Hope for Women Business Authors, Afterall
Posted: June 7, 2007, 06:31 AM by Leslie Grossman
Last night I had an "aha" experience. I missed my train leaving from Grand Central Terminal in NYC to take me home. No, that wasn't the "aha." I miss my train all the time. And as all things that appear to go wrong, it was an opportunity. I had 30 minutes to spare so I stopped by the local book store in the terminal - Posman's - and started browsing. As usual my first stop was the table top display of the latest business books. My browsing technique is to circle the table to see the book titles that catch my eye while simultaneously noticing how many books are authored by women. Usually, I see no more than 2 or 3 books by female authors afterwhich I typically get annoyed about the fact that so few are being promoted (or even written). Last night, after I saw 3 books I was again prepared to get annoyed when I saw 4, than I saw 5, and shockingly I saw 6. Now I was starting to go into shell shock. What was going on? I was already seeing double the number of business books written by women. Now I'm getting really excited and I start circling the table again to gather them up to buy them all (because I want to support women authors as well as read what they have to say) and I'm thinking about going out for a glass of champagne to celebrate. I decide to skip the champagne and quickly buy the books so that I can catch the next train home and start perusing my multiple purchases. Here's what I found: "Smart Women Take Risks" by Helene Lerner; "Am-Bitch-ous" by Debra Condren, PH.D, "Working with You Is Killing Me" by Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster, "The Girl's Guide to Being a Boss" by Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio, "See Jane Lead" by Lois P. Frankel, PH.D., and Ronna Lichtenberg's latest book, which I can't seem to find on my book pile in my messy office. I haven't read them all yet, just skimmed them, but I can tell you, that they all seem valuable. There seems to be something going on. I'm not sure if publishers are paying more attention to the business ideas of women because they have finally realized that we are really good at getting our ideas and smart strategies on paper. Or that publishers finally realized that more than half all the managers in corporate America and half all the business owners are women. Or are more women deciding to take the time to write books? Whatever it is, it is truly exciting to see more women getting visibility as authors. Now you may say, "Leslie, give me a break. It was only six books on the table." Yes, that's true, but that's 2 times more than I ever have seen before. And add to that all the great books by women that we feature on the Women's Leadership Exchange online bookstore and things are looking up in the land of Business Literature. One more thing, there was another book that caught my eye. And to tell you the truth, for me right now, it is the most compelling book of all and it was written by a man. It is called "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi. It is a very long book about a very short, but important strategy (not a complicated strategy at all) that all women need to pay attention to. Read it. It is truly the secret to success -- building relationships. It is a strategy that I have practiced for the last 20 years. WLE puts this into action at all our conferences, but we will be exanding on this beginning July of this year. So read the book and than watch your emails and your mail to find out how WLE will help every woman implement what took Keith 300 pages to share. Now I'm off to finish working on the next WLE Conference. Hope to see you in Chicago on June 19th or at a future conference. Check out www.womensleadershipexchange.com for all 2007 conference dates. Have a fabulously successful day. Remember the "law of attraction". LeslieReader Comments
Posted: May 31, 2008, 06:54 PM by Diane Eble
Publishers have known for a long time that most book buyers are women. So it\'s about time they started publishing more women authors in business.
Right now publishers look for women with "platform" and I think more women have that these days. If anyone reading this is an author, or aspiring author, I would like to mention that there\'s a teleseminar coming up about Virtual Book Tours, and I can get you VIP discount of $79 if you use this link: http://www.virtualbooktourpreview.com I have conducted VBTs for both authors and publishers, and it\'s a great way to build a list, publicize what you do, build your platform, etc. For answers to FAQs about VBTs and how they work, you can check out www.virtualbooktourexpert.com.
Diane Eble, CEO, Words to Profit, www.wordstoprofit.com and www.yourbookpublishingcoach.com
Posted: May 13, 2008, 03:35 PM by Melissa Casserly
Hi, I love your posting on this subject. The president of my company just authored a book titled The Emotion Behind Money; Building Wealth From the Inside Out. She choose to self-publish because the major publishing houses wanted a more masucline feel on the cover. Not releasing her personal power to anyone she is now scheduled to appear on the Lifetime Channell and Oprah.
Posted: February 10, 2008, 03:12 PM by crystal
I was trying to see what was out there for women in buisness, I believe I found it.
Thanks so much to the women in this leadership blog.
Posted: December 10, 2007, 04:46 PM by Joan Curtis
Leslie,
Yes, women are writing more and we continue to go a long way. But, I recently read an article that gave me pause. I had thought that women had made great strides in the workplace. After all, Hillary Clinton is running for President of the United States, and she’s highly respected. So, why is it women are still experiencing discrimination at work?
What? Surely they are not, you might say. Let’s look at the stats. The wage gap in 2006 showed women at 77 cents to the dollar. It was 50 cents to the dollar in the 1970’s when the modern women’s movement began. Believe it or not in this advanced year of 2007, woman are still experiencing gender stereotypes in the workplace.
If you don’t believe me, take a look at a recent article published in Pink,www.pinkmagazine.com . The article, titled, Sex Change for the Better?, looks at men who decided to become women. They went through the physical and psychological process of a gender switch. Now as women, they are experiencing a very different work environment.
One of these “women” explained when she was negotiating her salary as a man, she asked for more money and got it. It was expected. As a woman, however, she wrote, “I not only never got a higher offer but the implication was I was lucky to be picked and ought to be gracious. . .”
The other woman pointed out how as a woman she feels invisible in meetings. She often has to go to higher management to get what she wants because the men around her do not take her seriously. Does all this sound familiar?
Unfortunately, we still have along way to go. Our social world has rewarded “male” behaviors in the workplace for centuries. It will take a long time for women to break this down. We’ve made strides, but when you realize we’ve only gained 27 cents to the dollar since the 1970’s, it’s depressing.Leslie, what do you think about this? Can you help me not feel so depressed?
Joan
Posted: October 24, 2007, 10:09 PM by karen gauze
Leslie, how lucky most of you women are to have been born in an area where so many opportunities abound. To be born in appalachia where 85 percent of our population is on government assistance tend to make it harder to reach any kind of satisfying goal. However , I have stayed and have a business that makes over $500,000 per year. I have worked hard, maybe twice as hard as some who have had better opportunities. I was raised wilthout loving parents and at times done without food, hard to believe in this day and time. This year I am expanding my business and I will never go hungry again.
Posted: October 9, 2007, 10:38 PM by Donna Coulson
Leslie: What great finds at Grand Central Station! Thank you for sharing. I think women have the wisdom and insight and finally have learned to be themselves and define their own views of success in the buisness world. The challenge IS finding the time to write--or ghost write. A client offered to display my book during a webinar I hosted. Book? What book? I'm lucky to write reviews for amazon.com on the fly. :>) OK. OK. 2008 is a-coming.
Donna Coulson
Posted: June 26, 2007, 11:09 AM by Liz Bacall
Yes, Leslie, that is exciting! The truth is, our experiences are different from men, both because our way of knowing and approach to life is unique and because we dare to continue to go where women were not before. I have the utmost respect for those who went before us, how brave they were! How brave we are! And while some things are true for everyone (like never eating alone), it is a thrill to read a great business book written by a woman. Thanks for your encouraging post!
Posted: June 20, 2007, 11:37 PM by Lisa Voncino
I enjoyed reading your comments Leslie......yes, building relationships is an integral part of success, no doubt about it. I will pick up a copy of Ferrazzi's book.
