Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Writing Luxury Online


Unlike my previous book, Luxury Fashion Branding, which was the result of an accidental necessity (if such a thing exists), Luxury Online is a book that came to me as naturally as eating and sleeping (two things I also love).

Since 2004, I've been carrying this book around in my head and have written and re-written it several times. Along the way, I've dropped pieces of its different versions in journal and magazine articles like Brandchannel.com, Luxe-Mag.Com, and the Journal of Brand Management. Finally when the pressure of the book threatened to burst my small head into pieces, I had to get down to the business of finding the time to put pen on paper and actually write the book.

Convincing myself to make writing this book a priority was the easiest part because the more I looked around me and saw the confusion and chaos that reigned in luxury e-business, I knew that it was time. The contents of the book also came easily, mainly due to many years experience of being involved with luxury companies in e-business strategy development and execution. Another booster was being fully immersed in Club e-Luxe and its focal point of advancing luxury business practices in the context of technology, as well as the commitment of the luxury brands that are involved in the club like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Cartier, Boucheron, Fabergé, Coty and several others.

However, finding the time to actually write the book became my biggest challenge. In between running a company, advising luxury brands worldwide, travelling non-stop and family life, there wasn't much time left to devote to writing. To make matters worse, because of the nature and subject of the book - which meant that the relevance of its contents had to be top-notch - I knew that I had to take out a short time-block to write. So I had no choice but to resort to writing in batches and snatches and just anyhow and any place I could find a few minutes - airports, planes, trains, waiting rooms, cafés, office, home (including my kitchen), wherever. Surprisingly I loved this especially all the adrenalin rushes and excitement that it led to. The best part was getting up in the wee hours of the morning for a few hours of quiet reflection and uninterrupted writing. By the time the manuscript was done, I decided to make a count of everywhere I had written at least one sentence of the book but it was a useless exercise as there were just too many. But counting the cities and countries proved possible, and if I'm not mistaken, this book was written in 16 countries and 29 cities, towns, and villages. But irrespective of the location, the moment I switched on my laptop I was only in one place - the Internet. This is the miracle of technology and the beauty of our times.

When I began writing Luxury Online I wasn't sure I would be able to finish the book or when I would. Today the book is completed but you may be surprised to learn that I actually re-wrote the manuscript three times - that's how much I enjoyed writing it! I hope you'll also enjoy reading the book when it hits stores this November.

2 comments:

  1. This looks interesting.

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  2. I've been looking for information about this book! It's nice to know that it's coming soon. Nice to meet you Uché. Congrats. Gareth

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