The purpose of a book coach is to help you become a better writer and write a better, more effective, book. Now you can, at least in theory, hire an AI to do the same thing. Which is better? Let’s compare. AI wins on price, availability, and flexibility From a purely mechanical standpoint, AI wins….
I am a moderate liberal from Maine. I’ve been disappointed by Susan Collins, the current Senator running for reelection, because of her votes to confirm dubiously qualified Supreme Court Justices and for RFK, Jr, an idiot, for Secretary of Health and Human Services. I have never sexually assaulted anyone. I’ve been happily married to the…
Newsletter 159. Learn to write and you’ll never be bored. Plus, Simon & Schuster puts self-publishing in its pocket, Hachette unionizes, three people to follow, and three books to read. Endlessly diverting What do you like to do? Play golf? It’s torment, from what people tell me, but it’s an enjoyable challenge. Plant a garden?…
The problem with your AI-generated book isn’t the em-dashes or the endless “It’s not this, it’s that” constructions. It’s not even the flood of questionable metaphors or the dull and even tone, although those are definitely problems. The problem is that it’s lifeless. People have a tell. They’re idiosyncratic, they use weird syntax, they tell…
Companies abuse their customers’ trust all the time. Sometimes they get caught. When they do, their apologies are usually defensive and hollow. Not HubSpot. It behaved a lot better. But it still failed to fully acknowledge who it hurt and why. What HubSpot did wrong Last week, HubSpot attempted to enhance its service for all…
I’ve written two books, coauthored three more, and ghostwritten four others. I’ve also done developmental edits on three dozen. I’m proud to say that there are very few mistakes in any books I’ve worked on. That’s not because I don’t make mistakes — I make plenty. But I don’t trust myself to be completely accurate,…
I’m working with a brilliant thinker with an utterly original idea about business. She’s been using AI to polish some of the documents she has created as she plans her book. And she complained to me that it doesn’t seem to be helping that much — in fact, it’s making the expression of her ideas…
Newsletter 158. Why health care reform is essential to save creative work. Plus, are AI books really overwhelming online bookstores, how DOGE couldn’t kill climate.gov, three people to follow, and three books to read. How health care friction is destroying creativity As a nation, America nurtures innovation, startup vigor, and creativity more effectively than any…
When you give me a chapter to edit, you’re going to get one of four types of responses from me: Basically, I’m rating the quality of what you write from one to four stars. In all four of these cases, I start by praising some of the good things about the manuscript. There are always…