Are women nonfiction authors getting a raw deal from publishers?

Are women nonfiction authors getting a raw deal from publishers?

To prepare for two recent presentations to groups of women authors, I revisited my survey of over 200 nonfiction authors, examining whether their answers varied by gender. For the most part, women and men authors in my survey had the same experiences and used many of the same tactics. But one dramatic difference emerged: the…

Newsletter 20 September 2023: Visible ghosts; authors embrace AI; Texas book banners trounced
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Newsletter 20 September 2023: Visible ghosts; authors embrace AI; Texas book banners trounced

Week 10: writers, authors, and credit; top AI tool tips; poorly written book ban undone, plus 3 people to follow, 3 books to read, and plugcasting. Let’s stop pretending that writing books is a solitary activity The actress Millie Bobby Brown has written a book, Nineteen Steps, based on her family’s experience during World War II. She…

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, rife with horrible people, turns its nose up at Rolling Stone cofounder Jann Wenner’s sexist, racist comments
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The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, rife with horrible people, turns its nose up at Rolling Stone cofounder Jann Wenner’s sexist, racist comments

Jann Wenner made some arguably sexist and racist remarks in a New York Times interview. Then the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ejected him from its board of directors. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime. What Jann Wenner said Wenner has a new book called The Masters coming out, based on conversations with seven…

Parallelism matters

Parallelism matters

Parallelism — that is, consistency in lists — isn’t just an arbitrary rule that copy editors enforce. It’s a powerful tool to help your readers navigate your writing, and to trust you. What is parallelism? It is consistency in length, parts of speech, and all other qualities in a list of items such as a…

Newsletter 13 September 2023: A.I. changes everything; SOS for S&S; optimize/pessimize

Newsletter 13 September 2023: A.I. changes everything; SOS for S&S; optimize/pessimize

Week 9: George Colony nails it: reading stuff for us is AI’s job. Also: leveraged burnout at Simon & Schuster, KDP spies on your toolbox, plus 3 people to follow, 3 books to read, and pluggerating. Why A.I. upends everything, according to George Colony There are two common perspectives on the rise of generative A.I.,…

The unknown
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The unknown

You can spend your life avoiding the unknown. You will fail. Or you can embrace it fully — but not recklessly. In 1995, I faced the unknown. I was hired as a technology analyst. I had no idea if I could actually do the job. I thought, “I have enough trouble analyzing the prospects of…