Nikolai Kononov: biography and books

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:42

Is it possible to “do business” in Russia? According to the NAFI survey, 49% of Russians believe that it is impossible to do business honestly in our country. 98% of those participating in the FOM survey are sure that for this you need to be a millionaire, the owner of power or a family member of a person belonging to the upper class. Is it so? The answer to these questions can be found in the books of Nikolai Kononov, where he talks about entrepreneurs who have made a business from scratch.

How did he get into writing?

Nikolai Viktorovich Kononov was born on August 24, 1980 in Moscow. He graduated from high school there. He began to read early, and decided to write his first fantasy story before going to first grade. Since childhood, I wanted to write books. But I didn’t go to the Literary Institute, I decided to go to the Faculty of Journalism, because it was more interesting there. Graduated from Moscow State University in 2002. I did not intend to be a journalist, but I realized that in order to write good books, you need material.

After university, he worked as a copywriter, on television -correspondent, editor in an architectural magazine, in the press service of the metro. In 2003, he got a job at the Izvestia newspaper, in the department of humanitarian problems. He worked as a correspondent, visited hot spots - Ingushetia and Chechnya. Then, in 2004, he moved to the Expert magazine. A year later - in the Forbes magazine, led a column on the topic of entrepreneurship. Traveled around the regions and found interesting people there. These were not necessarily oligarchs, those who made a gigantic fortune, but simply curious people. In parallel, he published articles in the New York Times, Quartz.

In 2010 he is a senior editor at Slon.ru. In 2011, he returned to Forbes. At the same time, he published his first book, God Without a Machine, which is dedicated to business, like his entire journalistic biography. In 2012, Nikolai Kononov became the head of the editorial board of Hopes & Fears, a specialized online publication about technology and entrepreneurs. In 2015, the magazine was merged with The Village and Kononov, together with the team began working on the Secret of the Firm project, where he still works as editor-in-chief and talks about the new heroes of Russian business on the pages of the publication.

How did you get famous?

Kononov's name became widely known after the release of his first book, God Without a Machine. It describes the stories of 20 entrepreneurs. A lot of books have been written about how people built a business, but this book has a significant difference - the author traveled half of Russia and personally met with each hero of his stories. These are stories not about dizzying, momentary successes, but about people who overcame a hugeresistance, but did not stop.

Nikolai Kononov frankly writes about Russian reality, about connections with the powers that be, about achieving dreams and failures. The book is notable for the fact that it tells about the time in which we live and about the people who surround us. The book is interesting not only for those who want to start their own business, but also for people who in one way or another come into contact with business - there are a lot of facts and reasons for reflection on its pages. According to readers, "God without a car" is the best thing that has been written about business in recent times. The book was shortlisted for the NOS Award.

Why write about entrepreneurs?

In 2012, Nikolai Kononov wrote the second book - "Durov's Code". Her hero is Pavel Durov, the creator of the most popular Russian social network VKontakte. The publication immediately became one of the most discussed works of the year. Partly because this is a story about a new type of hero, about an Internet entrepreneur. The story of a man who created the “universe” with his own hands and managed to attract more than 100 million users to the network in a short time.

The book is also interesting because the creator of VKontakte practically does not communicate with journalists, but its author managed to “open the reserved veil” and reveal to readers the “secret of the company”. During the writing of the book, he met with his hero several times, and he managed to write a fascinating story based on real events. This attracted the attention of filmmakers - A. R. Films acquired the rights to film the bestseller.

Such stories shouldpublish so that people do not feel lonely and unwanted. To understand that they have like-minded people, those who follow what they get. The editor-in-chief of the Secret of the Firm magazine believes that entrepreneurship can be called something that has a return, people's attention or monetary value. It's a creative, exciting field, and he met all sorts of interesting characters when he switched to this topic. “My mission is,” says the journalist, “to look for new heroes.”

What else did you write?

At the beginning of this year, another book by Kononov was published - "Author, scissors, paper." An experienced practitioner, Nikolai Kononov shares in it the secrets of writing. He tells in detail how to choose a topic, collect material, draw up a plan, structure the text, and overcome writer's block. Explains clearly and concisely how to solve problems faced by aspiring writers.

Nikolay has his own small business - a text school. In writing courses, he teaches how to write for different purposes, whether it be business correspondence, books, articles or letters. Conducts seminars "School of editors", "How to write well", "Content brand strategy". This author has something to tell his readers.