J. Mike Jacka

Okay – I confess. I have no integrity. It is my book. I have to love it.

Actually, most people I’ve talked to find it useful. It comes from work Paulette Keller and I did while trying to find better ways to analyze processes toward finding efficiencies, etc. What I think works is the mixture of real world stories with some practical examples the reader can work through. Blah-blah-blah.

Not that anyone asked, but here’s how it started. Paulette and I had done some work and put out an article on the subject in Internal Auditor magazine. Shortly thereafter, we got a number of requests for additional material on the subject. We quickly found there was none and got the idea for a book. Having absolutely no idea what we were doing, we happened to meet a publisher with Wiley and Sons at a trade fair who gave us his card. With nothing more than the article, an outline, and a few e-mails of people wanting more, we submitted a proposal. They accepted and followed with a contract. Being smarter than we look, we got an attorney. In discussions with the attorney we learned just how amazing our approach was – no one gets a book deal that way. At any rate, the attorney looked at the contract and explained, “There are three types of contracts from publishers: ‘A’ contracts for the well-established authors, ‘B’ contracts for those with some experience, and ‘C’ contracts for newer authors. What you seem to have…” and she held for a beat, just to increase the dramatic tension, “…is a ‘D’ contract.” However, she took over and got us a good deal. What was interesting about the delays this caused is that we really had to write the book in about 3 months. (“Why weren’t you working anyway?” you might ask. Procrastination and the use of deadlines is an interesting problem for many of us.) So the book is out and apparently continues to do well. Damning with faint praise, after the book had been out a year the publisher told us it was doing very well for an internal audit book. Which also speaks to a problem they seem to be having – it is a business book, a way for everyone to analyze their processes, not just an internal audit book.

One other quick note. We just got a copy of the book translated into Chinese. That has to be about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.… (meer)