Why Give a Sample Edit?

In a comment on a post about freelance rates, Chad asked, “Can you recommend an alternative to providing samples to prospective clients? Would a resume be a good substitute?”

In my reply to Chad’s comment, I explained why I think a sample edit is good for both the freelance editor and the potential client for several reasons.

Clarification added 3/1/11: Note that the sentence above says freelance editor. I thought it was obvious that I was talking about a professional editor providing a sample edit of a few pages of the client’s manuscript. Somehow, one commenter thought I was advocating sending the original draft and edits of a writing project to the client. That is not what I wrote, and that it not something I would recommend.

First, it’s how I determine how much to charge. All editing jobs are not created equal. Some writers are much better than others, and some writers require extensive editing. I never charge by the page or the word because the good writer overpays and the bad writer underpays (and I’m the one who doesn’t get the money I should!). I ask the prospective client to send me an excerpt from the manuscript for me to edit. The time I spend on the sample guides me in determining the time I estimate for the entire project. My quote includes the proviso that the price is based on the assumption that the entire manuscript is self-edited to the same degree as the sample. The fee will be adjusted if the excerpt submitted for the sample edit has been polished, but the rest of the manuscript submitted for editing is very rough.

Editing a sample also helps me to feel comfortable that I’m a good fit to the manuscript. I don’t edit erotica or stories with extreme levels of violence, and I simply am not familiar enough with the conventions of some genres to do them justice. I also have to find the story intriguing—it would be an injustice to edit something that I don’t completely believe in. There’s no better way to determine that I will enjoy editing the manuscript than actually doing it.

The sample also gives me an understanding of what the client wants—writers have different expectations. Some just want an editor to tell them their words are golden. It’s much better to spend a few minutes doing a sample and find out they don’t like your work than to take on the job and have an unhappy client.

Years ago, I was listed as a freelance editor on the website of the one of the “self-publishing” companies. Since then the companies all started offering in-house editing, but in the beginning, this company provided a list of approved editors rather than offering the service in-house. I never did any work for authors publishing with that company because they all wanted to do it their way. Now, having control over the finished product is one of the great benefits of self-publishing, but a serious writer will take advice from other professionals. I don’t expect clients to accept every suggestion I make, but I expect them to consider my ideas and use some, even most, of them. If the client is going to tell you it’s her story and she wants a spy being recruited in public at a random meeting in a bar and it doesn’t matter if that’s realistic or not because it’s fiction … I don’t want to edit that book.

A free sample also gives the prospective client a level of comfort that you can handle the job and that you will be easy to work with, always a good start to a working relationship. I am currently talking with a writer from another part of the world. He told me that he had quotes from two other editors that were considerably less than the price I quoted. However, I was the only editor who gave him a sample edit, and what he saw gave him confidence that the work would be done to his satisfaction. Although the other editors would charge less, he wasn’t confident that he would be happy with their work. In fact, they may do an excellent job, but he feels that he is taking a risk because he hasn’t seen anything to show him what he would get.

I always give a fair amount of detail on my suggestions in the sample edit, as you can see in the screen shot above of a few lines of an actual sample edit (blurred for privacy). Whether the writer agrees with my recommendations or not, he will understand my rationale. The writer can also tell me he doesn’t want me to change something—for example, I may point out that Chicago Manual of Style (usually used for books) calls for serial commas. However, if the writer says he prefers not to use serial commas, I will respect that and edit for no serial commas.

Most of us have common errors that we make repeatedly. Newer writers frequently haven’t discovered their common errors—possibly because they don’t even know what they are doing is wrong. For example, some of the writers I work with don’t know how to punctuate and paragraph dialogue, so every bit of dialogue in the manuscript has to be corrected. I point this out in the sample edit and often suggest that the writer make those corrections before submitting the manuscript to me for editing. That will cut down my editing time and their cost, and it will also help the writer hone his skill. Even if the writer ultimately chooses another editor, I hope that he learns something from the sample edit.

Of course, a sample edit isn’t appropriate for a very small project. But for a book-length manuscript from a first-time client, I insist on doing a sample edit—for my benefit and the benefit of the prospective client.

Thanks to January 2011 Commenters

	Thank you to the 129 commenters who left 218 comments in January. Your comments extended the conversation and added value and interest, and I enjoyed replying to every one of them.Every month when I post thanks to commenters, I get questions about how I compile this list. I have explained my system in detail in Compiling Thanks to Commenters.
	Top Contributor (10 comments)
	Dominique	4 Walls and a View
	Major Contributors (7-9 comments)
	Dawn Colclasure	Dawn Colclasure Blog
	Kat	n/a
	Brooke	The Bluestocking Guide
	Deb Sistrunk	Media by Sistrunk
	Terry	Barber-osophy
	Outstanding Contributors (4-5 comments)
	Aggie Villanueva	Promotion a la Carte
	Christopher  Roberts	Christopher Roberts’ Technology Blog
	Matt Keegan	Word Journey
	Shailender	India Darshan
	Aslam	Aslam Raza
	John Kohl	Checks and Balances TV
	Mia	SBP
	Significant Contributors (2-3 comments)
	Alexia Oliveria	Learn French Easy
	Christopher  Roberts	Christopher Roberts
	Dave	Charles Stewart, MD, Cosmetic Surgery
	Ivin	Authopublisher
	Kylie	EQA Office Furniture
	Banxts	My Own Ways
	Chad M.	n/a
	Christopher  Roberts	Christopher Roberts’ Philosophy Blog
	Claire	Starapplet.com
	Dave	Megadyne
	Jane	Recovering Deleted Files
	Jeanne Dininni	Writer’s Notes
	Jonathan	Raleigh: Get Out There
	lion	Knowledge
	Important Contributors
Adrian			LG LZ9700 Reviewed
AJ			AJ’s Successful Ebook Publishing
Albert			Cellulite Remedies
Amira			HostGator Coupons
Andrew			We Do Your Essay
Andrew Heaton			Good Honest Dollar
Andy			Euro Direct Rentals
Angel			Sean Donahoe Video Marketing Goldmine
Arianna			Hemocode
Ben			Affiliate Marketing for Dummies
Bill Tillman			n/a
Bram			ABC Carpet Care
Cherie			Smart Start Puppies
Cherry			Dr. Mercola Products
Chris			West Terrace Homes
Chrissy  Delano			Mark G Agresti, MD
cobb			Carz Trader
Daniel			Relationship Life
darren			Tec-Idiomes
David			Watch Tele Online
Dorothy			Winchester Lady
Eddie			n/a
Eddie			Deep Chinese
Eleazar			Entrepinoy Bank
elina			Royal Banquet Hall
Elliot			Seaspray Pools
Else Myers			IVF Babys
Fred Klien			Storage Sheds
Genna			Genna Huffman Design
Girish Ranabhat			Mallu
Grant Draper			Online Writing Services
Guy M. Lewis			Garmin Watches
Haide			Accurate Electrical Services
James Ryan			Tarot Gratis
Jamie			Find Financial Advisors
Jacob			Yorkie Puppies
Jane			Ado Tube
Jason			Payday Advance Plus
Jenny			Katie Beyer Photography
Jeff			praxismicro
Jeremy			RNA Locksmith
Jim			Falcon Ridge
Joan			Email Reach
John			Cosmetic Surgery Sydney
John			Shop GPS
John Kohl			Get YouTube Views
Juan			Prime Choice
June			Vi at Highlands Ranch
Karen Swim			Karen Swim
Karn			SEO Business Boxx
Kasper			L4U Media
Kathleen			Class Auto Center
Kevin			Billigast Smslan
Kyle			Finally Fast PC
Lawrence			Pangea Real Estate
Luis Lazo			Learn Guitar Songs Today
Lyra			Marre Design Group
Margaret			Sweetheart Diapers
Mark Derby			Echo Advertising
Matt			Fan’s Edge
Max			Bizzba
Micaela			OC Car Dealers
Nabil			Bra  Webbhotell
Natalie			Yark Subaru
Olivia			Quick Neoprene Products
OneMom			OneMom
Pablo			Texas Power Plumbing
Paw Hellegaard			Dot SEO
Peter			Wiglinton & Wenks
Philip			Alarm Clocks for Heavy Sleepers
R. Lee			First Credit
Ray			Octopus Wedding
Regie			Body Vibrodynamic
Rob			5 Insurance Rates
Rob			Online Palm Readings
robert			The Condos at Mill River
Robert F. Filcsik			Robert F. Filcsik Photography
Roger			Cheap Rolling Luggage
Ron			Håravfall suger.
Ronald			n/a
Rhys			How To Preach
Ryan			CashNet USA
Ryan			Nanny Services
Ryan			Top College Scholarships for Women
Sam			Build a Website
Sam			Dodge Neon SRT-4
Sameer			MBA Crystal Ball Blog
Sean			Double Jogging Strollers
Shaun Pikes			Watch MLB Live
Stan			RNA Locksmith
Steve			ACAAI
steve			Grayling Estates
Susci			Powers & McCartan, PLLC
Tanya			n/a
Tanya			Cabinet Solutions
Tony Simpson			Find Temp Agencies in Maryland
Tracy			My Alarm Care
Vinish Parikh			Let’s Learn Finance
Vladimir			What Is Criminal Law
Wesley			Overstock.com Living Room Furniture
Wu			Microscope Net

Read An E-Book Week March 6-12, 2011

Read an E-Book Week has been celebrated every March since 2004. The purpose of the week-long event is to educate readers about e-books and promote electronic reading.

This year, Read an E-Book Week is celebrating the 40th anniversary of e-books. You can read about Michael Hart creating the first “e-book”—a copy of the Declaration of the Independence—in 1971, the beginning of Project Gutenberg, which gives away e-books in the public domain.

You can probably tell just from looking around my website that I’m a big fan of e-books. My first novel, Stroke of Luck, was published an as e-book in 1999, and it is still available as an e-book (albeit from a different publisher). Now, all of my books are available as e-books at Smashwords.

In the early days, when I told people my novel was an e-book, the most common response was,”What’s that?” After I explained what an e-book was, the most common response was, “Oh, I want to read a real book.”

I gave talks to local writers groups and published an article in the newsletter of the San Antonio Romance Authors entitled “Is an E-Book a Real Book?“ You won’t be surprised to hear that my answer is a resounding “yes.”

During Read an E-Book Week, you can download a free copy of my contemporary romance novel Fern’s Fancies. You can download the PDF file here on my website; if you prefer other formats, you can download from Smashwords using a discount code I will provide.

I offer the following free e-books all the time:

• Trapped by Love (contemporary romance novelette)
• Self-Publishing Primer
• Editing Primer

Many publishers, authors, and companies are participating in Read an E-Book Week. Each will offer something of value during the week, so be sure to check them out and stock up on great e-books for free!

Using Style Sheets

In the first and second posts in this series, I talked about style guides. Today we’ll discuss style sheets. A comment from author Dawn Colclasure gave me the idea for the post.

You might call style sheets mini style guides that you prepare yourself, often as supplement to a style guide. There are always things, such as industry jargon and names, that apply to a specific manuscript that aren’t covered in the style guide you’re using. In some cases, there may be a reason for deviating from the style guide, such as using a spelling that is common in the industry even though it’s different from your selected style guide.

The book I’m currently editing is a resource for veterans and soldiers with PTSD. In different sources, the full name of the disease is spelled Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder–and about a dozen more variations. I told the authors they had to decide which one they preferred, and I would ensure it was spelled that way throughout the book.  They chose the spelling used in the American Psychiatric Association’s manual of psychiatric disorders. That spelling was one of many items included in the style sheet–for my use during editing and for the use of the proofreader I had to review the manuscript.

A style sheet can be as simple or as complex as needed. In its most basic form, it should include the preferred style guide and dictionary, then list additions and deviations, such as the example excerpted below.

Style Guide: Chicago Manual of Style
Dictionary: Merriam-Webster Online
Treatment of specific words and phrases:
amygdalae
flight-or-fight response and flight-fight-freeze (hyphenated)
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (per DSM-IV)

You can include formatting instructions in the style sheet. For example, in the PTSD book, the co-authors wanted their words set apart in different fonts so it would be easy for readers to recognize whether the psychotherapist or the chaplain/psychotherapist was talking. Of course, we identified the author at the beginning of the section, but since some sections extended over several pages, the different fonts provide a visual cue.

In What are style guides and why do I need them?, I talked about more extensive information guides. An information guide for a novel might include details about characters and setting as well as the spelling of names and hyphenation of words. When you write a book over months or even years, it’s easy to forget what you wrote 200 pages ago.

An information guide is helpful to you as the writer, and it’s also important for your editor to ensure consistency throughout the manuscript. Without a style sheet, the editor won’t know if your character’s name is Susanne or Suzanne or if she lives in Harveytown or Harvey Town.

Style sheets make it easier for everyone involved in producing a book, article, or other document, and the resulting consistency makes it easier for your reader to get your message without getting confused or bogged down in discrepancies.

Do you use style sheets? What advice would you give about using style sheets effectively?

   photo credit: Jo Naylor

Happy Valentine’s Day

I seldom watch TV or listen to the radio, but my husband always has the TV on in the house or the radio in the car. So I hear bits and pieces of programs—and lots of ads.

Recently, I’ve been hearing all kinds of advertisements for Valentine’s Day gifts. They all say something like, “Give your girlfriend or wife this <whatever the ad is selling>, and you’ll have a great Valentine’s Day because you’re going to like the way she shows her appreciation.”

Is Valentine’s Day only about romantic love? Why can’t we express our love to family and friends?

Even if the day is only about romantic love, why are girlfriends and wives the only ones to receive gifts on this special day about love? Shouldn’t women let their boyfriends and husbands know how much they love them?

Is a gift of love supposed to be given to receive something in return? Shouldn’t we give gifts to show our love without consideration for how much the recipient will appreciate the gift and show that appreciation?

I don’t expect my husband to send me roses or chocolates or cuddly toys—or anything else. I don’t measure love by material gifts. Just hearing “I love you” (which I do several times a day every day) is the only valentine I need.

I’ll send my husband a mushy e-card and tell him privately and publicly here on my blog, “I love you!”

And I’ll tell you, my readers, that I love having you as part of my blog family. I appreciate your comments, and even if you don’t comment, I appreciate your reading my words. Today, I’ll say, “Thank you! Happy Valentine’s Day!”

photo credit: LoneGunMan

Should You Follow a Style Guide for Your Blog?

An interesting discussion developed on my last post, Changing Styles. If you haven’t read, click over and read it now, and be sure to read the comments.

As a result of that discussion, I’m turning the post into a series of three.

One question that arose was whether bloggers should follow a style guide.  I used the example of my little sister many years ago. When we used to write letters by hand without benefit of spell-check, she would spell a word a different way every time she used it. Her philosophy was that by guessing a bunch of different ways to spell the word, she might get it right once in the letter.

My philosophy is that it’s better to be consistently wrong than to be wrong most of the time and right once in a while. It’s even better to be right all the time. So I think it’s important to have consistency in your blog.

Inconsistencies can be distracting and confusing for readers. Any time readers are distracted or confused, they are trying to figure out what you meant or why you did something the way you did rather than focusing on your message. Whether you’re writing a novel or a blog post, you don’t want to pull the readers out of your story or your article.

Matt Keegan agrees with me. He was thinking along the same lines when he wrote How to Maintain a Consistent Writing Voice. He emphasized that inconsistency in a blog damages the blogger’s credibility.

However, we both agree with commenters that blogs don’t have to follow the same rigid rules as some types of writing, such as academic writing. I no longer edit academic papers because I don’t enjoy that type of writing—often written to impress rather than to inform or entertain. Most of the projects I edit are far less formal, primarily novels and some nonfiction books. The goal of these books is to inform or entertain—or both, and they are written in an informal, easy-to-read-and-understand style. Yet it’s important to follow a style guide (generally the The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition) for consistency. Without some guide to follow, the writing will be inconsistent. Perhaps words will be spelled differently in different parts of the book, or the serial comma will used in some places and not others. Knowing the preferred way to spell the words and that Chicago style requires serial commas, the writers can avoid those inconsistencies.

I tend to follow Chicago style since that’s what I’m familiar with and use the most. Dominique at 4Walls and AView likes MLA style found in MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 7th Edition because that’s what she accustomed to. Matt uses Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 2010 for some of his projects. I don’t think it matters what style you follow, as long as you are consistent.

In fact, you can use something more basic than the extensive style guides like the ones mentioned above. The classic Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style covers the major things you need to consider. An excellent online resource is the Guide to Grammar and Writing from the Capital Community College. It’s free and easy-to-use. When I was Editor-in-Chief for an Internet publishing company, we used the Guide To Grammar and Writing as our style guide with some additional information in a style sheet (which I will cover in the next installment in the series).

The major style guides include preferred spelling for many words, which some of the more basic guides don’t. You should choose a preferred dictionary to ensure that you are consistent in spelling—there are discrepancies among dictionaries as well as among style guides.

If you create or write blogs for clients, you need to determine the style for the blog at the onset. Many organizations already have a preferred style, and you will be expected to follow that style. If the company doesn’t use a specific style, you can choose the style. If other people post to the blog, they need to know the style, as well. For a group blog, the Guide to Grammar and Writing or a similar online resource that can easily be accessed by all bloggers may be best. Other style guides, including Chicago Manual of Style, are available online, but most require a paid subscription or the purchase of the print book to access the online edition.

Don’t let your readers become distracted and confused by inconsistencies in your blog. Keep them focused on your brilliant words by using a style guide to maintain consistency in your writing style.

Changing Styles

We all know styles change. What’s fashionable today—in clothing fashion, home decor, and even writing—is passe tomorrow.

Most of us would agree that some of the great classics of all time probably wouldn’t be published today because the writing style is too different from what publishers like now.

But did you know that you might have to change the way you write, depending on the preferred style of the publication? If you write for a newspaper, for example, you will probably be required to use AP (Associated Press) style for your article or column.

Students writing academic papers will use specific style guides assigned by their school. The APA Publication Manual from the American Psychological Association is used in the social and behavior sciences, along with education. The Modern Language Association Handbook is often required for papers in humanities classes.

And in the book publishing industry, the style guide used most often is the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), published by the University of Chicago Press. As you might imagine, this is the style I generally use since most of my work is with books.

You’ll find more about style guides in What are style guides and why do I need them?

A few months ago, the 16th Edition of the CMOS was released simultaneously in hardcover and as an online subscription. Since then, I find myself referring to the online manual far more often than I did before to make sure I’m following the current style.

The purpose of using a style guide is to ensure consistency in written documents. Do you use a serial comma (the comma before the last item in a series)? If you using AP Style, you don’t use the serial comma unless the meaning is unclear without it (red, white and blue). If you’re using Chicago style or most of the academic styles, you always use the serial comma (red, white, and blue).

Consistency is threatened when the style guidelines change. For example, Chicago used to spell Web site as two words, with Web capitalized. In the 16th Edition, the preferred spelling is website (one word, all lowercase). However, web page is two words, all lowercase. The abbreviation for United States is now US, not U.S.

Maintaining consistency in  a book or similar publication is easy when styles changes. Just stick with a single edition, preferably the 16th Edition unless the project was already far advanced when the latest edition came out.

But what about my blog and website? Posts and pages written in the past use 15th Edition style. I’m gradually making the transition to the 16th Edition as I discover changes. So you’ll find Web site in older posts, and website in more recent posts. It’s not that I can’t remember which to use—it’s that the rules have changed.

Do you follow a specific style in your blog? If so, what style do you use and why did you choose it? How do you handle evolving style rules?

David Bowles recently wrote about a related topic: the changing meanings of words. He asked the question if the dialogue in his historical fiction should use words that are no longer used or that have different meanings today than when his characters lived in the eighteenth century. You may want to drop by his post and give him your opinion.

Added 2/11/11: Based on comments received on this post, I am now planning two additional posts—one on style sheets and one on whether to use a style guide for blog posts. On the last topic, read Matt Keegan’s How to Maintain a Consistent Writing Voice.

Just Do It!

A client recently asked me, “How did you learn how to do so many things?” She found it unusual that I write, edit, help writers self-publish, create and maintain websites, and a few other miscellaneous things.

It goes back to my parents and the way I was raised. Although my parents were simple people without a lot of worldly resources, all of their children grew up believing we could do anything we wanted to. No one on either side of my family had ever gone to college, but it never occurred to my siblings or me that we couldn’t get a college degree.

When I went to college, I depended on financial aid, academic scholarships, and jobs. I was in a work-study program that provided a twenty-hour a week job at the college while I carried a full load of classes. When I reported to my assigned job in the library, the librarian pointed to a typewriter and said I would be typing catalog cards. As I described in Abject Terror + A Bluff = New Confidence, I panicked when I saw the typewriter. It was an electric, and all my experience was on a manual typewriter. Imagining myself fired from the job because I couldn’t even turn on an electric typewriter, I envisioned myself being kicked out of school because I couldn’t pay the tuition, embarrassing my family who was so proud of the first college student in the family. I could see my whole life ruined over this failure, so I bluffed my way through, succeeded in the job, and discovered I could do more than I thought I could.

After that, I developed the habit of answering, “Sure, I can,” when someone asks me, “Can you <fill in the blank>?”

As a result of trying to keep one little plant alive on my desk, I learned enough about plant care to start a plant store that grew into the third largest interior landscape company in our metropolitan area.

Through the years I was in business, I made a lot of mistakes and I made some good decisions that seemed selfish at the time. I learned to run a business even though I had no background in business before I opened my plant shop.

I learned to speak in public by starting off speaking to garden clubs with five or ten members. Over time, I began to speak to larger groups both about plant care and about business. At one point, I addressed the convention of a statewide nursery organization with several thousand people in attendance. However, what meant the most to me was to hear that I encouraged one person I didn’t meet until years later.

After I had a stroke, I decided it was time to follow my dream of becoming a writer, so I wrote a novel, sold my interior landscape company, and became a full-time writer.

I became an editor because I contacted a publisher and pointed out editing problems with some of the books published by the company.

In the nearly fifteen years I’ve been a freelancer, I’ve done new things when a client asked for a website, layout of their book, cover design, or any of the other things required to prepare a book for publication. Now if you look at the services I offer, you’ll see I’ve added many of these services to my repertoire.

I find that I enjoy helping a few clients do everything related to publishing their book rather than writing a lot of articles or editing a lot of manuscripts. I enjoy the variety, and I get a real sense of satisfaction seeing the finished product.

However, you may have no desire to add more skills to your professional skill set. But there’s probably something you would like to try, something you want to learn, something you wish to experience. Maybe you think it’s too challenging or frivolous or time-consuming. My advice: Just do it! 

It’s not too late, and you’re capable of doing far more than you give yourself credit for. So whether you want to learn a new skill, travel to an exotic place, change careers–or anything else, just do it!

photo credit: smemon87

Review – Leadership: It Takes More Than a Great Haircut!

Leadership: It Takes More Than a Great Haircut!
Terry L. Sumerlin
SE Publishing, 2011
ISBN Paperback: 9780965966238
ISBN EBook: 9780965966245
Paperback, 172 pages; also multiple ebook formats

Let me begin by telling what you already know if you read my last post.  Author Terry L. Sumerlin is my client, and I formatted this book for both print and ebook formats.

But I don’t think it’s a conflict of interest for me to review the book because, unlike most books I work on, I didn’t edit it. In fact, I didn’t even read the book until after it was published.

Leadership: It Takes More Than a  Great Haircut! is a compilation of columns that Terry wrote for the San Antonio Business Journal. Since they were professionally edited at the time they were published in the newspaper, there was no need to edit them again.

Of course, it would be a conflict of interest if I told you how beautifully the book is laid out, but I won’t do that. I’ll confine my review to the contents.

Terry calls himself “The Barber-osopher,” a combination of barber and philosopher. He owns a barber shop and actually gives haircuts when he’s not giving keynote speeches or writing newspaper columns or books.

I was actually tempted to stop formatting and start reading several times during the production of the book. As I applied the heading style to titles like “When Geckos Do the Backstroke,” “Clothes Can’t Cover the Naked Truth,” and “When the Headless Horseman Drives a Town Car,” my curiosity was piqued. I really wanted to know what in the world he was talking about.

When I finally got the chance to sit down and read the book from cover to cover (well, from front to back on the Kindle), I wasn’t disappointed. Terry uses examples from everyday life—incidents that happen in his barber shop or situations he encounters during his travels and speaking engagements—to illustrate leadership principles. Sometimes the stories bring a groan of sympathy for a difficult challenge he’s faced, but, more often, the stories bring chuckles and laughter as Terry gives humor to everyday observations and frustrations.

This is a book you can enjoy in a quick, fun read and one that you will relish for the important leadership lessons you will learn.

Although the book provides valuable advice for businesspeople, the leadership lessons are equally applicable to personal relationships. I highly recommend Leadership: It Takes More Than a Great Haircut! to anyone who enjoys humor and who wants to improve their interactions with others as well as their ability to effectively handle the challenges we all face in life.

Disclosure: I received compensation from the author for laying out the book, creating the electronic editions, and other publishing services. I have received no compensation for reviewing the book or interviewing the author on my blog. I’m sharing with my readers because I love the book and think they will too.