Newsletter 15 November 2023: Text is best; Amazon’s predation; robot acquisitions editors
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Newsletter 15 November 2023: Text is best; Amazon’s predation; robot acquisitions editors

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…

Developing wit

Developing wit

As I’ve written, the advantage that human writers have over AI is wit. Ergo, if you want to continue to make a career of writing, you must develop your wit. Is that even possible? Yes. I’ll explain. What is wit? Wit is the ability, not just to inform, but to delight readers with your writing….

“How big is your advance?” and other nosy discovery questions I ask to help with your book

“How big is your advance?” and other nosy discovery questions I ask to help with your book

If you’re going to hire me (or anyone else) to help you writing or editing your book, I’m going to ask a bunch of seemingly invasive questions. There are good reasons for those uncomfortable questions. In fact, I’ll go further: if you’re working with a writer, editor, or coach who doesn’t ask these sorts of…

Regarding CFBR: All social media is a game. LinkedIn, too.

Regarding CFBR: All social media is a game. LinkedIn, too.

The Times and the Journal have weighed in: people posting “commenting for reach” or CFBR (commenting for better reach) on layoff posts is now officially a phenomenon on LinkedIn. Seriously: For convenience, you can bookmark this post and reread it each time any social network experiences a “phenomenon.” Just change the specifics and it will…

Newsletter 8 November 2023: The growth miasma; lying in Meadows; reading with friends

Newsletter 8 November 2023: The growth miasma; lying in Meadows; reading with friends

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…

Asking for help? Make sure you’re make a good impression first.

Asking for help? Make sure you’re make a good impression first.

Everyone knows that freelancers pitching for business need to make sure their sites and social media presence look sharp and professional. But have you considered that, as a potential client of a freelancer, you need to curate your own image, too? How I vet potential clients Two things: First, freelancers like me hate to waste…

Authors, don’t make a fetish of intermediate deliverables

Authors, don’t make a fetish of intermediate deliverables

I use a variety of tools to plan writing projects. These are usually based on intermediate deliverables and milestones, like plans and treatments. They’re great tools — but they’re only tools. Optimizing the intermediate deliverables is a wasteful fetish. Useful planning tools It’s a big mistake to begin a book without careful planning. Here’s a…