A ghostwriting relationship often lasts a year or more. That’s a long time to be stuck in a terrible situation. Here’s a scorecard for your next potential nonfiction ghostwriting client. You’ll notice that there are more communications criteria than financial ones here, and that’s no coincidence: most ongoing painful ghostwriting problems are communications problems. Add…
Experts often share advice that equates to “Do as I do.” But I don’t recommend you work as I do. The way I work works for me, but it’s massively inefficient. It won’t work for you. How an inefficient artist works Here are some things I do. Copy at your own risk. This is a…
Vanity Fair just published a two-part article on the brain trust surrounding Donald Trump. The writer, Chris Whipple, is the author of a book on chiefs of staff in the White House. The photos were by Christopher Anderson, an accomplished portrait photographer. Trump’s advisors look very, very bad in this piece. His chief of staff…
Newsletter 129. Strategies for principled ghostwriters, Kindle enables AI queries, the polarization risk of closer social connections, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Who wins when a ghostwriter disagrees with a client? Sometimes ghostwriters and their clients have a serious disagreement. I’m not talking about the Oxford Comma (although as serious…
Every writer whose work is subject to review — by editors, clients, or anyone — has experienced the phenomenon of receiving contradictory reviews. This creates great angst, because you can’t please everyone. For example: This happens so often it needs a name. Call it the reviewer squeeze: when you’re caught between people in authority whose…
Some movies are iconic experiences. They leave an indelible mark on culture. The Princess Bride (“My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”) A Few Good Men (“You can’t handle the truth!”) When Harry Met Sally (“I’ll have what she’s having.”) This Is Spinal Tap (“The numbers all go to eleven.”)…
My inbox regularly receives emails from people I don’t know, soliciting me for things I don’t want. We’re all used to marketing emails, which Gmail helpfully segregates in its “Promotions” tab. But marketers know that they’ll get a greater response if they can get into your primary tab, so they’ve designed “personalized” emails that are…
According to TechCrunch India: India has proposed a mandatory royalty system for AI companies that train their models on copyrighted content — a move that could reshape how OpenAI and Google operate in what has already become one of their most important and fastest-growing markets globally. On Tuesday, India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade released a…
Newsletter 128. How thinking proponents and opponents of AI can come together. Plus, AI author scams catalogued, bookseller IPOs, three people to follow and three books to read. Creating peace between the AI factions If one result stood out from my recent study of AI and the Writing Profession (sponsored by Gotham Ghostwriters), it was…