I’ve now written or edited more than 25 books published by traditional or hybrid publishers. I know what your publisher is looking for, and what they will and won’t do for you. So it’s time for some straight talk about that. Publishers in 2021 won’t generally edit your book. They are looking for a publishable…
If you’re writing a book about a change in the world, consider including an imagined future scenario. It will vividly bring to life your vision of the future. And it will be fun to write, too. What is a future scenario story? If you are writing a book about trends or shifts, you want us…
Like bacon, stories will make everything you write more compelling. They are the most important element of your nonfiction book. (If eating bacon is offensive to you, this metaphor won’t work for you, so don’t read on.) Here is why stories are like bacon: A little goes a long way No one wants a meal…
The duration of your editing process depends far more on you than it does on your editor. I recently told a friend of mine that I was working on editing two 70,000-word books right now. “How long does that take?” she asked. I didn’t have a simple answer, and that got me thinking. I’ve edited…
There are a million suckers hoping to publish their fictional stories. As a result, there’s lots of advice from people hoping to help — or prey on — these suckers. If you write nonfiction, this sort of advice is just noise. Why you should ignore advice for “writers” If you tell someone you are a…
“I wrote a book” now means nothing. Anyone can write a book; anyone can self-publish one. If you’ve written a nonfiction book, the question to answer is, what makes it unique? People hear about books that sell One way to stand out is with a book that sells. To get your book to sell, you…
I believe Donald Trump’s next book will come out in 2022, will move the needle on his election, and will generate tens of millions of dollars for him. A New York Times newsletter sent today explains how political books continue to sell on both sides of the political divide. Conservatives now have their own publishers,…
Books are great individually. But in big bunches, they’re not as sacred as they once were. I’m in the process of moving and I have a lot of books. I’ve been collecting science fiction books since I was a teenager — I’ve accumulated hundreds of hardbacks and hundreds more in paperback, with special bookcases to…
It is tempting to add personal stories to a book of advice, or bits of advice in a memoir. When mixing the two genres, though, be careful not to mix your objectives, or readers will find your book confusing. The challenge here is one of tone. Recall the ROAM analysis: Readers, Objective, Action, iMpression. Consider…