The Biz Book Broadcast

Ron Tester is back for a History Pop-Up. And it turns out we both spent the month reading about people dying of things nobody understood at the time. Ron's been looking at the physician who worked out cholera came from the water, while the authorities determinedly ignored his findings. I've got an ancient language we can only trace from shared words we still use today.  Plus, we look at the history of paper + the shock of the Great Influenza. Better still, the teeth of the ancient people who spoke it tell us how they moved + to an amazing degree how they spent their time. Look for more History Pop-Ups roughly every month. Books discussed in this episode: The Ghost Map - Steven Johnson Pale Rider - Laura Spinney Proto - Laura Spinney The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper - Roland Allen Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World - Irene Vallejo The Great Influenza - John M. Barry Ron's Website: rontestercoaching.com ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely

Tim Ferriss has just published his recent royalty figures - that's since AI arrived - they're grim. Ally Machate of The Writer's Ally is back to work out the knock-on effects for the rest of us. She reckons one whole category of book is dead. Not dying. Dead. But it's not all doom + gloom - business books have a future. I put both my own books on the table + ask her straight whether they'll survive. One does. The other - hmm, needs a tweak. Listen to see if your book plans need to change too. Look for more in the Your Biz Needs a Book strand. Books discussed in this episode: The 4-Hour Workweek - Tim Ferriss The 4-Hour Body - Tim Ferriss Tools of Titans - Tim Ferriss Tribe of Mentors - Tim Ferriss Ally’s Website:  www.thewritersally.com  Ally’s Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/allysonemachate   ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

A scientist sails to the Arctic hunting a legendary giant jellyfish. She finds nothing but the reader can see it on every page - right next to her ship. Show regular Ron Tester is back to discuss Chloe Savage's delightful The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish, which for our purposes turns out to be a book about blind spots. We discuss why your customers see your business more clearly than you ever will + the silent clients who watch you for years without ever saying hello. Rude? This is a Classics episode, where we treat a book that is absolutely not a business book as though it were. Books discussed in this episode: The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish - Chloe Savage What Magic Lies Beneath - Chloe Savage Ron's Website: rontestercoaching.com ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely.

We can now all spot AI slop miles off - the em dash, the bullet points, the "it's not this, it's that". Yet AI is still super handy for speeding day-to-day tasks - so how do you use AI for business writing without sounding like a bot? Communications expert Chris Fenning is back to discuss the whole thing. He explains the two jobs AI does brilliantly + the two you should never hand over. And a strange moment I had with the word 'ok'. Look for more episodes in this mini series with Chris.  Books discussed in this episode: The First Minute - Chris Fenning Effective Meetings - Chris Fenning Chris's website: chrisfenning.com/ Chris's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chris-fenning ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely.

When the fair shuts and the humans go home, the woodland animals let themselves in. Nobody's in charge. Yet it works perfectly. Community expert Gill Tiney is back to discuss The Midnight Fair by Gideon Sterer. It's a wordless picture book, which makes it a very quiet business text indeed. We discuss who guides when nobody leads, how your members can pay you without using actual money + the one thing these animals do on their way out that humans almost never manage. This is a Classics episode, where we treat a book that is absolutely not a business book as though it were. Books discussed in this episode: The Midnight Fair - Gideon Sterer Together We Can Do Something Wonderful - Gill Tiney Gill's Website: collaborationglobal.org Gill's Eventbrite: ventbrite.co.uk/o/collaboration-global-28760629935 Gill's YouTube: youtube.com/@collaborationglobal5801 ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely.

Publishers spend all day up to their eyeballs in books. Which begs the question - what do they read when nobody's paying them to? Publisher Emily Hitchcock is back - for what may be a new series - finding out what the professionals read for pleasure. We compare notes on bookseller picks, judging books by their covers - we both do it, is it a bad habit? + which section of the bookshop you'll find Emily in. Plus - shockingly - she confesses a book habit I consider a crime. Outrageous! Look out for more from this brand new Reading strand. Books discussed in this episode: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Edward Albee Cocktails with George and Martha - Philip Gefter Emily's website: columbuspublishinglab.com/li ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely.

You've written a book. AI is going to change how people find it - and yes, it's going to read it too + probably tell people what's in it. Let's discuss the good and the bad. Marketing strategist Forest Linden is back for part three of our AI mini series. Forest explains where AI actually looks when it decides who to recommend - it's not your website - and how to get your name attached to your idea so when AI borrows your thinking, you still get the credit. We also talk honestly about books being scraped. Every published book gets absorbed. It's happening to everyone + pretending otherwise helps nobody. Look for more in the Your Biz Needs a Book strand. Books discussed in this episode: The Art of Money - Bari Tessler Forest's website: claritylab.co Forest's Threads: threads.com/@forestlinden ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely.

You're explaining your work to someone important. You're being clear - you're being interesting. Obv. Yet they've quite visibly glazed over. What went wrong? Communications expert Chris Fenning is back to set us straight. Turns out the problem isn't necessarily your explanation - it's where you're starting from - and it's the reason why so many tedious business letters go straight in the recycling. Naturally, he also gives us the fix. Plus, the question I'm training myself to ask instead of ‘does that make sense?’ - you'll likely find it useful too. Look for more episodes in this Communication strand. Books discussed in this episode: The First Minute - Chris Fenning Effective Meetings - Chris Fenning Chris's website: chrisfenning.com/ Chris's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chris-fenning ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely

Are you the sort of person who likes to take things apart to see how they work? Maybe before you've quite got a plan on how to put it back together? If so - CFO Karen Gordon + I have some goose based thoughts that might help. We're giving Aesop's golden goose the financial review it's waited two and a half thousand years for. It doesn't go well for the farmer. Or the goose. Obv. We consider what a halfway sensible goose owner would do + what a sudden pile of money does to a previously sensible budget. Also - goose security could be a bigger problem than you'd first think. This is a Classics episode, where we take a very old story and wring sensible-ish business lessons out of it. Books discussed in this episode: The Golden Goose - Aesop Karen’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/karengordongowmm Karen’s Website: gordon-organization.com ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely.

Right now, there's very likely a bag of frozen peas in your freezer + a tin of tomatoes in your cupboard. Oddly, that fact contains an interesting business lesson. Show regular Ron Tester is back + we're launching a whole new strand - business lessons from cookbooks. Bear with me here, there's lots to learn. Starting with today's book - the one I can't stop raving about - Samuel Goldsmith's The Frozen Peas Cookbook. This episode is us thinking aloud - join us as we consider, What is the frozen pea of business? You'll not only discover our first candidate, but hear how our minds actually work. That’s either fascinating or unnerving.  Look for more in the Cookbooks strand. There's going to be a lot of them. Books discussed in this episode: The Frozen Peas Cookbook - Samuel Goldsmith The Tinned Tomatoes Cookbook - Samuel Goldsmith Good Eggs - Ed Smith How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie The One Minute Manager - Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson Who Moved My Cheese? - Spencer Johnson Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey Atomic Habits - James Clear Rich Dad Poor Dad - Robert T. Kiyosaki Ron's Website: rontestercoaching.com ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. 

Curious about AI but not sure where to even start? This one's for you. Kind of. Marketing strategist Forest Linden is back. I ask him for the gentle beginner's route into AI. He answers with the three AI employees he's built. One writes code. Yikes. Fear not - fascinating as Forest's system is - I steer us back to the shallow end + we get to the easy starting points - the ones any business can use today. Look for more episodes in our AI mini series with Forest. Book discussed in this episode: The Secret Life of Pronouns - James Pennebaker Forest's website: claritylab.co Forest's Threads: threads.com/@forestlinden ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely

Most meetings are a waste of time. We know this. There's a million memes ramming the point home. But - here's a revolutionary idea - what if they were actually... useful? Communications expert Chris Fenning is back, this time with his new book Effective Meetings - short enough to read in an hour, useful enough you'll want to read it twice. Chris explains how to tell which meetings shouldn't happen at all + why an agenda won't fix a thing. Plus, I share my trauma over three days of residential training on how to run a meeting. Horrific. Though admittedly quite funny if you didn't have to actually be there. Look for other episodes in the Author Interview strand. Books discussed in this episode: The First Minute - Chris Fenning Effective Meetings - Chris Fenning Chris's Website: chrisfenning.com Chris on Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/chris-fenning ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

If a client says they'll peruse your proposal, will they read every word or only skim? Sadly, it’s hard to tell these days. Copywriter Rachel Allen of Bolt from the Blue Copywriting is back for part two of our pedants' special, this time on words caught mid-change - dictionary meaning on one side, internet meaning on the other. We discuss the word that broke Rachel's heart, the therapy terms everyone's borrowing for authority (inaccurately - obv) + the scheduling word that should never appear on a sales page. Look for more in the Book Huddle strand. RobWords Episode Mentioned – on YouTube Words we've ruined Rachel’s Website:  boltfromthebluecopywriting.com Rachel’s Instagram: instagram.com/boltfromthebluecopywriting Rachel's Substack: boltfromtheblue.substack.com Rachel’s email : hello at boltfromthebluecopywriting.com ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. 

When are you planning to be happy? After the launch, after the next hire, once the business can run without you? Thought so. Nataly Kogan is a former tech CEO + author of Happier Now. Written as an antidote to the work-till-you-drop culture that flattened her. We discuss how burnout has become a badge of belonging in some industries, how an immigrant childhood can create a perfect storm for overwork + the one thing Nataly would change about the book eight years on. And Nataly gives us two small practices to start today - one of which she initially thought was ridiculous. Look for more in the Author Interview strand. Books discussed in this episode: Happier Now - Nataly Kogan Nataly’s Website: www.natalykogan.com ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely.

Bookkeeper, accountant, chief financial officer - if you secretly couldn't say where one ends + the next begins, you're in good company. Mine. Karen Gordon is a CFO - the sort that Fortune 100 companies fight over - and she's here answering all the dumb money questions I've been saving up. I ask them in your name, lovely listener - but we both know, I'm asking for myself.  We sort out which direction money people are looking backwards or forwards + the moment you'll know you're finally ready for one. Also: Aussie millionaire plumbers get a mention.  No book this week - it's a Financial episode, so we're all business. Karen’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/karengordongowmm Karen’s Website: gordon-organization.com ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely.

Poison is when you bite it. Venom is when it bites you. Why do you need to know this? Accuracy. Also - pedantry. Copywriter Rachel Allen of Bolt from the Blue Copywriting is back in the studio for a two-parter on that very topic. We're considering Eli Burnstein's Dictionary of Fine Distinctions, a pedant's dream about the tiny gaps between words that at first glance appear identical. We look at the pedantry in architecture, menus + how to turn furious pedants into helpful ones. Look for more in the Book Huddle strand. Book discussed in this episode: Dictionary of Fine Distinctions - Ellie Bernstein Rachel’s Website:  boltfromthebluecopywriting.com Rachel’s Instagram: instagram.com/boltfromthebluecopywriting Rachel's Substack: boltfromtheblue.substack.com Rachel’s email : hello at boltfromthebluecopywriting.com ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

A rabbit. A tree. No words. Yet somehow a superb illustration of community + belonging. Tonya Kubo - online community expert + host of Find Your Freaks - joins me to dissect Balint Zarko's gorgeous wordless picture book Bunny and Tree. We dig into what makes two wildly different beings become a thriving community + why belonging isn't something you can design - it has to be earned. And the moment where rabbit poop becomes genuinely moving. Odd but true. Look for more Classics episodes - where we happily answer the business questions nobody's asking. Books discussed in this episode: The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein Bunny and Tree - Balint Zarko Tonya's Facebook Community: The Secret to Thriving Online Communities Tonya's Podcast: Find Your Freaks  Tonya on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tonyakubo ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. 

Ron Tester is back for another History Pop-Up. This month as well as Ron's usual book on the great men of history (if you know, you know) we cover the author who created the entire true crime genre + visit ancient Athens. We also cover a short book that manages to squeeze in 500 years of art history + be funny as it does so. Which nicely balances out an enraging book about London. Ron kindly lets me vent. Such an annoying book, such a kind Ron.  Look for more History Pop-Ups - roughly every month Books discussed in this episode: Jefferson, the Art of Power - Jon Meacham In Cold Blood - Truman Capote The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for a Good Life - Bettany Hughes Venus and Aphrodite - Bettany Hughes London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City, A Family's Search for Truth - Peter Raiden Keith Empire of Pain - Peter Raiden Keith Say Nothing - Peter Raiden Keith Ron's Website: rontestercoaching.com ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely.

Finally, you've finished writing your book. Fabulous. Sadly, writing The End isn't actually the finish line it appears - it's just the start of getting it published. Sorry about that.  Emily Hitchcock - publishing expert + CEO of Columbus Publishing Lab + Boyle & Dalton - is back to guide us through what actually happens between a finished draft and a proper, professional book. We cover the three types of editing you need (+ why the order matters so much), why "everyone" is the worst possible answer to who your book is for + what a realistic budget looks like. Look for more in the Your Biz Needs a Book strand. Emily's Websites: ColumbusPublishingLab.com +  BoyleAndDalton.com  Emily's Website + Secret Page - Made Just for Us:: columbuspublishinglab.com/liz ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

Do you actually know why your clients hire you? Not what you think the reason is - what they actually say when you ask them? Kathryn McGarvey - founder of Nosy HQ + client researcher - joins me to dig into why most businesses never ask their customers the right questions. And what happens when they finally do. We cover the questions that unlock better marketing, why surveys are mostly useless + the Parker Pen story that will change how you think about your positioning entirely. Look for more shows with Kathryn.  Book discussed in this episode: Marketing Myopia - Theodore Levitt Kathryn’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kathryn-mcgarvey Kathryn’s Website: nosyhq.com ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

Marsha Shandur - our persuasive story expert - has a simple framework that makes everything you write for your business more persuasive. That's every presentation, email + piece of sales copy more effective. So helpful. She walks us through the whole thing - normally only taught in her workshops - as we look at Two Homes, a picture book about a kid with separated parents that turns out to be a masterclass in persuasive communication. It's fresh, easy to apply + will change how you communicate with your clients. Look for more Classic episodes + go back to catch #1 in this Classic Storytelling mini-series if you haven't already. Books discussed in this episode: Two Homes - Claire Maserelle, illustrations by Katie MacDonald Dinosaurs Divorce - Laurene Krasny Brown Mama, Mummy and Me in the Middle - Nina LaCour The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle Little Gorilla - Ruth Bornstein Winnie the Pooh - A A Milne Marsha’s Instagram: @yesyesmarsha Marsha’s Website + Secret Page - Made Just for Us: www.yesyesmarsha.com/BizBookBroadcast ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

As a keen reader - teetering on the obsessive actually, I read upwards of 600 books a year - I've had to get very good at choosing which books to focus on. I want to lock-on to the right ones fast + ditch the wrong ones for me faster. AI has changed how I do that. In this solo show I share exactly how I use it to get better recommendations, decide whether to abandon a book + extract the good bits from a dull one without suffering through 19 hours of dry-as-dust prose with no pay-off. Ask me how I know that last one... Plus, how to use it when there are topics you just can't face right now. More useful than it sounds in these turbulent times Look for more solo shows where I share ideas you can use immediately. Books discussed in this episode: Becky Chambers' entire oeuvre Most of Alan Hollinghurst's books Books - Brett Easton Ellis Midnight and Blue - Ian Rankin ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

Is the sky actually falling in? Or are marketers just very good at making you think it is? Forrest Linden - strategic advisor to knowledge entrepreneurs - joins me to take the Chicken Little story apart as a business tale. Because the panic merchants of the internet have a lot to answer for. We dig into what's genuinely changing in online business right now, what's just fear-mongering + why email is the cockroach of the internet and will outlive us all. Look for more Classics episodes - where we happily answer the business questions nobody's asking. Forrest 's Website: claritylab.co ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

When did you last read a novel from a Kiwi author? If it's been a while, we’ve got some cracking books for your list.  Kathryn McGarvey - marketing expert + founder of Nosy HQ - is back for a special New Zealand edition of our Fiction Pop-Up.  NZ literature is brilliant, yet sadly, criminally underrepresented in most people's libraries. Including, ahem, mine. We cover dystopian dread, a detective series set in Auckland + a prolific golden age crime writer you may well have never heard of. Intrigued? Look for more Fiction Pop-Ups - roughly every other month. Books discussed in this episode: The Book of Guilt - Catherine Chidje Remote Sympathy - Catherine Chidje Great Expectations - Charles Dickens Mr Pip - Lloyd Jones Zone of Interest - Martin Amis Fagin the Thief - Alison Epstein Better the Blood - Michael Bennett A Surfeit of Lampreys (also known as Death of a Peer in the US) - Niall Marsh Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens Kathryn’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kathryn-mcgarvey Kathryn’s Website: nosyhq.com ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

Publishing scams are everywhere right now. And the truly frightening thing? They're catching out really smart people - judges, lawyers, high-powered business owners. People who should know better. Emily Hitchcock - CEO of Columbus Publishing Lab + hybrid publisher Boyle & Dalton - is back to walk us through exactly what to look for. From dodgy website tells to the cold call that sounds too good to be true. Plus, what you should expect to actually pay to self-publish your book - because if the price feels wrong in either direction, it probably is. Look for more in the Red Flags strand - and do check out Emily's earlier shows on publishing scams + why smart people fall for long cons. Books discussed in this episode: The Confidence Game - Maria Konnikova Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens Emily's Websites: ColumbusPublishingLab.com +  BoyleAndDalton.com  Emily's Website + Secret Page - Made Just for Us:: columbuspublishinglab.com/liz ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

What makes a story actually land? Oddly, it’s not the big dramatic moments - it’s the really small ones. Marsha Shandur, of Yes Yes Marsha - our expert on persuasive storytelling - is back to discuss what a picture-book about a little girl missing her mum gets oh so right. We dig into why action scenes beat narrative every time + why business storytellers skip the thing that makes people actually care. Plus why story short cuts deep connection + why that's so powerful. Look for more Classics episodes - where we use kids books to answer the business questions nobody's asking. Books discussed in this episode: Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle - Nina Lacour (our featured book) Mommy, Mama, and Me - Lesléa Newman (not our focus for today) The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle Little Gorilla - Ruth Bornstein The Memoir Project - Marion Roach Smith How to Lose Everything - Krista Couture Marsha’s Instagram: @yesyesmarsha Marsha’s Website + Secret Page - Made Just for Us: yesyesmarsha.com/BizBookBroadcast ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

The description on the back of a book is doing much more work than first appears. Get it wrong and readers feel genuinely betrayed - there's actual neuroscience behind why. Biz Book regular Rachel Allen - founder of Bolt from the Blue Copywriting - joins me to uncover what makes a great book description. We discuss the pitfalls that will lose readers + why the person who wrote your favourite book probably didn't write the words on the back cover. And how one sentence can pull double duty across the Amazon listing, the book sales page + even the author's social media. Look for more in the Your Biz Needs a Book strand Books discussed in this episode: Think Like a Film Crew - Liz Scully Happy All the Time - Laurie Colwyn Circe - Madeline Miller Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller Rachel’s Website:  boltfromthebluecopywriting.com Rachel’s Instagram: instagram.com/boltfromthebluecopywriting Rachel's Substack: boltfromtheblue.substack.com Rachel’s email : hello at boltfromthebluecopywriting.com ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

No business books today. Just me, a pile of fiction + strong opinions. (Would you expect anything less of me?) This is our second speed reviews solo - a quick run through of recent books from the finished pile. We start with a debut novel that everyone loved... except me. So often the way.  We look at a Glasgow crime series I can't get enough of - and the audio book narrator of dreams. Plus, my fave book of 2026 so far - a razor sharp workplace comedy. With plethora of other books - including a historical crime novel narrated by someone who quite possibly should narrate everything + a brief appearance of radioactive toothpaste. Who'd have thought.  Look for more solo shows + the monthly Fiction + History Pop-Ups. Books discussed in this episode: Yesteryear - Caro Clare Burke Seascraper - Benjamin Wood Word Monkey - Christopher Fowler The Book of Forgotten Authors - Christopher Fowler The Cutting Room - Louise Welsh - #1 The Rilke Series The Second Room - Louise Welsh - #2 The Rilke Series The Cut Up - Louise Welsh - #3 The Rilke Series Bookish - Matthew Sweet Help Wanted - Adelle Waldman Children of Radium - Jo Dunthorne ==== If you’d like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don’t forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn’t your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you’ve actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list