Newsletter 130. I, Robot. Plus why spiking that “60 Minutes” story backfired, what people do when they should be reading books, three people to follow and three books to read. Why I turned myself into a chatbot My mission is simple: I’ve wanted to write a book since I first learned to read. Helping others…
I talk to authors about writer’s block all the time. It’s a common problem, but the causes are deep and psychological. Both practical solutions and emotional support can be helpful. I’ve written extensively about writer’s block. That’s what makes it a good test case. Could a chatbot trained on all that content provide the right…
It makes perfect sense to aim at the largest possible audience for your nonfiction book. Why create a book that’s designed for digital marketers when you could aim for all marketers — or maybe all executives? Hey, there must be millions of folks like that! Unfortunately, aiming at the largest possible audience is a dumb…
2026 is your year to write a nonfiction book. George, Ed, Trevor, Blake, Mikhail, Alice, and Deborah have already pledged to get started (see yesterday’s post). Let’s see if I can help them, and you, to get off on the right foot. The biggest challenge new authors have is: Where do I start? What do…
One question: will you resolve to writing a nonfiction book in 2026? It’s pretty simple. If you do, go ahead and add your name in the comments on this post. You’re not alone. I’ll help. In fact, I’ll go further. I promise to answer all your questions about writing a book, getting it published, and…
Should AI-generated or AI-aided writing be eligible for writing awards? This is the challenge that SFWA — the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association — is navigating with its annual awards, the Nebula Awards. Briefly, there are two major sets of awards in the science fiction and fantasy community. The Hugo Awards are voted on…
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…
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…
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…