Newsletter week 22: Stop slagging other authors, will Spotify crash audiobooks?, AI copyright posturing, three people to follow, three books to read, and some very lame ad copy. The myth of personal market share A shocking and tragic story rattled the publishing world this week. Cait Corrain, a fantasy novelist who had secured a two-book…
Newsletter 21: Challenges beat bribes to get problems solved, cheaper audiobooks, Michael Lewis’ antiheroes, woman of the year, plus three people to follow, three books to read, and a holiday discount on the top manual for authors. How to motivate smart people I love to solve problems. I have always loved to solve problems. I’m…
Newsletter 20. Merriam-Webster’s word of the year; suing Microsoft and OpenAI; stop checking your grades; plus three people to follow, three books to read, and the perfect gift for the author in your life. Inauthentic I always thought the advice and books on how to be authentic were a little silly. Who wants to be…
Newsletter 19. How viewership evolves, media conforms, and finance destroys. Plus a survey finds AI all over publishing, an agent pokes the industry in the eye, an ugly electric truck, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Three painful lessons from David Zaslav’s Warner Odyssey I was fascinated to read Jonathan Mahler,…
Why I love text more than other medium, how Amazon prices, a machine reads your book pitch, plus three people to follow, three books to read, and witty link. Why text is good and books are best There’s an explosion in content. Blogs, Substacks, Medium posts, Threads, Podcasts, vlogs, you name it. Which format is…
How growth destroys everything good; the end of bestsellers; if you tell truth under oath you can’t lie in print; plus three people to follow, three books to read, and a warm plug. Growth is the inverse of quality The idea of growth is baked into everything that happens in our capitalist economy. We’ve internalized…
Newsletter Week 16: The president’s executive order on AI is incoherent, plus Scholastic ends its book ghetto, attempting to outlaw image theft, three people to follow, three books to read, and my book makes the Inc. Non-Obvious longlist. What’s wrong with Joe Biden’s AI executive order Two weeks ago, I complained that Marc Andreessen’s “Tech-Optimist…
Newsletter week 15: lesson about the ego. This week’s offering is a little different. No news, no recommendations. Just reflections on my 65th birthday. That’s right. I’m 65 today so I’m going to retire. Just kidding. If you know me at all, you know I’m not slowing down. If you are 65 and you’ve had…
Newsletter Week 14: The problem with rampant technology; AI “assists” in the creation of journal articles; authors join musicians as Spotify serfs; plus three people to follow and three books to read. Marc Andreessen says “trust technology.” Here’s why that’s dangerous Mark Andreessen of the venture firm Andreessen-Horowitz published “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto.” I have to…