STOP PRESS: this book idea found a publisher! It was published in April 09 by How To Books as Work From Home by Judy Heminsley.
Reviewer: Susannah Marriott - Editor of self-help books for publishers including Dorling Kindersley, Hamlyn, Barron's.
I need this book now! It's a timely and well-researched self-help title, but more importantly in terms of publisher-appeal, sells an aspirational lifestyle to a growing segment of the workforce.
Market assessment
Genre: non-fiction; self-help/business
This idea must surely have appeal for UK publishers since it's so 'now' and there is no other book covering this territory. 192pp is the maximum extent I’d expect for a UK book of this type. It could have been a dry, cold tome for the business shelves, but by setting yourself up as the capable expert and putting your own experiences and those of many other homeworkers centrestage, it feels right for the lifestyle/self-help shelves. I can see the transition to a TV series, where you boss around unproductive homeworkers – and this is why you need to raise your profile with a linked website. This is a good time to get out and sell your idea – and with this text you have the materials to do it.
An alternative approach would be to embrace lifestyle more fully and turn this into a Change Your Life book along the lines of clutter-clearing/house cleaning titles with you as business guru, and to develop your brand with a website and pitch it at a TV production company. What do you think?
Ideas
The book’s ‘human’ approach gives a facelift to a tired subject: the green tinge of commuting miles, the quality of life issues, and the emotional focus all work well. The contents and voice are appropriate for the lifestyle market, but perhaps you need to work on ensuring the material is detailed and dense enough for the business shelves, too. Targeting both the self- employed and teleworkers feels genuinely new. I wonder whether there’s enough specific content for the latter as the chapter breakdown currently stands?
The treatment of ideas shows a remarkably high level of consistency. The same type of information is treated in the same way across the chapters – setting up models to apply across subjects is the key to success in practical self-help books, and it can be infuriating to have to stick to them, which is why so many self-help manuscripts are unpublishable. But you’ve applied it across the board, from types of information and writing styles to the styling of boxes and lists, which makes the piece feel tight and professional. The cross-referencing is very good. When you touch on an issue or refer to a concept already discussed, you invariably direct readers to other relevant material – 'if you are an in-time person (see Chapter 2 p00)'.
The pages are packed with practical advice – most readers will buy the book for your advice and exercises, which are doable and relevant, from time-management strategies to solutions to procrastination. You clearly explain the benefits of each piece of advice and why you might choose – or not – to follow it.
Structure
This is a well-planned structure divided into three useful parts and angled by the use of questions squarely at the self-help market. It’s important that the questions anchoring each section address issues pertinent to every reader, whatever their field of work. It’s particularly pleasing that each chapter follows the same structure.
The summary points at the end of each chapter are just right for the reader strapped for time, and the siting of the resources at the end of each chapter very useful for readers, though probably not so good for updating by the publisher (this book will need updates to keep looking fresh in the field). It adds personality that the recommendations aren’t all sites and books, but also real people and objects, from your Mum to the kettle.
Narrator/author profile
The introduction sets you up as a safe pair of hands who’s worked from home for herself and as an employee (a plus, since this is a growing section of the market) and also advised small businesses on these matters. Pulling on board a cast of trail-blazing homeworkers for the case studies and tips adds necessary width, especially since some come from business situations other than desk jobs. The case histories (neatly titled to emphasize the worker’s profession) will work well as boxes, and soundly illustrate points being made in the text; self-help manuscripts often fall down on this before reaching an editor.
Research/setting
The amount of research you’ve done shows. The text on networking in chapter 7 is particularly convincing for obviously being rooted in live research. Most impressive is the way you’ve keyed researched material into the subject in hand (chapter 2 is a good example). It’s easy in this type of book to fall into the trap of presenting facts without stating how they relate to the subject and the reader. But you tell the reader why it’s useful, for example, to know about the principles of EQ, Jungian personality types and NLP if you work from home, and then offer simple exercises to relate them to yourself.
Writing style
Your voice is like the book, ‘down-to-earth, practical and friendly’. Its warm, empowering and gently cajoling tone works well for the self-help market. The clean, simple sentences also fit the genre and the subject, and you’ve avoided business-speak admirably.
The introduction is particularly well written – almost a model of what these pieces should do: speak direct to the reader, present the sell at the top (this book will change your life), tout the lifestyle, introduce the cast of co-home workers and flag up the book’s dip-inability.
The fact boxes are nicely current and from good sources. Many of these types of books look tired before they’re printed because they use old material.
Questionnaires are a key tool in self-help books, and you’ve included lots and tackled them well. The analysis is sympathetic, with useful signposting through to various parts of the book. This is a key way to draw in non-chronological readers.
Impressively, there are few – if any – typos or errors of grammar in your manuscript. Full marks for professionalism.
Elements to rework
• Spend some time in bookshops, browsing titles on the business shelves. How much more 'heavy' is the material than your content? Do you need to up the business feel of your writing (but without losing your friendly, hand-holding apporach)? Think about adding fact boxes or lengthier introductions to achieve this.
• Do teleworkers need their own chapter? The bookshop research may help you decide.
• Try to make time to focus on your writing – to smooth out sentences, explore how succinctly you can express thoughts, and find ways of linking disparate ideas.
• Watch out for instances when you veer from chatty to meaningless: 'There must be millions of people wondering about the possibility of working from home…', 'We are all well aware of'. Every word counts in these books, and you could probably reduce the extent by excising and tightening.
• Do keep an eye on the fact that statistics need updating and so shorten a book’s shelf-life.
• The questionnaire on page 42 needs explanation as to why it differs from the ones that went before.
• Case histories: try to pull in more non-media professionals to widen the book's appeal.
• I worry that by emphasizing your own story, you’ll scare off publishers who don’t warm to you or who have the international market in their sights (foreign rights sales bankroll many self-help books). However, let this spur you on in building your profile as the UK’s expert on homeworking, with your own website. Make this your priority over the next few months.
