I’m used to running workshops for relatively small groups, and I’ve also delivered masterclasses to all sorts of audiences, both large and small. But there’s something distinctive about a book event – and when that book is your own, the event becomes even more special.

It may have something to do with having spent the early part of my career in the world of publishing, or the fact that I’ve taken part in the same literature class for more years that I care to admit…

Whatever the reason, I was strangely moved when speaking to an audience at The Economists’ Bookshop (at the London School of Economics and, I believe, the only branch of Waterstone’s to retain its original name). The audience wasn’t huge, but they were all book lovers, and many of them were students. The venue wasn’t specially impressive but it was a bookshop. And to see our book (with my name on it, as co-author together with my colleague Tony Newton) ranked 7 in that week’s sales charts represented a validation of all that we have been striving to achieve – changing attitudes to networking and helping people connect with each other in these difficult times.

Now all we have to do is persuade the 300-odd other branches of Waterstone’s to (a) stock the book so that browsers have a chance of coming across it and (b) run a signing event! Any suggestions will be gratefully received!

One of the things we bang on about in both networking and negotiation workshops is the need to get real information to help avoid bad decision making based on faulty data.

And I've just had a reminder of that lesson.

I'm at St Pancras station, ticking off the last few destinations for the 'book on train' project. As I stop for a coffee at well known franchise, it occurs to me that leaving one or two books on tables there might encourage finders to whisk them off to exotic locations.

I could easily just plonk a couple of books on tables and make my exit, but wanting to ensure that staff won't just bin the book with other table waste, I think it prudent to try to get the manager 'on board'.

The manager listens attentively to my explanation of the project, and seems genuinely interested, but says she is unable to help. The reason, it seems, is an edict from Head Office which dictates that all tables must be cleared of all contents between customers: no exceptions.  So while the books might not end up in the waste bin, they would instead be collected up and stored in the crew room as 'lost property' (and doubling as reading material for any member of staff keen to improve their networking skills...)

Digging a bit  further into the Head Office edict, I discover from the helpful manager that the same applies to all branches. Given that I'd previously been toying with the idea of  'seeding' books at other branches of the same chain, the fact that I've bothered to engage her in conversation about my project ends up saving me wasted time and effort, plus of course the value of the books themselves.

But there is, of course, the counter-argument which goes like this: "It is better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission." In this case, it has very definitely paid to ask.

If you’ve read The Network Effect, or been to our workshops, you’ll know that we often send out our own postcards, printed with a thought-provoking proverb or quotation. We often see them on people’s noticeboards or desks – but imagine our delight when Sarah, who participated in a workshop we ran at Judge Business School in Cambridge back in 2008, sent us a photograph of a postcard she had received, framed and proudly displayed on top of the first desk she purchased after her return from postings in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As an aside, we would argue that the motto on this particular card – A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world (written by the novelist John Le Carré) – is especially appropriate in this age of digital communication. We certainly take the view that emails, tweets, and Facebook and txt messages just aren’t enough. You have to get out from behind your desk and network, face to face!

Refreshingly, I’ve just got back from a meeting with someone who positively radiates energy. I’ve come away from too many ‘informal chats’ feeling drained, but this time I’m positive and hopeful that something will actually happen as a result of our conversation... but most interestingly, this guy’s business card includes his photograph. What people (and companies) choose to do (and not to do) with their business cards is a special interest of mine, and selecting examples from my ‘collection’ to use on page 141 of The Network Effect was a particular pleasure. Putting your photographs on your card is generally considered a bit tasteless (as my contact today fully realised) – but he also knew that the photo made him doubly memorable: literally, in that the photo acted as an aide memoire, and figuratively in that he becomes known as the guy with the unusual business card! I think he was right to take the risk – weighing up his gravitas as an experienced and capable interim with the risk of looking, at worst, a bit silly!

Books have started surfacing. To recap, we've put specially labelled books on trains leaving London's King's Cross/St. Pancras stations and invited people to tell us where they found the book, and where they plan on leaving it (or did leave it) for the next person to find.

You can see the detail of each book's movements by following the project on Twitter @network_effect, but to date we have nine reports from seven books. With about 60 books placed so far, that's something around a 10% response rate.

So what's happened to the others? Worst case scenario is that train cleaners have trashed them, but the hope is that the rest of the books are being carried around by people who are reading them and enjoying them. Assuming a week or so to get through the 230 odd pages, I hope to be seeing more books surface in the next few days.

It’s a mistake that many, many people make. They assume that everyone sees the world from the same point of view, their point of view.

For example, The Network Effect is clearly at the top of my list of priorities at the moment – I’m proud of what we’ve achieved, and want, quite naturally, to maximise its impact. I also genuinely believe that the book can help a lot of people. So I pick up the phone, late on a Friday afternoon, and call one of my contacts – a senior careers adviser at a top UK business school.

“What did you think of the book?”, I ask. “Brilliant”, she replies. “I haven’t yet read it from cover to cover, but I’ve dipped into it, and everything I’ve read is excellent.” I ask her if she could please put a review on Amazon for us. She pauses, and I jump in with “It needn’t be very long – just a couple of sentences would be fine.” And that’s when I feel I’ve slightly misjudged the situation. It’s Friday afternoon, and her hesitation should have warned me that she doesn’t want to add anything whatsoever to her ‘to do’ list. The book is in no way, shape or form as important to her as it is to me. Nor should it be. And I should have realised that before.

Although I try to take my own advice, and practice what I preach, I don’t always manage. In future, though, I’ll still ask for a review (if you don’t ask, you often don’t get, as the saying goes) – but I’ll keep well away from insisting on a favour.

It's all very well putting books on trains and getting nice reviews from people we know, but if we want people in any numbers to read the book and take our messages on board, we need to get coverage in both conventional and 'new' media.

The first few calls made on our behalf all sound very positive, but of course the 'proof of the pudding' is whether anything useful appears in the public domain. You won't be surprised to hear that Judith and I are making every effort to harness our own networks to encourage that coverage rather than relying on 'cold' calls by Katherine, our PR manager.

One of the interesting things about networking as a topic is that it's relevant to the media across both job function and industry sector, so the range of periodicals and sites we'll be speaking to is pretty huge.

As we 'press the button' on our PR activity, I realise that the URL to the 'media resources' page on the website is a long and convoluted string that needs to be abbreviated to something neater. I'm also perplexed to find that the authors photos and book cover graphics that were there have disappeared.  Another thing to add to the 'to do' list which somehow never gets any shorter, however many items I tick off.

Today it's St. Pancras that has the pleasure of my company, but the ticket barriers, complex platform arrangements and presence of the Eurostar all make this a more difficult nut to crack.  So first stop is the Station Manager's office, where I come across my first hint of 'more than my job's worth' and 'need to talk to the PR people'. I'm invited to take a seat for a few minutes while the chap concerned disappears behind the scenes. I'm beginning to think that I might have run up against a brick wall when he reappears and OK's the issue of a visitor's pass.

Fully badged up, and having read and signed the safety instructions, it's back to the trains. Books go on trains to places like Sheffield and Corby, but when it comes to the Eurostar, I have visions of an immense bureaucratic hassle given security, customs, passport control and the like. But I gird my loins and approach the customer services desk. The lady across the desk is at first mildly suspicious but breaks into a broad smile as I explain what I'm trying to do.  "What a great idea," she exclaims, and calls her colleagues over. The upshot is that I get escorted to the Paris and Brussels trains, and leave three books on each. Three books get placed by staff in the departure lounge and another two go to members of staff who are keen to read the book and pass it on.

For those trains for which St. Pancras is the terminus, things are straightforward.  But for others (such as Brighton, Sevenoaks and St. Albans), St. Pancras is just a calling point. Trying to get three books on to these trains without finding myself going on an unscheduled journey- or worse, causing a security alert through being seen to hop on and off trains in a suspicious manner- calls for some planning. I ask the station manager for help, and she's both cheerful and delighted to help. One of the station staff is tasked to come down to the platform with me, and I request the loan of a hi-vis jacket so that I can clearly be seen by passenegers to be 'official'. This has the un-anticipated downside that several people approach me to ask for help.

Between the two of us, we get the requisite three books on to each train without mishap. My bag is again empty, but there are still a few destinations to do so one last visit is called for, but it won't be for a while.

Today sees the 'book on train' project take off in earnest as I travel to King's Cross with a very heavy bag full of books. To avoid the risk of creating a security alert, I've spoken to the PR people at both Network Rail and one of the Train Operating Companies, but it's clear that the people I really need to get 'buy in' from are the crew leaders on each train.
The plan is to put three copies on the book on trains travelling to each of the final destinations served by the King's Cross/St. Pancras hub. Why three? No very good reason other than a compromise between budget and logistics (posh word for how many I can label, carry and track). Why each final destination when several trains share part of the route? Only because each destination represents a terminal node on the network.
The crew leaders are, without exception, helpful and (to a greater or lesser extent) interested in the project.  Not one feels the need to refer to Higher Authority to get the OK.
My bag gradually gets lighter as I tick off the list of destinations, and I get an echo of the 'road not travelled' as I opt to place a book on one table rather than another, potentially changing the person that picks it up and the entire course of that book's travels.

I run out of books before I run out of destinations, so I'm going to have to refill my bag and come back tomorrow.

When you first arrived at this website, you'll have seen a big button on the front page labelled 'I Found Your Book!'
Up until today, no-one could find a book because there weren't any to find. But that's all changed. This morning, the East Coast mainline train I took to Newcastle had three extra passengers- specially labelled copies of 'The Network Effect' that invite finders to take the book with them and log on to this website to tell us where they'd found the book, and where they plan to leave it.
Each of the books has a unique ID and a nickname, so that finders will be able to track their book via this blog and a twitter feed. We have no idea whether the project will work, or where books may end up- but that's half the fun of research into networks and networking!
It's not long before we have our first 'bite': a copy of the book nicknamed 'Hugo' has been found on a train coming BACK to King's Cross and the finder tells us that he'll be leaving the book at Stansted aiport.
Will 'The Network Effect' in the shape of 'Hugo' be going abroad? Time will tell (we hope...)