the art of the start | can't start a fire without a spark - just ask Guy Kawasaki - Page 2

For example, from my own experience, when i started and was Editorial Director of Lumen Editions, a publishing house that i founded and that specialized in literary translations - a tough market to be sure - we had, among others, a Spanish author who was well-known in Europe, but largely unknown here. Reading his book reminded me somewhat of Dostoevsky's Underground Man, and so, in the press release, i compared the book to Dostoevsky. It was a cocky move, and by no means was i saying this was "the new Dostoevsky" but what this did do was give the book buyers and the book reviewers, more importantly, a sense of what this guy was all about. Pretty much every review that came out then compared this new author to Dostoevsky - so the theory holds true. In short, i did what Kawasaki suggest here - i spoon-fed the public or the reviewers in this case, what i wanted them to see so that they would have that touchstone and assign meaning. And Kawasaki is quick to add too that if you are going to make a comparison or draw that parallel, be sure that it's a line you want to make and a connection that is valid or that you really want. Remember, that the stronger the connection, the more you stand to gain and to lose. If you compare yourself to Enron for example and Enron, as we know, goes down, then you may lose out yourself, so be careful and use caution and good judgement when doing this. It's best, as Kawasaki points out, to find parallels that have withstood the test of time (so in my case,i chose Dostoevsky because he had a reputation for the market that i was trying to reach and also, he was dead and couldn't have a "flop" so to speak, so it worked). I should point out that we did this at Lumen time and time again and it never failed, so Kawasaki's advice, while i did not know it at the time and was working on my own instinct as he is when he did these things, have proven to work. Certainly, they worked for Kawasaki and many others, and as i judge this book and review it, i can tell you first hand that even before i read this, these very intuitive (and this is Kawasaki's gift, or one of them anyway) ideas really work in the real world and that is key.

Article Author: Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti

Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti is a published writer in both the United States and Europe. She is widely known for her music commentary, particularly her writings about Bob Dylan about whom she runs a highly-trafficked site. …

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