The story behind writing Xero for Dummies

I’ve been a writer since I could put pen to paper, and I love to write about everything small business. I’ve written Learn MYOB in 7 Days (yes I’m a MYOB Certified Consultant), and Learn Small Business Start-Up in 7 Days (a brilliant book which I’m really proud of!).

Then on 30th May I was contacted by Rod Drury CEO and co-founder of Xero

I took a proposal to my publishers and here we are a year later, with a yellow, black and CYAN Dummies guide to Xero.

Here we are on iTunes:

Here we are on Amazon:

Google tells me that a WHALE has a gestation period of around 365 days which is about how long it took from Rod contacting me to the arrival of the physical book…in fact it took about 4 months for me to write…but there are a lot of hoops to jump through to get a book approved, edited, published and distributed. In fact Mamma WHALE has produced quadruplets!! There are another 3 Xero for Dummies titles launched, in the Dummies In A Day series.

I’ve also been asked if I work for Xero. No, I don’t work for Xero. I’m an independent Xero Certified Advisor. I think it is important for everyone involved, especially you the user, that I was totally independent. I hope you agree…however saying that, Xero have been incredibly supportive and have technically checked every corner of the book!
If you would like to hear more about the writing process you can listen to this interview I did with Tim Reid on the Small Business Big Marketing podcast and Pete Williams on the Preneurcast show. I hope you find them entertaining interviews. I have received some lovely feedback about them.

Extract from Author’s Acknowledgements from Xero for Dummies

Many thanks to Xero who have kindly endorsed the book. Xero staff around the world have answered queries into the wee hours of the morning, and the elite Xero training team have technically checked the book. So thanks to the extraordinary staff and partners of Xero — from Sue Pak, Tim Wright, Gayle Abou Maroun, Colleen Diver, my magnanimous account manager Jason Forbes, the ORANGILICIOUS Catherine, and Xero consultants Cassandra Scott, Melanie Morris, Gillian Rossouw, to everyone else in-between, and especially those who provided the technical check of the material and responded to my pesky night-time queries! Thanks to Rick Van Dyk and Matthew Addison and the team at the ICB Australia. Thanks to my writing mentor and friend Valerie Khoo and her Australian Writers’ Centre community — in particular, Alistair McKillop, who challenge and believe in my writing.

In the book you’ll learn:

How to do your accounting online anywhere, any time.
Reduce data entry utilising bank feeds and seamless integrations with add-on solutions.
Use dash boards to track your business performance in real-time
Create and send invoices via your mobile devices

You can buy Xero for Dummies from all good bookstores – you should find it one the book shelves with all the other yellow and black books. Or you can by it on-line here. I guess it all depends on how you learn; If you’re the type of person who likes to read and work through detailed precise steps, then you’ll love this book, and hopefully it will find a nice place on your business book shelf for it. I’ve written Xero for Dummies, a comprehensive guide to using the game changing online accounting system Xero. I’ve written this book, like I’m sitting with you working you through every question you may have about Xero.

An elderly client surprised me the other day – she had already bought the e-book and told me she much prefers to have books on her iPad so she can take them with her where-ever she is. She made me feel like such a Luddite – I would never have thought of that – but buy it in whatever format works for you!

Hopefully now you are feeling compelled to buy a copy of the book, your business will love you and so will my mortgage 🙂