Several years ago I published a lovely magazine, Honestly Woman, and still today receive warm compliments and regrets that it is not in print. (In case you missed it, or for nostalgia, here are two article collections from the magazine: Honestly Woman Life and Honestly Woman Business.)

Yes I did meet and interview Ita, Lisa Newman (Brisbane’s former Lady Mayoress), Heather Rose, Tracey Keller, Melissa McCord, Cheyanne Brae, and many other gorgeous women on the cover and within.

Recently I have been managing a fascinating book project for two dynamic women in business, Sally Healey and Terri M Cooper, and have had a ball bringing Women on Top together. The book has evolved into an honest, revealing,  moving and powerful collection of women’s stories, which will inspire any woman of any age to move on through the tough times and really go for their dream. As it turns out, no one has had it easy: these women have shared the strategies they found to work for them as they dealt with some serious ‘stuff’ and powered on to build successful businesses and organisations anyway. 

The exciting and personal thread that ties my magazine to this book today is my connection with Dr Lois Frankel, international author of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, and world-renowned speaker and executive coach.

I met Dr Frankel several years ago at a networking lunch while she visited Australia and she was happy to write for my magazine: she knows the power of connections, even seemingly small ones! Now, some time later she is a contributing author to Women on Top and is our much-anticipated Guest Speaker at the Women on Top Book Launch on Tuesday 14 June in Brisbane.

I find these threads fascinating – my courageous (at the time) self-introduction to Dr Frankel in the midst of a busy event years ago now leads her to our book pages and launch event in June!

Please join us at the Book Launch - you will have the opportunity to meet Dr Lois Frankel and hear her speak, as well as receive a copy of her latest book, Nice Girls Just Don’t Get It which she will happily sign. All authors in the book will be available to meet and mingle, including Kay Danes and Hetty Johnston.

If you are serious about your business or career you will know the ongoing and often unexpected benefits of networking with and meeting warm professional women of influence – my alliance with Dr Frankel came about just that way!

Networking works! I hope we see you there?

Bev Ryan - Publishing Manager

Guest post from Robyn Pulman, self-published author

Writing a book is as emotional as giving birth. For years you think about it; there is never the right time to conceive; the growth is a mixture of labour  and joy and then you pray your ‘baby’ is going to come out healthy and  beautiful; just the way you imagined.

For years, I talked about writing a book. For years, people asked me, “When are you going to write your book?”.  Yet, somehow, I was always too busy with business and family and  the impetus to begin eluded me, sadly not heeding the brilliant quote by Goethe…. there is genius in just beginning … until I attended a course delivered by a publisher on how to write a book.  

For three days, an aspiring group of authors were fed copious amounts of information on the do’s and don’ts of  writing, publishing and marketing a book. At last the goal of seeing my name on the front cover of a book and appearing in bookshops seemed an achievable reality.

Enthusiastically, I, along with 39 others, signed up to be supported through the process; a significant investment, to put it mildly, yet with the promise of hand-holding and professional input throughout the gestation period through to the printing and distribution.

Somewhere along that journey, the fit didn’t feel right. I had not chosen the right ‘father’ to ‘birth my book’. This was MY baby, yet I was not confident with the advice I was being given and did not agree with  how I was told to list my content pages and, as for the layout, it just did not look like me at all. 

From the beginning, I was adamant that I have my own cover designed by my designer of choice as that cover was the ‘window to my soul’ that was revealed in the pages within.  I also chose my own editor as other books being published through this ‘opportunity’ were being printed with spelling mistakes. Shock, horror – I wanted a healthy, wholesome baby with no flaws. 

The day I decided that I was going to take back the design/layout and sat with a local designer who listened to  me and responded to my vision for the book,  I began to feel at ease. 

My final step of independence was to forgo the distribution opportunity offered by the publisher and to self- publish, printing my book through a local Sunshine Coast printer.

Whilst I did not capitalise on my significant investment with this publisher, I did ultimately engage with a group of caring, capable professionals I personally chose who supported me in the creation of my book with passion and purpose.

The day I took receipt of ‘my baby’, it felt like mine. It will now be with pride and ownership that I launch my book to the world. 

 ROBYN PULMAN, author of  ‘Habits Aren’t Just For Nuns’ will be speaking at the 18 March Non-fiction Publisher’s Group in Brisbane.