AI tools like Anthropic, ChatGPT, and Perplexity generate text intended to mimic human writing. They’re pretty good writers. But they write with telltale signs that they’re not human; you might say they write with an “accent.” Any native speaker can tell when another speaker’s first language doesn’t match the one he’s speaking. If you’re speaking…
Caitlyn Clark, the college basketball record-breaker who shoots and scores at will from nearly anywhere on the court, just played her first WNBA game. She looked terrible. The Indiana Fever picked her first in the WNBA draft and, last night, played a sold-out game against the Connecticut Sun in Connecticut. To say Clark had a…
Newsletter 44: Getting old means not giving a damn about stuff that doesn’t matter. Also, why you shouldn’t buy at Amazon’s book sale, Google and OpenAI announce great steps forward, why Joe Mazzulla is a profound philosopher, plus three people to follow and three books to read. On not giving a damn If you’ve had…
My freelance pricing strategy maximizes two competing priorities: the chance I will get paid properly for my work, and the likelihood that the client will be happy. That means pricing and billing on milestones, not by the hour. So let’s go over the best way to make that work. Why I price on milestones The…
I love words. Language is so particular, so personal, so versatile; there are all these word rules we need to follow, but so many reasons to break them. The fact that my life’s work is deeply connected with words is a constant source of joy. So it’s no surprise that I’m addicted to the New…
Three new people contacted me for the first time last week. I set up a meeting with the first one about his book idea. He failed to show up for the meeting, then asked to reschedule. I rescheduled. He failed to show up again. The second one asked for my opinion on a topic by…
What’s your play if you have a fantastic, book-worthy idea, but no platform to promote it with? Just this week I’ve advised a couple of people in this category. They know they’re onto something and want to get it out into the world — and I love their ideas. But their author platforms are weak….
Newsletter 43: Free advice is the lubricant of the business world; PRH proprietary AI tool; hybrid insights, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Beyond the old-boy network The working world runs on free advice. This may or may not have been visible to you when you started working, but unless you’re…
Each of us has made mistakes. How we own up to such mistakes makes a great deal of difference in our lives. I was reminded of this yesterday as I watched South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem attempt not to talk about her imaginary meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, as documented in her…