do something, anything. In this week's conversation I talk to Jinny Uppal about how she learned this for herself, and about writing, publishing, crowdfunding and curiosity.  

Anyone can have an idea for a book. Writing, publishing and marketing it? That means becoming an author, and that involves a whole lot of learning.  In this week's podcast I chat around the virtual campfire to seven members of the Extraordinary Business Book Club - some have just begun their first book, others have written several - about what they've learned so far in their journey as authors.  Practical, thought-provoking and often very funny, these dispatches from the front line are essential reading for anyone considering writing a business book. 

Back in episode 286, I set out a list of things that editors hate and how to avoid them. Apparently that was very helpful, but lots of people have suggested that I needed to do a more positively focused companion episode, so here it is: what makes editors' hearts sing?  These ten tips come partly from my own experience of nearly 30 years as an editor (ahem), but also from the Practical Inspiration Publishing development editors and other editors who responded to my call on social media.  From pitching a great proposal to delivering your manuscript to responding to feedback, here are some practical tips straight from the horse's mouth to help you get the best out of the relationship with your editor, the person who can, if you let them, take your book from good to great. 

"We knew that a handbook had to be incredibly practical... we tried to help people to really work through the stages that you need to think about." There could hardly be a more important topic for businesses to engage with today than sustainability, and yet most businesses are still at the very early stages of formulating their sustainability strategy. So when David Grayson, Chris Coulter and Mark Lee were invited to write The Sustainable Business Handbook, they knew it had to be a practical tool that any business leader could use to get their own sustainability initiatives off the ground.  In this conversation we talk about what that meant in practice for structure and style, and how three authors in three different time zones can collaborate without tears... 

'It starts off as me working out what I think, and then it becomes something I'm going to share with other people... The point at which I allow myself to start imagining a reader is really important.' Writing isn't just a tool for communication, and your book isn't just a product. In this thoughtful and practical conversation, best-selling author Cathy Rentzenbrink reveals how she approaches both life writing and how-to writing, and charts the looping, iterative progress that allows you to develop your ideas from exploration to exposition. She also shares her own writer's tricks for managing energy and getting unstuck, and explains the importance of avoiding kitchen-sinking... And if you're thinking that you're not a writer, there's good news for you: your business communication skills may be more transferable than you think. 

They told Christian Busch that it would be 'academic suicide' to do a PhD on the science of luck. But it turns out that luck isn't a random force at all: the results may be unpredictable, but the process of becoming luckier is a simple matter of creating more connections and joining the dots more effectively.  In this conversation, he explains more about how to become luckier by adopting a 'serendipity mindset', and also how you can benefit from 'peak-hour writing' to get your own book written.  This just might be your lucky day... 

A great way to celebrate a new year and a tricentenary episode: a 'best bits' compilation of wisdom from recent guests talking about one of the most important and rewarding aspects of writing a business book.  Whether you need to focus on building your following or your partnerships, or simply be a bit braver at making new connections, there's inspiration and ideas for you here. Hear from: Eloise Cook on why publishers look for a following Sonya Barlow on creating serendipity Michael Buckworth on the value of talking about your idea Dorie Clark on professional communities, aka 'making friends as an adult' Trevor Thrall on collaborating with trust Michael Leckie on reaching out to your heroes Lucy Ryan on finding writing buddies Jo Bottrill on finding the right publishing skills.    

'We’re designed as cyclical creatures, from the most basic microcycle of breathing in and out to the annual cycle of the seasons, and if the New Year to come is our time for resolutions and purposeful action, the days before it, these Twixtmas days, are a time for gathering our resources quietly, relaxing and massaging our tightly bunched cognitive muscles so that we’re ready to pick up the weight of the year again next week.' It's too late to wish you happy Christmas, too early for Happy New Year (what day is it, anyway?), so here are some thoughts on making the most of the odd in-between days of Twixtmas - which might mean not doing very much at all.  There's also 10 fabulous 2021 business book recommendations from listeners, for when you're ready to pick up a business book again. (Don't leave it too long.)

What DO commissioning editors look for in business book proposals? Eloise Cook is the publisher responsible for Pearson's business list, and in this conversation she reveals what makes a proposal worth pursuing (and also what makes her quietly file it under B for Bin).  We also talk about the future for business books, and how authors extend their idea beyond the book to maximise engagement.  If you're planning to pitch a business book proposal, this is pure gold. 

'No one wants to be preached at or talked down to, or made to believe it's fancier than it is. This is not rocket science. This is just good, plain common sense. You need a framework. There are lots of them out there. This is the one that works for me. And I think there are some good reasons it will work for you. And I'll just explain that to you.' Discovering the 12-week year approach saved Trevor Thrall's career as an academic, and now he teaches it to other writers. In this conversation he tells me how it transformed his own writing, and how he's built the idea beyond the book into a community.  This system is GENIUS, and might just transform your writing life too... 

'What's the worst that can happen?' It might not sound like the most positive of mantras, but that simple question lies behind Sonya Barlow's astonishing success: one of 2020's Most Influential Women in Tech, a top 50 BAME entrepreneur, LinkedIn's Changemaker 2021 for Gender Diversity and Inclusion and Marie Claire's Future Shaper 2020.  Her determination to learn from failure and her remarkable resilience have not only driven her career as an entrepreneur, they're what made writing a book possible for someone who started to shake at the idea of writing 1,000 words.  In this conversation, she talks candidly about what it took to overcome that fear and write a book. Because if you want something badly enough, the worst that can happen is that you don't give it a go. 

What's the magic by which the Word document you've been working on for so many weeks and months is transformed into a book? Jo Bottrill, head of Newgen UK, is a book production expert who's worked with thousands of authors to perform exactly that magic, and in this conversation he not only demystifies the production process but also explains what you as the author can do to make it as smooth and effective as possible. From copy-editing to repurposing for multiple formats, typesetting to cover design, discover exactly what's involved in transforming a manuscript into a beautiful book you can be proud of.

"Talk to anybody who will listen about your idea. That's the way that you improve it." Michael Buckworth is an anomaly: a lawyer who's also an entrepreneur. He founded the only UK law firm working exclusively with startups, and he's the author of Built on Rock: The busy entrepreneur’s legal guide to start-up success.  If you're setting up a new business, you're already interested, amiright? But even if you're not, there's a huge amount to learn here about how to develop your intellectual property (hint: don't over-protect it) and how to make complex material accessible and engaging. Plus a helpful new twist on the classic 'the dog ate my homework' trope... 

'You have to be good enough and you have to be persistent, [and] if you combine those two things together, then if you keep putting yourself in new situations, eventually there is going to be something that clicks.' Dorie Clark is very clear that creating content - sharing your ideas - is an essential part of building your reputation as an expert. But she's living proof that it doesn't happen overnight - with writing, as with relationships, you have to play the long game.  Now one of the most respected business writers of our day, she's open about the rejections and failures she's experienced all along the way, and right up to the present day. This is a masterclass for anyone engaged in putting their ideas into the world, but it's also a hilarious and candid conversation, in which we find out why she once burst into tears on an Irish road... 

'I came to writing really late. I was told I couldn't write... I had no first degree. I came to learning at 40 plus with an idea that I couldn't write, but I still loved learning. So it's been a total joy. It's like, wow, you can do that too, you can learn in another way. Writing... gets more and more joyous.' Dr Lucy Ryan started writing Lunchtime Learning for Leaders mid-pandemic, in response to the frantic cries for help from leaders grappling with the huge issues facing them but little time for traditional training. It wasn't intended to be a book, and the way in which she went on to shape those articles into a coherent whole is a masterclass in writing and editing. We talk about imposter syndrome (her gremlin is called Bob, how about yours?), overwhelm, curiosity and writing in service of the reader - and it's a joy from start to finish.

'It's not that you're wrong. You're just no longer right. And that's a big difference.' Michael Leckie has built his career on asking good questions at the right time, and in his book The Heart of Transformation he talks about 'operationalizing curiosity' as one of the capabilities that drive successful transformation in organizations.  Questions are also core to creating a powerful business book: questions for yourself, and for your reader. In this fascinating conversation we talk about change, curiosity and co-creation at work and on the page. 

"We sometimes forget the value, or the power, or the impact of words because, 'Hey, we're speaking the whole time, or we're writing the whole time... it's only me, how powerful can it be?' So we say things that are the wrong things to say, or we miss our opportunities. If you have an opportunity to get a message across and you just treat it casually or you fluff it or you don't prepare, then that's a shame." This insightful comment from Jeremy Kourdi was the inspiration for this Best Bits episode, in which I look back over the last few conversations in this podcast and pick out the sparkliest moments, stringing them together to create fairy lights for your mind.  You're welcome.  With powerful words from:  Jeremy Kourdi on using your words well  Megan Hayes on what happens beyond the page Azeem Azhar on the words that become your North Star Alice Sheldon on naming what's important Becky Hall on not compromising on the words that matter Jen O'Ryan on the power of sweary words Alison Jones on the words that diminish power, and how to avoid them Bobbie Carlton on how books embody leadership Jodie Rogers on how words hold you accountable for your thinking.  Words matter. Use them, and use them well.  

'Why would you write 28 books? To get good at some of the stuff that you're writing about.' As well as writing those 28 books, Jeremy Kourdi has experience of senior leadership at The Economist, Duke University and the CMI. It's fair to say he has an all-round perspective on the value of content in business thinking, and in this fascinating conversation he reveals his own approach to writing as well as his thoughts on the value of words more generally. As content creators, we have a responsibility to use our platforms well: what does that mean for you?  Using words well is a core business discipline, as fundamental to effective leadership as financial management or strategic direction, and this is a masterclass for any leader wanting to go from good to great. 

'I would encourage every author to have their own-book-shaped plan and their own-marketing-shape plan that is theirs, because that is what creates the books that really reflect our own message and that are really full of integrity.' If you're tired of formulaic approaches or cynical marketing tactics, this will be a breath of fresh air. Alice Sheldon had a powerful message to share but found the obvious writing route and standard marketing tactics didn't sit well with her. So she created an Alice-shaped way of authoring and promoting her book, a way that drew on her strengths and drew in help and support from a whole team of 'book friends'. In this conversation we talk not only about the transformational Needs Understanding framework, the 'surprisingly simple secret' of the title, but also the way that by understanding your own needs as an author you can create a way of writing and marketing your book that is not only effective but also joyful and authentic. 

'The individual is a research project, every time we try something new we're being a kind of scientist in our own life.' Megan Hayes studied the links between writing and happiness, and the first thing she discovered is that it's both more powerful and more complex than we think. Yes, 'getting it all down on paper' is a great way to process a difficult experience, but it turns out a writing habit can also help us be more creative, more energised and more effective OFF the page.  We talk about accessing the full range of voices within you - not just the shoutiest - to resource yourself fully, self-efficacy and sense-making, the ghost of the English teacher, the power of NOT being a writer, and so much more.  If you listen to nothing else this week, listen to this. 

When you're writing a business book - or indeed any business writing - WHAT you're saying is the most important thing, of course.  But HOW you say it can make all the difference as to how people read it. I asked a group of editors what really pushed their buttons, and compiled this run-down of mistakes to avoid if you want to make a good impression. This is especially important if you're submitting a book proposal, but nailing this stuff will improve your credibility with all sorts of readers.  Spoiler alert: these might not be quite what you expect...