Oh dear. I am being a recalcitrant blogger at the moment. Twitterfeed has, for some reason, just tweeted my last, old post, confusing everyone and reminding me to get back on the blog. But why have I been off air? I am still writing, dear reader – just not here. The exciting news is: I’m doing some of that old-fashioned scribbling for the printed page. I’m working on a book for FT Prentice Hall about online marketing.

And I’m looking for interesting case studies, so if you have a compelling story to tell about how you’ve successfully used online marketing – and especially social media – for your business, I want to hear from you! Some of these will go into the book, more on the website, and I’d also like to interview a few people for a pre-publication podcast.

The Book is called “Market Your Business Online”.  Or “Get Up To Speed with Online Marketing: What you need to know and do to grow your business”. Or something like that. We’re still discussing the title. Suggestions on a postcard please. It should come out around this time next year – but it will have its own blog before then, so look out for that.

Being a social media type, it has a focus on blogs, podcasts, Twitter, Facebook etc., as you would expect. All the things I lecture and run workshops on. But I also wanted to put these into the context of online marketing generally – things like getting your website right and using email marketing. Most of all, it is a practical, step-by-step guide to choosing and using the appropriate tools for your business.

There are plenty of fascinating think-books about the impact social media has had on our lives; and books on single tools, such as Twitter for business, Facebook for business, blogging for business etc. But if you’re a new business, and new to social media, you just want an overview of what’s out there, what’s right for you, ideas for some quick wins, and some pointers on how to use it right away – right? Well, if so, I hope you’ll find this book of some use.

Meanwhile, I’m on a bit of a schedule. I kicked things off with a week in Dartmouth last month, having decided I needed isolation, a nice view, strong coffee and a hearty breakfast in order to write. Turns out I was right, and got a lot done that week. I wrote partly about Twitter, which is how I ended up there in the first place. Twitter is one of those things that becomes more or less useful depending on who you follow – and I follow a number of writers. One of the ways you can use it is to ask people for help – as a sort of online support group. I tweeted:  “I want to go away for a week to focus on writing. Any suggestions?” and got a few replies back within hours, including from my Twitter friend Katharine, co-author of The Rough Guide to Food, who tweeted back: “@jonreed – suggest Alfrescos in Dartmouth – top flat – excellent breakfasts and coffee; big table , mini kitchen, overlooking sea and Dart”.

Perfect. I’m now also a big a fan of Café Alf Resco – listed in the Guardian’s top 10 places to have breakfast in the UK – and of Dartmouth itself. Handily for me, you can get a direct train from Woking, though the railway runs out at Paignton and you have do the last leg by steam train and ferry. It’s the perfect way to arrive, and a great place to get away from the office, phones, email, and feel like you’re having a bit of a holiday too as you look out to sea from the balcony, hammering away on your laptop. I managed to take a proper day off too, for a bit of literary tourism – a boat trip up the Dart to see Agatha Christie’s house, recently opened to the public by the National Trust.

I’ll let you know how it goes. For now, I’m feeling demob happy, since I’m about to take August ‘off’ to write. See you on the other side…