While Web research is great, interviews generate insights and spark in your writing that you can’t get any other way. But your interview won’t be successful with a haphazard approach. Follow these four steps to maximize your chance of success: Find ’em, contact ’em, persuade ’em, and interview ’em. Find ’em: Figure out who to talk to Ask…
Donald Trump’s interview about technology on breitbart.com is uncharacteristically equivocal; he sounds like any other politician. Apparently, his batshit candor is limited to tweets, debates, and speeches. Memo to Trump-haters and opponents: technology is his weak spot. Breitbart Tech’s Milo Yiannopoulos interviewed Trump about tech issues from the NSA to artificial intelligence. Full of equivocation and hedges, Trump’s…
An International Air Transport Association study was unable to find a connection between passenger “happiness” and airline profitability. But that’s boring. So the travel news site Skift reported it as if happy passengers don’t matter. The lack of a finding, like a vacuum, sucked up the truth. Skift’s article, by Marisa Garcia, was titled “IATA Study Finds You…
If you are an author, you need to promote yourself on social media. There ought to be a manual on how to do that, and now there is. It’s Chris Syme’s book “SMART Social Media for Authors,” and at $3.99 for the Kindle edition, you really ought to get a copy. This is the book…
The Republican National Committee suspended its relationship with NBC News, alleging bias and disrespect in the recent debate on CNBC. My analysis shows that only 54% of the questions were about legitimate policy issues. So the RNC has a point. Debates featuring a scrum of ten people are a poor way to judge candidates; they mostly show the candidates’…
I just want to write for the rest of my life. Is that so much to ask? Despite my training as a mathematician, my first job was as a writer. I’ve written everything but fiction: software manuals, online help files, newsletters, press releases, interactive tutorials, books, newsletters, reports, articles, proposals, ads, memos, emails, speeches, blog…
I spent the last month pitching publishers. I spent Monday biting my nails and weighing offers. Today I announce the results and share what I’ve learned. HarperBusiness will publish Writing Without Bullshit in September 2016. My editor will be the estimable Hollis Heimbouch, who in an ironic twist was the editor in charge of acquiring Groundswell for Harvard Business…
It’s better to excite a whole bunch of people and piss off a few, rather than trying to be nice to everyone. I have proof. I want to thank my friends at WriterAccess for finding that proof. I had agreed to do a Webinar for their audience of freelance writers and the people who hire…
It’s a bad week for meat. The UN World Health Organization says red meat causes cancer. And a study found that 2% of hot dogs contain human DNA. Yuck! These sensational stories demand a stock photo. Hmm. Should we feature a photo of the UN, of colorectal cancer, or of meat? Guess what the editors…