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…
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….
Newsletter 106: Writing incurs pain, but it’s up to you which pain to suffer and when. Plus, a new survey on AI and the Writing Profession, Bookshop.org surges, three people to follow, and three books to read. Writing? Choose your pain. Writing, like anything else that requires effort and growth, involves pain. The good news…
Newsletter 105. Trump’s ultimate goal is the destruction of reality, or at least how we measure it. Plus, will AI doom consultancies; Johns Hopkins licenses books for a pittance, three people to follow, and three books to read. The war on reality We’ve heard past presidents declare war on concepts: the war on cancer, the…
Newsletter 104: Any writing tool that clarifies communication is a boon, AI included. Plus Amazon licenses the Times, Trump declares IP meaningless, three people to follow and three books to read. The future of human writing A furious debate is going on now about AI-generated text. Professional writers and other humans who write feel threatened…
Newsletter 101: Why writers puff up prose, and why it never works. Plus, an open letter to publishers, AI-generated books that never appear, three people to follow and three books to read. The superlative trap Hey, everyone! I’m the greatest, most talented, most super-accomplished writer that you’ve ever encountered. 🥳🎉🥳🎉 Admit it. You read that…
Newsletter 100: A smarter way to go on holiday. Plus, Anthropic’s training on books rules “transformative,” defamation by blurbs, three people to follow and three books to read. How to go away Everyone needs time off. And people tend to disagree on how to do it. There’s the “disconnect entirely” camp. They don’t check email,…
Newsletter 99: The incredible benefits of creating a book with a wicked smart thinking partner. Plus, AI learns from really old books, authors make TikToks of scrawling edits, three people to follow and three books to read. What I learned from my intellectual soulmates I’ve written nine books and am working on another. Only two…
Newsletter 98. Why audacity is essential, but arrogance is poisonous. Plus, Apple’s paper shows how AI doesn’t actually reason, Jane Friedman on what writers fear, three people to follow, and three books to read. Audacity inspires. Arrogance burns out. I was an arrogant guy. And I’ve worked in some pretty arrogant places. Startups tend to…