Mark Coker, founder and CEO of Smashwords, joins us to provide a birds eye view of the publishing industry. His company, Smashwords, is the largest distributor of self published e-books in the world. They have been instrumental in reshaping the entire publishing industry, from being the first to open self published e-books with Barnes and Noble to providing the world’s largest platform for writers to reach their audience. Undoubtedly, Smashwords is blazing new trails in a world that has been traditionally very tightly controlled by a few major publishers. Mark Coker believes “we are seeing change as revolutionary as the days of the printing press”. It’s hard to disagree after hearing how much the industry has changed in such a short time.

Mark describes the industry’s journey from a decade ago through modern day. We learn what it takes to be a successful independent author and we also dive into the current challenges faced by many in the industry such as public libraries and the big publishers.

Learn more about Mark Coker and his company at www.smashwords.com

After looking at all the changes taking place in publishing, we talk about thriving on change with Elad Levinson, a trusted advisor to many senior executives. We first discuss the huge problem we face today with the lack of quality leadership in our country and around the world. Then we move onto the importance of emotional intelligence and his new initiative, “Thriving on Change”.

You can see more of his work, “Thriving on Change”, at https://morethansound.net/shop/thriving-on-change/#.VYJEnFVViko