Hugh Macfarlane and Jim Lenskold may be on the same page philosophically as well as here—literally!—in MarketingProfs. But in reality, the two are very far apart indeed. Jim works in downtown Flanders, New Jersey, while Hugh lives down under, in Melbourne, Australia.
As their editor, I find their work seamless—I can’t tell where Hugh ends and Jim begins. So I wondered—how do two people who live a world away co-author articles? How did they hook up to begin with?
Via email this week, Hugh wrote back, “But Ann, you introduced us!”
Apparently, a year ago Hugh wrote to Jim after reading Jim’s piece, "Financial Intelligence for Strategic Planning," in MProfs. Hugh liked what Jim had written and wanted to republish it for his small-ish (2,000) list of customers and prospects. And by the way, Hugh wrote to Jim, if you’re ever in Australia, look me up!
The Jersey boy did indeed make it to Melbourne. And the two had a lovely dinner by the banks of the Yarra, where they spent the night sharing marketing “yarns, passions, frustrations and lessons,” Hugh said.
Jim and Hugh caught up twice more—again in Melbourne and once in Sydney—before Jim returned to the US. And, Hugh said, “we’ve been scheming joint initiatives ever since.”
Yeah, OK. But how do you write together?
They do so serially, each taking the lead on a piece and bouncing it across the pond once a day until they get it right. The time zones and personal work habits both work in their favor, Hugh says, sometimes allowing two rounds per day. In short, both sets of fingerprints are all over every article.
Hugh and Jim ‘s individual thinking and writing skills have strengthened as a result, Hugh said, adding, “Article three especially got me going….”
See if you agree. Check out this week’s Premium Subscription piece.
Until next week,
Ann Handley
ann@marketingprofs.com
MarketingProfs.com
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