Unconventional marketer and branding expert, Founder of Levy Innovation, and author of the brilliant treatise on developing creativity Accidental Genius: Revolutionize Your Thinking Through Private Writing, Mark Levy , describes how everyone has a genius inside of them. All it needs is a little help to emerge and display itself. He shares ideas for generating many genius moments that lead to enormous breakthroughs in business and in life. Through the technique of private writing, learn how to unleash the genius within you over and over again.
Jill Griffin is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.
The show airs live on Thursday, May 21, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.
Unconventional marketer, Founder of Levy Innovation, and author of the brilliant treatise on developing creativity Accidental Genius: Revolutionize Your Thinking Through Private Writing, Mark Levy , describes how everyone has a genius inside of them. All it needs is a little help to emerge & display itself. You will learn:
* How anyone can be creative and unleash the genius within
* Why creative thinking through private writing is so powerful
* Some practical applications of the creative thinking process
* How tapping into that accidental genius creates competitive advantage
Mark Levy (photo left) started his long affiliation with the book industry. He moved from retail to publishing, and from publishing to wholesaling.
Along the way, he was steadily promoted, and became a sales manager, a director of special projects, and helped his companies sell over one billion dollars worth of books. He was nominated three times for The Publishers Weekly Rep of the Year Award.
Why was Mark so successful at selling? One of his colleagues said it best (and she didn’t mean it as a compliment): “When you think a particular book is important, you’re messianic about it. You won’t stop.”
In 1997, Mark was having dinner with his friend David Pogue, author of Macs for Dummies, when David said it might be fun to work on a book together. Since Mark knew nothing about computers, they settled on writing a book about the only subject they had in common: magic. Both Mark and David were amateur magicians. They created Magic for Dummies, and Mark got the bug for book writing.
Mark’s next effort was solo: Accidental Genius: Revolutionize Your Thinking Through Private Writing. Lots of luminaries loved it: Tom Peters, Ray Bradbury, Al Ries, Jay Conrad Levinson, and Ace Greenberg. Mark did a publicity stunt for the book, which did wonders for its sales. To date, it’s been translated into six languages: Spanish, German, Korean, Chinese, Indonesian, and Japanese.
Mark started writing for magazines and newspapers (including The New York Times). One such gig led to his next co-authored book. He was interviewing NBC-TV magician Mac King for an article about Las Vegas magic. During a break, Mac reached into his desk drawer, pulled out a dozen stapled sheets, and handed them to Mark. Those sheets were the beginnings of what would eventually become, Tricks With Your Head –- a book in which the human head is the central prop in each trick. Readers learn how to safely stab a fork in their eye, suck a French Fry up their nose, and read a person’s mind with a drinking straw.
About this time, Mark started pursuing other business interests, particularly on the magic front. A New York City magician, Steve Cohen, met Mark, appreciated his business savvy, and hired him to do positioning work. The upshot of their association? Steve became “The Millionaires’ Magician,” began staring in his own off-Broadway show, Chamber Magic, and made Mark the show’s Creative Director. Mark began to see life outside the book industry.
Mark's latest book, How to Persuade People Who Don’t Want To Be Persuaded, was published by Wiley in June of 2004. He wrote it with legendary tradeshow pitchman, Joel Bauer. The book has been as high as #6 on BN.com and #71 on Amazon.
He has also contributed chapters to two other books:
The E-Code: 33 Internet Superstars Reveal 43 Ways to Make Money Online Almost Instantly – Using Only E-Mail!, by Joe Vitale and Jo Han Mok (Wiley, 2005)
Positively M.A.D.: Making a Difference in Your Organizations, Communities, & the World. Stories and Ideas From 50 of Today’s Leading Experts, Edited by Bill Treasurer (Berrett-Koehler, 2004)
Recently, Mark returned to school; this time, as an instructor. He now teaches "Writing for Businesses and Professionals" at Rutgers University.
He lives in Clinton, New Jersey with his lovely wife, Stella; his Shiba Inus, Jofu and Bea; his cats,Tiger and Jinx; and Betsy the parakeet.
My book review of Accidental Genius: Revolutionize Your Thinking Through Private Writing by Mark Levy.
Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.
If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.
To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832
Let's talk with unconventional marketer and branding expert, Founder of Levy Innovation, and author of the brilliant treatise on developing creativity Accidental Genius: Revolutionize Your Thinking Through Private Writing, Mark Levy , as he describes how everyone has a genius inside of them. All it needs is a little help to emerge and display itself. He shares ideas for generating many genius moments that lead to enormous breakthroughs in business and in life. Through the technique of private writing, learn how to unleash the genius within you over and over again on Blog Business Success Radio.
