When two or more people collaborate on a book, there’s often a primary writer and a primary idea person. There are lots of ways that collaboration can work, but it pays to think about it before you get started, and adjust it while you’re working together. And it’s also important to for all the collaborators…
It’s certainly fun to interview people doing interesting things and write up their experiences in your nonfiction book. Case studies about individuals who gained influence or clever marketing programs hold plenty of interest. But when it’s time to write about the CEOs of multi-billion-dollar companies, you’re going to need a different strategy. I’m about to…
Newsletter 110. Dead people I once knew are still making me smarter — and kinder. Plus, debunking the MIT study about failed AI projects, the Anthropic piracy settlement on hold, three people to follow, and three books to read. I see dead people I’m older than most of you. Retirement age (but I’m not retiring)….
You probably heard that on Friday, Anthropic, parent company of the AI large language model Claude, settled a lawsuit brought by author groups. Anthropic will pay $3,000 per book for approximately 500,000 books. Does this mean that authors are safe from having their books used as AI training materials without permission? No! Anthropic is paying…
I’ll help you write a book proposal. I’ve been pretty good at that, and I’ve recently helped some interesting authors get book contracts. I’ll even make some connections for you with agents and publishers. I’ve had some success with that recently, too. Since I’m ready to show your proposal to publishers, doesn’t that make me…
Newsletter 108. Forget driving traffic — drive thinking instead. Plus disturbing AI-generated children’s books, Claude admits it’s a ripoff, three people to follow and three books to read. Ideas > algorithms Did anyone read what you wrote last week? The answer depends on algorithms. Algorithms determined whether it was visible in their email or social…
As your editing and ghostwriting career grows, you may find yourself working with senior executives, CEOs, celebrities, or other rich and powerful people. This can be intimidating. But it doesn’t have to be, if you keep a few principles in mind. The key thing to remember is that although this is an asymmetric relationship, it’s…
Newsletter 107: How young adults got a raw deal, preparing for the writing trek, sign onto the Anthropic lawsuit, plus three people to follow, three books to read, and another chance to make your voice heard. Spare a thought for Generation Z I’m a Baby Boomer. Very few of my followers are in Gen Z….
Authors know things that other thinkers, no matter how accomplished, don’t. You can tell by the knowing looks when we get together. To a certain extent this is like sex: it’s hard to explain to virgins what’s different. Even so, I’ll try. What authors know People with ideas think they know all about those ideas….