The relationship between an author and their collaborator — editor or ghostwriter — can be challenging at first. The author is putting their creative vision in the hands of a stranger who is unfamiliar with their content and then asking for criticism. This is a very vulnerable position to be in. There’s risk for the…
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…
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…
Why is it so taxing, and why does it take so long, to write a nonfiction book? Here’s one way to think about it. A typical book might be 50,000 words long. You must decide which words to use — and those are not easy choices. That’s 50,000 decisions right there. Of course, not everything…
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…
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…
You might be skinny, fat, male, female, old, young, gay, straight, Black, white, Asian, a senior vice president, an entrepreneur, a new college graduate, a person with a Ph.D., somebody who never graduated, a cancer survivor, a person in a wheelchair, or an olympic athlete. When you write, it doesn’t matter. If you can write…
Newsletter 75: Resolving to make better New Year’s resolutions, Melania’s stickiness, new agents and publishers, plus three people to follow and three books to read. High resolution Have you made a New Year’s Resolution? You will fail, you know. But if you want to fail successfully — and eventually succeed — here are some questions…
As I’ve explained here previously, there are two types of writers: planners and pantsers. Planners create detailed outlines and break the work down into planned chapters. Pantsers just keep writing to get their ideas out, and deal with the organization later. While I unequivocally believe that planning is better, I acknowledge that many writers can’t…