Been a hermit lately. While not much of a Thanksgiving holiday here in China (I had beans, beef, and salad for thanksgiving dinner, heh!) it is a quiet time from the normal workflow to get some projects done.
The latest is my third book! Insane when I think about it – it was a bit over a year ago when I released my first book – Hong Kong Supercharged and I was so exhausted afterwards. Bit more of a textbook, its jam packed with all the knowledge I have on starting and operating a Hong Kong limited company.
But I have always been fond of writing. Once I got the groove and the process down, I started writing and then released the second book Destination China which is more about my first year moving to China and then tips for others following in the footsteps of coming to China and getting established.
Took a Bit of A Break with this Book
So I am “Back on the horse” with this book after about five or six months. As soon as I released Destination China, I dove into writing this third book. Its part of my daily habit to write anyway.
But I lost steam.
A few reasons:
1. I wanted to focus on writing up shorter blog posts for marketing Global From Asia.
2. I wanted to collect more feedback on the Destination China book, as this is more of a second part of that one.
3. I was burnt out.
So this Thanksgiving holiday re-inspired me. And I have written about 27,000 words in 5 days! Roaring through more than half the book, and finishing the first draft.
What Book 3 About?
Many people who read Destination China, the first “story book” of my life’s adventure and journey to China told me they enjoyed it. But there was a couple common trends
1. Some said it was too short. I did that on purpose to make it more focused on one specific action item for a specific reader (the person preparing to move to China to start their business)
2. Said it jumped to my current life and skipped like 7 years in between. At the end of the book I say “Fast Forward to Today” and catch people up on some of the current things I’m doing. This was added later, as my editor Russell said that I should have some more of an “ending” for readers. Seemed it confused people, but I always had the intention of writing a few books of different phases of China business.
So, I was also wondering which “phase” of my China business journey to do in the next book, and the feedback was clear.
Many people wanted to know more about the China startup scene, more about the China tech scene. There is a lot of news about Chinese internet companies, but not much real on the ground experiences and stories – in English language that is.
So this book is all about my experience starting a tech startup in China, Social Agent. How it came to be, how the team came together, the accelerator, the funding pursuit, the grind, and the merger to where we are today.
Like the 2nd book, this book is 50% my story and 50% actionable tips and advice for the reader. In each chapter I start with the “story” and then end it with a few tips that are relevant for the reader at that stage of the book. I’m brutally honest, and still need to confirm with friends and others if I can use their real name in the book.
Need To Pick A Book Title Still
I’m still deciding on the name for the book. My buddy Chris Gormley says how can I write a whole book and not have a name for it yet? Well I have been using the code name “China Startup” as the filename, but it has to be way cooler than that.
I’d be so excited if people here can give me some ideas. It is definitely a book about the struggle, team building, working with Chinese tech companies and Chinese investors. Kind of a “battle”, but I don’t want it to sound like a war story. Struggle sounds too weak.
I’m brainstorming ideas and if you help me pick a name, I’ll give you a prize and recognition in the book!
Book Coming in Early 2016
So, I hope you’re as excited as I am about the book! If you want to signup for email updates and alerts about the book’s launch and future developments please click the button below!