Stop recording every teleconference meeting (especially with me)

Stop recording every teleconference meeting (especially with me)

We rarely record meetings we have in person with others. But based on my experience, lots of people record their online meetings by default. This is dumb. Please stop. Please don’t record your meeting with me I am very precise when I communicate in writing. Whether it’s an email or any other textual communication, you…

Better stories; digital audiobooks boom; tariffs raise book costs: Newsletter 5 March 2025
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Better stories; digital audiobooks boom; tariffs raise book costs: Newsletter 5 March 2025

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…

8 questions to resolve before you undertake a survey research project

8 questions to resolve before you undertake a survey research project

Professional research organizations often invest tens of thousands of dollars in their survey apparatus, maintaining expensive assets like research panels (groups recruited to answer multiple surveys) and teams of analytical professionals. But you don’t have to go big to create something useful. Anybody with a SurveyMonkey subscription can conduct a research survey quickly and cheaply…

Some advice for Red Sox Rafael Devers (and other young stars in any field)

Some advice for Red Sox Rafael Devers (and other young stars in any field)

Rafael Devers is already great at what he does at age 28. He’s got a sweet gig as a third baseman with the Boston Red Sox. Now they are likely to be asking him to do something different, and he’s already refusing. I feel for the guy. Maybe you do, too. If you’re doing something…

Editorial manners
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Editorial manners

These are the rules for working with writers and editors in a way that demonstrates good manners. If you follow these rules, everything will be efficient and run smoothly. If you do not, professional writers and editors will curse you and your descendants. (Yes, I’m writing this today because I’m annoyed at some people.) The…

Cultivating naïveté

Cultivating naïveté

An editor has a challenge. They must know everything about writing and, essentially, nothing about anything else. The power of remaining naïve Of course, I’m exaggerating. Editors tend to know a little bit about a lot of things, because they have to read so many things in detail. And editors in a specific genre need…