Newsletter 89: Why charm, competence, and respect aren’t just good for business, but are a way of life. Plus Shopify won’t hire for what AI can do better; suing Trump to preserve libraries, Amazon recaps books with AI, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Charm, Competence, Respect How in heck was…
Newsletter 88: Find the missing piece of your author self. Plus, business books jump the shark, AI threatens our humanity, three people to follow, and three books to read. What is a fractional author? There’s an huge pool of editorial talent now working freelance. Like many of those folks, I’ve filled varied roles working with…
Newsletter 87. While life is an unending battle against chaos, chaos is where all creativity comes from. Plus, Meta rips off every author on the planet, AI “insights” are anything but, three people to follow and three books to read. Chaos in perspective Do you love chaos? Of course not. No one wants to be…
Newsletter 86: Insisting on crediting idea creators, AI can’t cite articles properly, a new business hybrid publisher, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Fight the rip-off culture I recently accepted a job to write a book chapter. The clients were expert business thinkers. The topic was a business discipline that should…
Newsletter 85: Questions to ask when you treat your book as a startup venture. Plus paperbacks in decline, authors reveal their secrets, three people to follow, and three books to read. A book is a startup venture I help authors with nonfiction books. I’ve also been studying the principles and culture of startups of late….
Newsletter 84. Why well-told case study stories are here to stay, another Gathering of the Ghosts, a section 230 podcast, plus three people to follow and three books to read. About those case study stories . . . “Tell me a story, Daddy . . .” My kids are well into their twenties now, but…
Newsletter 82: How to manage beta readers, who’s licensing what to which AI, how not to blurb, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Benefiting from beta Software that’s finished enough to use, but not complete, is in the beta testing stage. And lately it’s been similarly fashionable for authors to recruit…
Newsletter 81. Can you really win by threatening your negotiating partners? Plus, Simon & Schuster ditches blurbs, Ray Dalio dribbles out insights, three books to read and three people to follow. The price of brinksmanship Our president Donald Trump is adept at brinksmanship. Look at his actions over time and you can see a pattern:…
Newsletter 79: American tech pirates want protection from Chinese tech pirates, patent examiner crisis, data infrastructure erosion, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Nobody whines louder than a disrupted disruptor Chinese AI model Deepseek has thundered onto the scene, competing effectively with existing players like OpenAI and Meta while using far…