A client-friend of mine recently published a book which won business book awards over Seth Godin and Peter Drucker. Ken Wright’s new book “the People Pill” has become one of those I-need-to-read-this-yearly type book to those I’ve recommended it too.
I’d recommend you head on over to http://www.thepeoplepill.com and start by downloading the Free 12 page Manifesto called “The Age of Engagement”. It’ll let you into Ken’s world on leadership and management – then I’d consider buying the book.
Which brings me to my main point. Manifestos
Manifestos are quickly becoming a great alternative to a fully blown e-book. I think the name is cooler and certainly a little less abused than ‘e-book’. It’s a perfect way to digest your message and offer it for free on your website, facebook page etc. If people like it, they’ll come back to you looking for more stuff to read, buy and learn from.
Generally, manifestos aren’t long. They are often set out in landscape with a nice margin for people to write notes in when they print it out. The most popular file type to use is PDF. If you write it in Microsoft Word, I recommend a program like cutepdf to convert it into a PDF.
They’re a great pre-curser to a published book and a great way to solicit feedback and stories before you go spend the money on producing a book.
Perhaps you’ve got a good idea and message that you’d like to spread? Perhaps you’ve considered writing a book and would like to ‘test the market’. A manifesto is a great way to do it. Being digital it’s almost cost-free and it’s easy to send around the world to family, friends, fans and your heroes!
Want to see some more manifestos? Head on over to http://www.changethis.com/