Here's what started the phenomenon: This book has been a best seller for over 15 years and has been used by screenwriters around the world! Blake Snyder tells all in this fast, funny, and candid look inside the movie business. Save the Cat is just one of many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying.

Action explores the ways that a modern-day writer can successfully tell an action story that not only stands apart, but wins the war on clichés. Teaming up with the former co-host of The Story Toolkit, Bassim El-Wakil, legendary story lecturer Robert McKee guides writers to award-winning originality by deconstructing the action genre, illuminating the challenges, and, more importantly, demonstrating how to master the demands of plot with surprising beats of innovation and ingenuity.

Following up his perennially best-selling writers' guide Story and his inspiring exploration of the art of verbal action in Dialogue, the most sought-after expert in the storytelling brings his insights to the creation of compelling characters and the design of their casts. Character explores the design of a character universe: The dimensionality, complexity and arcing of a protagonist, the invention of orbiting major characters, all encircled by a cast of service and supporting roles.

Robert McKee's screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress, and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy Jones, Diane Keaton, Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts, John Cleese, and David Bowie are just a few of his celebrity alumni. Writers, producers, development executives, and agents all flock to his lecture series, praising it as a mesmerizing and intense learning experience.

How do master storytellers compel us? There have been many attempts to understand what makes a good story, but few have used a scientific approach. In The Science of Storytelling, Will Storr applies dazzling psychological research and cutting-edge neuroscience to our myths and archetypes to show how we can tell better stories, revealing, among other things, how storytellers - and also our brains - create worlds by being attuned to moments of unexpected change.

Donald Miller's StoryBrand process is a proven solution to the struggle business leaders face when talking about their businesses. This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides listeners with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services.

Stories That Stick provides a clear framework of ideals and a concise set of actions for you to take complete control of your own story, utilizing the principles behind the world’s most effective business storytelling strategies. Telling these stories well is a simple, accessible skill anyone can develop. With case studies, company profiles, and anecdotes backed with original research, Hall presents storytelling as the underutilized talent that separates the good from the best in business.

For more than 25 years, leadership legend and personal-mastery path-blazer Robin Sharma has mentored billionaires, business titans, professional-sports superstars, and entertainment royalty via a revolutionary methodology that led them to accomplish rare-air results. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Sharma makes his transformational system available to anyone who is ready for undefeatable positivity, monumental productivity, deep spiritual freedom, and a life of helping others.

Many people have a fear of public speaking or are insecure about their ability to give a successful presentation. Now public speaking coach and best-selling author Carmine Gallo explores what makes a great presentation by examining the widely acclaimed TED Talks, which have redefined the elements of a successful presentation and become the gold standard for public speaking. TED - which stands for technology, entertainment, and design - brings together the world's leading thinkers.

A top performance expert reveals the secret behind many top athletes and executives: creating a heroic alter ego to activate when the chips are down.

After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a hostage negotiator brought him face-to-face with a range of criminals, including bank robbers and terrorists. Reaching the pinnacle of his profession, he became the FBI's lead international kidnapping negotiator. Never Split the Difference takes you inside the world of high-stakes negotiations and into Voss' head.

What's true for training great trial lawyers is true for all winning presenters. According to renowned trial attorney and best-selling author Gerry Spence, presenting a case before decision makers is not simply a technique, but an occasion for summoning your deepest reserves to advocate on behalf of something crucial.

There's a mantra real writers know but wannabe writers don’t. And the secret phrase is this: "Nobody wants to read your shit." Recognizing this painful truth is the first step in the writer's transformation from amateur to professional.

Stop selling! Start solving! In Ninja Selling, author Larry Kendall transforms the way listeners think about selling. He points out the problems with traditional selling methods and instead offers a science-based selling system that gives predictable results regardless of personality type. Ninja Selling teaches listeners how to shift their approach from chasing clients to attracting clients. Listeners will learn how to stop selling and start solving by asking the right questions and listening to their clients.

In Burn It Down, veteran reporter Maureen Ryan does just that. She draws on decades of experience to connect the dots and illuminate the deeper forces sustaining Hollywood’s corrosive culture. Fresh reporting sheds light on problematic situations at companies like Lucasfilm and shows like Lost, Saturday Night Live, The Goldbergs, Sleepy Hollow, Curb Your Enthusiasm and more.

Master the skills you can’t learn in a classroom. You can break into today’s cutting-edge sales force - and become a leader. All it takes is learning Stephan Schiffman’s essential skills. Honed to perfection over decades of experience, his techniques will make you a top sales performer. From the man who’s trained more than a half-million salespeople, these are the secrets you won’t learn in any classroom. Now they’re yours for the taking and will put you on the fast track to career advancement.

Do you always get the assignments you want? Do you know how to ask for help without sounding dumb? How to answer a question you don’t know the answer to? All the while sounding smart, capable, and competent? If the answer is no, you’re not alone. Jodi Glickman founded the communication consulting firm Great on the Job to help rising stars of the business world with the same issues. Now, for the first time, the training program that Jodi uses with her top-tier clients is available in book form. Great on the Job teaches people how to talk to one another at work, every day, in every situation....

Not all salespeople plan on a career in sales. Often, sales chooses them and suddenly they find themselves in a profession they aren't fully prepared for. The Accidental Salesperson is the answer, providing the advice and inspiration they need to master the essentials and hit the ground running. Fully updated to reflect the changes in the marketplace, the second edition provides a much-needed roadmap anyone can use to excel in sales.

In today's world, customers don't want to hear sales pitches, but many salespeople still rely on them. In this breakthrough audiobook, Steve Yastrow, founder of a successful business strategy consulting firm, asks us to throw out everything we've been taught about pitching to customers. His advice: "Tear up your sales pitch and instead improvise persuasive conversations."

Simply Said is the essential handbook for business communication. Do you ever feel as though your message hasn't gotten across? Do details get lost along the way? Have tense situations ever escalated unnecessarily? It all comes down to communication. We all communicate, but few of us do it well. From tough presentations to everyday transactions, there is no scenario that cannot be improved with better communication skills. This book presents an all-encompassing guide to improving your communication.

Noted sales trainer Stephan Schiffman, the famous master of cold calls and sales techniques, provides bite-sized tips on correcting common sales problems, using the same nuggets-of-advice format as in many of his other books!

In The Myth of the Nice Girl, Fran Hauser deconstructs the negative perception of "niceness" that many women struggle with in the business world. If women are nice, they are seen as weak and ineffective, but if they are tough, they are labeled a bitch. Hauser proves that women don't have to sacrifice their values or hide their authentic personalities to be successful.

As a salesperson, your pipeline is the key to your success. No matter what changes, that remains the same. Top producers prospect - and they do it all the time. "But how?" you ask, "In the age of the Internet, isn't cold-calling dead?" Now, in his new audiobook, sales expert Mark Hunter shatters costly prospecting myths and eliminates confusion about what works today.

Every day at work, people do three things: talk, listen, and pretend to listen. That's not surprising when you consider that the average attention span has dropped to 8 seconds. To break through, says high-stakes communications expert Paul Hellman, you need to focus on your audience, be slightly different, and deliver with finesse.

Powerful strategies for sales proficiency in ever-changing situations. When sales people are promoted, change jobs, or face new business environments, they inevitably need to learn new skills quickly. Their livelihoods depend on getting up to speed quickly; their bosses have no patience for delayed results

When it comes to delivering a pitch, Oren Klaff has unparalleled credentials. Over the past 13 years, he has used his one-of-a-kind method to raise more than $400 million—and now, for the first time, he describes his formula to help you deliver a winning pitch in any business situation. Whether you're selling ideas to investors, pitching a client for new business, or even negotiating for a higher salary, Pitch Anything will transform the way you position your ideas.

Most of us think of sales as convincing potential customers to believe or do something they don't really want to. But that cutthroat mentality makes the process much harder than it has to be—especially in an economic downturn, when customers are more suspicious and defensive. It's far more productive (and satisfying) when salespeople think like Go-Givers and focus exclusively on creating value for the customer.

A witty, wise, straight-talking career guide for women, I Shouldn't Be Telling You This is the perfect book for the current economic climate, whether you're just starting out, re-entering the workforce after maternity leave, or simply looking for a career change; it contains essential tips and bold strategies from a gutsy innovator who helped increase Cosmo's circulation by half a million copies per month.

Over the past decade, Inbound Marketing has changed the way companies earn buyers’ trust and build their brands - through meaningful, helpful content. But with that change comes unprecedented access to information in a few quick keystrokes. Enter the age of the empowered buyer, one who no longer has to rely on a sales rep to research their challenges or learn more about how a company’s offering might fit their needs. Now, with more than 60 percent of purchasing decisions made in the absence of a sales rep, the role of the rep itself has been called into question.

Questioning thousands of parents and educators, Dr. Wayne Dyer learned firsthand what people really want for their children. They don't particularly want their kids to go to fancy schools, acquire riches, or live "the good life". They do want them to have personal integrity and high self-esteem, and to grow up with love and peace in their hearts. Children raised the Wayne Dyer way feel useful and needed. They are inner- rather than outer-directed. They live a stress-free life naturally, without resorting to drugs.