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…
Relax. Take it easy. Be creative. Do your own research. I’ve noticed phrases like these creeping into writing that I edit. I call them I4’s: inane, irritating ironic instructions. They turn how-to advice from specific to infuriating. Stop writing this way, please. What is an I4? An I4 is useless, vague advice included in a…
At some point in the 1950s, the mathematician began to sing. Tom Lehrer, who died this week at the age of 97, started by beavering away on a conventional career as a mathematics professor with a side hobby composing satirical songs and performing them on the piano. He turned the songs into an album and…
Why is writing a nonfiction book so hard? Because it’s unlike anything else you do — or write — in the rest of your work. There are ways to mitigate all of these weirdnesses. And if you write more than one book, you can begin to get used to them. This is why there are…
After a while, experienced ghostwriters and editors get a sense of which clients are going to be a problem. But it goes both ways: if you hire folks like us, you should also be aware of problems to watch out for in your editorial partners. Red flags for ghostwriters, editors, or book coaches evaluating clients…
Newsletter 102. New truths from survey data, how AI twists writers’ minds, and Scholastic’s implosion, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Lies, damn lies, and statistics It’s pretty damn easy to create statistics these days. I know what I’m talking about. In 1996, I helped create and launch Technographics, Forrester’s survey…
Agile is a popular philosophy for application development. It focuses on iterative development, customer focus, collaboration, adaptability, and continuous improvement. It’s also a horrible way to write a book. The positives of Agile don’t apply to books Agile is appropriate where a world where the needs of the customers and the available technical improvements are…
It can take many months or years to assemble a book. Sometimes there are gaps in your work as an author, as life intervenes. It’s fine to work on a book from time to time as your availability allows. But once you start writing in earnest, it’s best to keep going. The fundamental principle is:…
Career advice for the pre-AI era looked like this: Work as creatively and productively as you can. Solve not just the problem put in front of you but the broader problems it reveals. Learn to use the most modern tools that can help you do your work. Carefully check your work; assume there are errors,…