Over the course of my career, I tended to work long, hard, and intensely at my jobs. I was obsessed with making a contribution that would matter greatly to a large number of people. I wanted to leave a mark. Looking back, I did leave a mark. Just not in the way I had planned….
Newsletter 40: Principles for writing success, including why authoring is like sex; a new leader for embattled librarians; Meta fails to buy publisher; plus three people to follow and three books to read. Rules of thumb for nonfiction authors Everyone writes their own way. But after 50+ book projects and thousands of shorter nonfiction pieces,…
If you’re considering hiring me as a writer or editor, we’ll have to discover a few things about each other. You’ll likely interview me. And you might send me some samples of your writing and your ideas. I’ve been through this so many times that I no longer worry about the impression I’m making. I…
I recently received a query to see if I, as a ghostwriter, could help with some freelance work. Here’s how the query read (I’ve made minor edits to conceal the requester’s identity): Is this a ghostwriter? No. I’ve spent quite a lot of time this year with ghostwriters. Ghostwriters’ primary job is, of course, writing….
A more thoughtful person wouldn’t post something this personal and embarrassing. I am not that person. Hey, we’re friends here, right? Last week, my dermatologist performed a small biopsy of a mole in the center of my back about eight inches below the bottom of my neck, removing the top layer of skin and the…
Some business ideas seem to hang around forever. They’re timeless. Porter’s Five Forces, Net Promoter Score, consumer segmentation, leveraged buyouts, annual sales bonuses, performance reviews, hierarchical reporting structures, networking . . . these are concepts that, with all their flaws, seem to be a persistent part of the business world. If you’re writing about crypto,…
Newsletter 39: Ignorance is a curse and a cult, Google and Meta rationalize AI ripoffs, the reality behind “birds aren’t real,” plus three people to follow and three books to read. Can we please stop idolizing ignorance? Twenty years ago, the Boston Red Sox did something that seemed impossible: after a supposedly cursed championship drought…
A nonfiction advice book makes a case for an idea. The basic structure is like this: That’s fine. And depending on how much detail you go into, that could be five to 15 chapters or 30,000 to 70,000 words of advice. But if that’s all you do, you haven’t gone far enough. How to think…
I’ve been an avid reader of science fiction since childhood. My path to it was a little unusual. I loved science books, especially Isaac Asimov’s sparkling nonfiction. When I ran out of that, I found out Asimov wrote (science) fiction books. That turned me on Clarke, Heinlein, Pohl, Dick, and the rest of those hard…