All ghostwriters are good writers. That’s what clients imagine they are paying for. The challenge, of course, is that good writers — even great writers — are as common as robins in the spring. What gets ghostwriters work, of course, is referrals. And what gets referrals are the skills they have other than writing. These…
Great ideas and great writing make books succeed, even if the title is not perfect. While it pays to put effort into the perfect title, you’re almost certainly overthinking it. Truths: Some great books with the wrong title MIT Professor Clayton Christensen was brilliant. He invented the concept of business disruption. If you know Christensen,…
What would you think of an author who wrote like this: Build a Better Business Book is the first accessible & comprehensive guide for authors who want to create impact. Learn how to refine your idea, choose a publishing model, & research, write, publish, & promote a book that matters. Includes advice on how to…
I’ve been interviewing authors about how they use AI. One result surprised me. First, know that the authors I spoke with take pride in their writing and find it enjoyable. Almost none of them use AI to write things. One author actually went to the trouble of telling her AI, “Do not answer any of…
Unless you carefully plan your rewrites, you risk wasting lots of effort — and worse, wasting your ability to bring a fresh and creative mind to all parts of your nonfiction book project. The naive approach to the book is to write all the chapters in order. This is easy to conceive, but it creates…
As a ghostwriter and editor, I collaborate with authors all the time. Sometimes it’s stressful. But when it works, it’s glorious. Authors have ideas. The best authors have great ideas. It is not my place to criticize those ideas, in fact, those ideas are often why I’ve decided to collaborate with those authors in the…
If you’re a fan of Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Pink, Michael Pollan, Isaac Asimov, or David Sedaris, should you copy them? Should you try to write like them? No. You are you. But you should copy their best practices. How to learn from successful authors If you like what you’re reading, take a moment to examine…
How do people find answers to questions? For decades, the standard paradigm for decision-making revolved around web sites, links, search (and SEO), content marketing, and social sharing. Whether the question was “How can prepare for a job interview” or “What’s the right organizational strategy for a transnational company?” the answer started with a web search….
Newsletter 93. How to think before you write and lead. Plus, three questions for all writers, writing advice from a dead mystery writer, a university press in crisis, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Thought leadership from a standing start With the churn now taking place in corporate boardrooms, countless smart…