An Effort to Understand by David Murray

David Murray

Chicago, Illinois

David Murray is a writer and journalist. He's editor and publisher of Vital Speeches of the Day magazine, and founder and executive director of the Professional Speechwriters Association.

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About the author

David Murray is editor and publisher of Vital Speeches of the Day, an 85-year-old collection of the best oral communication in the U.S. and the world. He’s also executive director of the Professional Speechwriters Association. He’s been a prominent commentator on communication issues for 25 years.

Murray cowrote the New York Times-bestselling memoir Tell My Sons (Random House, 2013) and a memoir about his advertising copywriter parents, Raised By Mad Men.

Murray’s writing on communication and other subjects has appeared in many media outlets including The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Magazine, Advertising Age, Sailing Magazine, Golf Magazine, Car Collector Magazine, Vibe.com, the Huffington Post and Chicago Public Radio.

He lives with his wife and daughter in Chicago.

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An Effort to Understand

Why Americans must stop shaking our heads at one another and start communicating more honestly with ourselves.

How to hear more clearly and speak more truly to rebuild relationships in your family, your workplace, your community and your society.

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	Personal Growth & Self-Improvement
	50,000 words
	75% complete
	12 publishers interested
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Synopsis

“We have to make an effort in the United States,” a trembling Robert F. Kennedy told a grief-stricken crowd immediately after the assassination of Martin Luther King. “We have to make an effort to understand.”

A half-century later, how are we doing in our effort to understand?

We’ve had so many “national conversations about race,” we are blue in the face. Online discussions instantly devolve into attempted rhetorical murder. People dread their family holiday dinners and exchange tips on how to avoid controversial—read, meaningful—subjects.

As the nation staggers from one of the most contentious presidential elections in its history to the next, it seems communication can’t solve anything.

David Murray hasn't given up.

Murray is the author of the memoir Raised by Mad Men, about his 1960s-era advertising parents. He’s editor and publisher of Vital Speeches of the Day. And he’s the founder and executive director of the global Professional Speechwriters Association. Murray has spent his whole career at the center of a community of professional communicators, writing on political, business and personal communication for three decades.

In An Effort to Understand, Murray shares his insights—challenging, entertaining, funny and often intensely personal—to help Americans communicate more effectively with the people they love, the people they work with and even the friends and strangers who they confront from across the political divide.

But first: with themselves.

Through observational examples from contemporary culture and his personal life, Murray shows you:

• How to listen more carefully.

• How to choose battles more wisely.

• How to avoid insulting people accidentally.

• How to think more generously.

• How to argue more productively.

• How to repair a relationship (and when to stop trying).

• How to use humor as a salve and not a hammer.

• How to make more peace in your life, and contribute to a more cohesive family, community, workplace and society.

As Robert Kennedy said in his speech the last time America was so wounded, “What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country.”

This book is an attempt to help us treat one another the way we all know we must. This book is An Effort to Understand.

Sales arguments

85% of Americans say that political debate in the U.S. has become more negative and less respectful. (Pew, 2019)
64% of Americans say that trust in one another has been shrinking. (Pew, 2019)
Clearly, a majority of Americans could use a wise and wound-binding guide to better communication: with their families, their friends, their neighbors, their colleagues—and their country.

Similar titles

CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS: Tools for Talking When the Stakes Are High
THE ART OF AUTHENTICITY: Tools to Become an Authentic Leader and Your Best Self
QUIET: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

Audience

The audience for this book is every adult who’s looking for a new way to look at the world that might lead to a better way to be in the world.

Advance praise

Here's what readers had to say about David Murray's last book, Raised By Mad Men.

“David Murray searches to uncover the significance of his father’s life’s work. Did helping companies sell more products amount to anything more? And what legacy is left for this child of ‘Mad Men’? If you don’t know David and the rich contributions he’s made through his books and counsel, read it and discover.”—Pete Weissman, CEO, Thought Leader Communications

“An honest and funny memory of the writer's parents, who were both in the advertising business in the 1960s and 70s.” —Laurie Meyer, former vice president of corporate communication, Walgreens

“A moving memoir ... Murray uses the TV series Mad Men as a counterpoint in giving an account of his parents' advertising careers. Fans of the series will find in Murray's father a real-life and more likable Don Draper. Murray deftly weaves the history of modern advertising into his narrative and writes in a style that would make his father proud.” —Jerry Tarver, Professor Emeritus, Speech Communication, University of Richmond

“David Murray's loving portrait of his larger-than-life parents gives us fascinating insights into their characters. It also tells the story of a tumultuous era in which the medium of advertising evolved from selling things to driving social change.” —Ron Shewchuk, corporate communications executive

“A beautiful and stirring look at the real people who changed the way business talked to human beings. And why it's still important today. Must read for anyone who communicates for a living.” —Dain Dunston, Executive Communication Consultant

“Engaging and meaningful for the openness with which Murray lets us into his personal observations of his parents and his thoughts on the way their achievements and choices shaped his view of the world, his personal philosophy and his professional pursuits. This is a wonderful, personal read that I couldn't put down once I began it, and I highly recommend it.” —Shawn Bannon, vice president of executive communication, PNC

12 publishers interested

	Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc. 250 copies • Completed manuscript. Atlantic Publishing has been providing millions of readers information to jumpstart their careers, start businesses, manage employees, invest, plan for retirement, learn technologies, build relationships, and live rewarding, fulfilling lives. Our award-winning authors and publication staff strive to make our products the best and most up-to-date available. We go further than most publishers to get our customers the best products. Hybrid publisher Children Fiction, Mind & Body, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Society & Culture Worldwide
	Cranthorpe Millner 250 copies • Partial manuscript. Cranthorpe Millner operates a hybrid publishing model. This means, should an author pass our editors’ strict filtering system, we can offer different kinds of agreements depending on the author and the manuscript. With some authors, we work under a ‘traditional’ model, whereby we cover the full cost of publication and the author is offered industry-standard royalties (8-10%). To some authors, we offer what we call a partnership or contributory agreement, whereby the author is asked for a financial contribution so that we may share the risk and enter into a partnership together to publish the author’s book. In this case, the author receives around 60-75% royalties. Hybrid publisher Children Fiction, Literary Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Mind & Body, Mind & Body, Romantic Fiction, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA Fiction, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Biography & Memoir, Health, Fitness & Dieting, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, History, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Science, Science, Sports & Outdoors, Sports & Outdoors, Travel, Travel United Kingdom, United States, Canada
	Disruption Books 250 copies • Partial manuscript. Disruption Books is a hybrid publisher of innovative nonfiction that will start conversations, shift perspectives, and influence outcomes. Our books present big ideas from leaders in diverse fields such as politics, philanthropy, business, and activism. Hybrid publisher Mind & Body, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Science, Society & Culture, Technology & the Future Worldwide
	Emerald Lake Books 500 copies • Completed manuscript. Emerald Lake Books is a hybrid publishing company that provides a unique blend of business coaching with publishing to help its authors succeed, whether it’s their first book or their fiftieth! Emerald Lake Books specializes in working with positive people who have an engaging, exciting, or entertaining message to share with the world. Using a unique, goal-oriented approach to publishing, we combine our business and publishing knowledge to help our authors set and attain goals for their readers, their brands, and their books. And many of those books have gone on to win international awards and recognition. Hybrid publisher Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Mind & Body, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Science, Society & Culture, Technology & the Future, Travel Worldwide
	Koehler Books 250 copies • Completed manuscript. Koehler Books is an Indie publisher based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Our team of dedicated professionals promises you a holistic publishing experience where you'll receive our full attention, collaboration, and coaching every step of the way. We offer two publishing models: a traditional non-fee model for the highest quality work, as well as a co-publishing model that includes creative development fees for emerging authors. Our titles are broad-based and include nearly every major non-fiction and fiction genre. Hybrid publisher Commercial Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, LGBT Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Mind & Body, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Women's Fiction, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Communication Skills, Corporate Culture, Management & Leadership, Marketing & Sales, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Sex & Relationships, Sports & Outdoors, Science Fiction & Humour Worldwide
	Morgan James 500 copies • Partial manuscript • Looking for entrepreneurship, business, self-help, and personal growth. Morgan James Publishing has revolutionized book publishing—from the author’s standpoint, earning 29 NY Times and over 100 USA Today and Wall Street Journal best sellers. We teach authors strategies to leverage their books and grow their businesses—adding value while staying out of the way. Evidenced by more Major Media best sellers than most publishers our size. Regularly ranked by Publishers Weekly as the most recognized and one of the fastest-growing publishers in the nation, Morgan James is reported to be “the future of publishing.” Hybrid publisher All categories United Kingdom, Canada
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Update #4 - Publishing contract signed for An Effort to Understand Dec. 20, 2019

Dear Pre-Purchaser of An Effort to Understand—

Thanks for your patience over the last few months as I’ve spoken with many publishers and waited to …
Update #3 - 502 Sept. 6, 2019

To pre-orderers of "An Effort to Understand"—
Well, now you've done it.
With 22 hours to spare in our extended campaign, we reached the 500 pre-order threshold. …
Update #2 - Book launch party! Date, TBD. Location, moveable. Aug. 27, 2019

Dear Supporter of An Effort to Understand—
Never satisfied with the pre-sales of the book, my rapacious agent at Publishizer encourages me to sweeten the …
Update #1 - Thank you from the bottom of my Boots. However ... Aug. 1, 2019

Dear Supporter of "An Effort to Understand"—

It's been a good week for morale here at Writing Boots headquarters. Thanks to your gracious pre-order and …

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David Murray

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An Effort to Understand

Synopsis

Sales arguments

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Audience

Advance praise