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Welcome to Deborah Oxberry’s website.

Deborah is an English writer who writes books about business development and human relationships.

Explore the rest of the site to find out more about Deborah, and to view her current publications.

Do you have trouble sleeping because of chronic pain? Or have you found something that helps? Looking for people to interview. If you can help, please DM me. #chronicpain #journorequest

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Deborah Oxberry @DeborahOxberry·

24 Sep

Looking to interview people suffering from chronic pain who have (or have had) trouble sleeping. Please DM me, thank you. #journorequest

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Fiction

Hurt and Revenge

When a wounded animal is cornered, it attacks anything it sees as a threat.

Following a lifetime of caring for her parents and parents-in-law, Sue Robinson is looking forward to early retirement with her husband Peter. Finally, they will be able to do all the things they’ve dreamed of and Sue is excited by the possibilities. Until some devastating news threatens their plans.

Gary and Lisa Mills met as teenagers in a children’s home and dreamed of one day creating their own perfect family. Gary’s whole life is dedicated to giving his wife and sons everything he didn’t have when he was growing up. Until a series of events means he can no longer support them properly and contributes to a family tragedy.

Hurt and Revenge explores how people react when their family is threatened. And how experiencing hurt can lead even the most reasonable people to seek revenge.

Non-Fiction

Writing bids and tenders series

Proving your point

Awarding services to providers is a risky business for buyers. They don’t want any nasty surprises. This book will help you convince buyers that yours is the best organisation to deliver the service.

•Do you describe a good service solution, but fail to convince buyers to contract with you? Learn how to provide proof that yours is the best offer.
•Are your bids technically sound, but lack colour and interest? Uncover a simple trick to add life and colour to your answers.
•Selling to buyers who don’t know your organisation? Quickly help buyers understand the scope and scale or your organisation, even if they’ve never heard of you before.
•And much much more.

This practical guide will clearly explain how to establish a knowledge bank of evidence, and more importantly, how to use that evidence to write winning tender answers. This will help you to win more business and make the whole tendering process less stressful.

Based on over 20 years’ extensive work with organisations of all sizes, this practical guide is aimed primarily at anyone bidding for public sector contracts in the UK.

Case studies

Do you want your bid or tender to stand out? Do you want to demonstrate what makes your organisation special? Do you want to prove that your systems achieve great results for clients? Then you need to use effective case studies.

•Are your business proposals technically sound, but deadly dull? Learn how to make your proposals stand out and catch the eye of each buyer.
•Struggling to describe the impact of your services? Describe a clear link between what you did, and what you achieved.
•Struggling to include everything with allowed word limits? Succinctly describe your achievements and show the success of your organisation.
•And much much more.

This practical guide clearly explains how to collect, manage, structure and use case studies to include in your business proposals. A good case study will provide proof that your systems work, and achieve the desired results. The careful use of case studies also brings life to your writing, often making your point in a much more accessible way.

Based on over 20 years’ extensive work with organisations of all sizes, this practical guide is aimed primarily at anyone bidding for public sector contracts in the UK.

Why good bid writing won’t win you new business

Do you find competitive tendering stressful and time-consuming? Do you constantly bid for new contracts with limited success? Do you spend money on great bid writers, but still don’t achieve your growth targets? Is bidding something that happens separately from your other business processes? Then it’s time to review your business development processes.

Do tender releases take you by surprise?Learn how to get advanced knowledge of upcoming tenders, so that you can prepare in advance.
Struggling to decide whether to bid for a contract or not? Have a clear process to make a definite decision – fast.
Daunted by bidder interviews? Discover a simple tool which will make preparation and negotiation easy.
And much much more.

This practical guide explains how to set up a business development cycle in your organisation so that you know what to bid for, when it is coming up, and how you can prepare effectively. This means that a lot of the hard work is done before the tender is released, making the bidding process less stressful. Also learn tips and tools to use to prepare and submit the best bid that you can, to increase your chances of success.

Based on over 20 years’ extensive work with organisations of all sizes, this practical guide is aimed primarily at anyone bidding for public sector contracts in the UK. If you want to bid strategically and win significant new contracts, BUY YOUR COPY today.

About Deborah

I have always loved to write, and I’m lucky enough to write for a living. Mostly I write complex bids and tenders for health and social care organisations, through my company Mercury Business Development Ltd.

My first books in the ‘Writing Bids and Tenders’ series were designed to share my business development knowledge. But I enjoyed the process so much, I am now branching out into other subjects. I spent many years working in mental health services, and have a background in psychology. This has given me an interest in human relationships, and why people act in often unexpected and bizarre ways. These are themes that I explore in my first novel, Hurt and Revenge.

For people who care about such things, I have an MA and a BA (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Durham, I am a Chartered Manager and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), and an Accredited Member of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP).

I have been happily married to Allan for over 27 years, and we live near Durham in the north east of England, with a very curly dog called Ted.

In my spare time, I am an aspiring artist and musician. I play a few songs on the piano, and attempt repeatedly to play the harp, embracing the motto, “you have to practise like the devil to play like an angel!”

Deborah

Latest news

January 1, 2019January 1, 2019

Why good bid writing won’t win you new business

The third volume in my ‘writing bids and tenders’ series is now available via Amazon. This is a practical guide to setting up a business development cycle to help you prepare for bidding well in advance of a tender release. Find out more now.

March 20, 2018March 20, 2018

Mornings and More with Bishop FM

Was very happy to drop into Bishop FM yesterday, chatting to Gary Burgham on ‘Mornings and More’ about ‘Hurt and Revenge’. I was even able to pick some songs! Click the red button to listen to the interview.

March 15, 2018July 20, 2018

Thanks to the Northern Echo

Article about Hurt and Revenge in the Northern Echo, 15th March 2018 Many thanks to reporter Lizzie Anderson and photographer Sarah Caldecott for the article in today’s Northern Echo. It really is great when regional newspapers support local authors, so thumbs up to the Northern Echo and their team. If you would like to …

Continue reading “Thanks to the Northern Echo”