The past six weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and excitement around a very special time: the launch of my second book, Create Your Future the Peter Drucker Way, published by McGraw-Hill. Although the official publication date was November 22, copies were available online (and also in some stores) before then. And for the first time, I now also have an unabridged audio version, published by Brilliance Audio.
You can see the full range of where I have spoken on the ‘speaking engagements’ page of my website. So far I have not done much travel, with a major exception: several days in Claremont, California at the Drucker School, which involved a book signing at Drucker Day, and a small, intimate book talk the day before at an on-campus hangout, Hagelbarger’s. I wrote about both in the blog post “My 2013 Claremont Drucker Days, Part One.”
There was a wonderful book launch at the Writer’s Center, in Bethesda, Md., a very cool institution not far from where I live; we also did a launch there in 2009 for my first book, Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life. And I had the great honor of returning to the National Press Club, as one of the featured authors for the 36th Annual Book Fair and Authors’ Night; an event I also did in 2009. This is one of the major book-focused events of the year in Washington, and it was a thrill to participate again. The format is simple: stand behind your table, filled with copies of your book, and talk about it with the hundreds of people who pass through. Ideally, you sell and sign some of them. I shared a table with Molly Knight Raskin, author of No Better Time: The Brief, Remarkable Life of Danny Lewin, the Genius Who Transformed the Internet.
I’ve also spoken at two wonderful local public libraries: District of Columbia West End Neighborhood Library and Arlington (Va.) Public Library, both of which I also spoke at in 2009. I am working on many potential events for early-mid 2014 (and ideally beyond!). A couple of big events lined up so far are the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management; Getting It Done Experts Speaker Series, on January 15th (I also spoke there in 2011 and wrote about the amazing experience) and the Library of Congress, on January 29th, which will be held in the Mary Pickford Theater.
There have also been a number of guest blog posts, plus a podcast with Scott Eblin (which he gave the inspired title “If Peter Drucker Were Your Personal Coach,”) and on December 17th I will do Create Your Future the Peter Drucker Way: Developing and Applying a Forward-Focused Mindset, a free webinar with Arik Johnson, founder and chairman of Aurora WDC.
With all the details and concerns that accompany publishing a book, I have to periodically remind myself to step back, have fun and enjoy the process. If you have suggestions for great places to do author events (no matter the city or country), please let me know!