On March 26, 2015, I launched this blog and my freelance business. In this moment when we’re all looking forward in terror, I’m looking backward and reflecting. Maybe there is something to be learned from my last five years — and if you’ve been suddenly thrust into freelancing, perhaps it can help you. Before I…
In response to the global pandemic, the Internet Archive is making 1.4 million books available for free until June 30, or until the end of our “national emergency.” Sounds great. Unless you’re an author, in which case this is simple smash-and-grab raid on your copyright. Let’s get a few facts straight here. First off, many…
I’m starting a Zoom room today at 4PM. Here’s what’s happening: A reading from a master of nonfiction writing. Discussion — how did he do it? Your questions Join me here: https://zoom.us/j/326376698 If this is useful, I’ll repeat. Hope to see you there. Put it in your calendar!
You’re stuck at home. You have internet access and, maybe, a little more time to yourself. Should you write a book? This advice is mainly for those who write business books and self-help books to gain influence — my primary audience. But I hope that all authors currently sheltering at home during the coronavirus crisis…
Your job is to write. The publisher’s job is to turn what you write into a book. So why should you worry about printing? Those ink-stained wretches can handle it, right? Not quite. Musicians need to know about microphones. Architects need to know about plumbing. If they don’t, what they conceive doesn’t come out quite…
Great business books include case study stories. They also include frameworks and analysis. For maximum effectiveness, never mingle the two. Here’s an example to clarify what I mean. In The Age of Intent, the book I ghost wrote about artificial intelligence last year, there is a story at the start of the customer service chapter…
IngramSpark, a self-publishing service, has now defined a set of trash book categories that it will no longer feature or distribute, including AI-generated books. As AI books get better, though, they might want to reconsider. IngramSpark is a print-on-demand and ebook distribution service offered by Ingram, a major book distributor. It delivers the same features…
Business books are full of advice. They’re also full of pronouns — and pronoun-driven confusion — around when to use “we” and when to use “you.” Start with this: you should write directly to the reader. Compare the following two alternatives: Marketers must spend less time on SEO and more time on the creation of…
Sometimes you pick up a book and immediately think, “This is so useful, how is it possible that nobody has written it before?” Melanie Deziel’s The Content Fuel Framework: How to Generate Unlimited Story Ideas is such a book. If you have or aspire to have an audience of any kind, this book is for…