In my heart of hearts, there’s only one real reason I wrote Build a Better Business Book. It’s because it makes me so sad to see authors stymied — or worse, exploited — because they don’t understand how the process of authoring a book works. In other words, I don’t just want you to succeed….
Sometimes companies do nonsensical things that just make you wonder what series of decisions and traditions could possibly justify their behavior. For some reasons, those things seem to happen most often in the travel and health care industries. Today, let’s talk about transatlantic red-eye flights from North America to Europe. I’ve probably taken 30 of…
When pitching yourself as a ghostwriter, you may worry most that you won’t get the job. But perhaps you should worry more about what happens if you succeed. At the start of ghostwriting projects, everyone is smiling and optimistic. It’s no fun to think about what might go wrong. But unless you protect yourself, you…
Lawrence Weinstein, cofounder of Harvard’s Writing Center and director of the writing center at Bentley University, wrote Grammar for a Full Life: How the Ways We Shape a Sentence Can Limit or Enlarge Us. This is a writing book that explores not just the best ways to write, but how those methods are connected to…
The name of the store in Inverness, Scotland, UK was Leakey’s Bookshop. As soon as I walked in the door I knew I would be there a while. I’ve been in a lot of used bookstores in my day. I’m drawn magnetically to the classic science fiction, the history books written from a decades-old perspective,…
Publisher’s Lunch, usually a reputable source, is reporting that “Ghostwriting and publishing services firm Scribe Media abruptly shut down yesterday, laying off its staff.” A second source that I trust received an email saying that Scribe had laid off most of the staff in preparation for a sale. Other authors are reporting no response to…
Amanda Gorman composed her poem The Hill We Climb for Joe Biden’s inauguration. Now, based on one feckless parent’s complaint, an elementary school in Miami has removed it so children can no longer access it without a parent’s permission. Here’s the whole poem; judge for yourself. Is this text going to corrupt young people? I’ve…
Promoting your nonfiction book seems like ego-stoking work of the most extreme sort. Me, me, me! Pay attention to me! My book is great! In truth, though, successful book promotion is a work of service and selflessness. Why selfless beats selfish in book promotion Start with the book itself. Your book will succeed to the…
I help people. It’s not because I’m a nice guy. It’s because I can’t stand an unsolved problem that I can solve. In my Facebook author group, if there’s a question I can answer, I answer it. If I know the answer and it will help someone, why not? If someone is recommended to me…