Gotham Ghostwriters and the American Society of Journalists and Authors are soliciting entries for the second annual “Andy” awards. The Andys go to authors and ghostwriters who collaborated to create great books. To win one, both the author and the ghostwriter have to agree to submit the book. The categories are Business and Thought Leadership,…
The basics of publishing contracts are simple: the publisher agrees to pay you (the author) money up front (an advance) and royalties on book sales, and in exchange you give the publisher exclusive rights to print and sell copies of your book and keep part of the proceeds. But as the economics of publishing have…
Newsletter 72. Integrity is a pain in the ass, but the only long-term way to live with yourself. Plus, AI grannybots to annoy spammers, a ghostwriting compensation study, three people to follow, three books to read, and my self-serving holiday gift recommendations. The price of integrity A few years ago, I was given the opportunity…
There are a lot of ways to write a book chapter. Most of them are wrong. I can already hear the villagers gathering with torches and pitchforks, so before you start storming my castle, let me explain. A well-written book chapter has these qualities: It is entertaining from beginning to end. It makes a point…
The self-publishing platform Spines announced cheap packages that will use AI to rapidly edit, design, and publish 8000 books next year. Or perhaps I should use scare quotes around “edit” and “design,” because with AI doing the work, these are only simulacra of actual human creative activities. If you care about your reputation, you must…
Publishers nearly always disappoint authors. Sometimes, that’s because authors — especially rookies — have naive expectations. Other times, it’s because the publishers failed to do the basics of their jobs. If you’re an author, you need to know the difference, because railing against the way the publishing industry traditionally works is futile. So here’s a…
I may or may not have struck out on my current ghostwriting project. We’re in the early stages, and it’s not yet committed. And so far, the client has suggested some very challenging objectives for the writing, and rejected significant elements of the tone I’ve been using. When problems arise in any freelance project, it’s…
Books take a while to write and publish. Technology changes quickly. You can still publish a book-length perspective on fast-changing technology, but you’ll need to make wise choices about your publishing model — and should consider an annually updated edition. This topic is top-of-mind now as many business authors are writing about artificial intelligence, a…
You’ve probably heard that the real money from publishing a business book comes from sources other than the book: speaking, consulting, workshops, courses, and sales for your organization. Now that we have completed the Business Book ROI Study, I thought I’d see whether the survey data backed that up. What it shows is that the…