Newsletter 77. The relationship between timing and success, an audio-only imprint for self-publishers, how to license your book for AI, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Thoughts on timing If I’ve learned one thing in 50 years in business, it is that timing matters. Great ideas need good timing to succeed….
Popular Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin announced that she’s leaving the Post and joining a number of other writers to start a subscription-based Substack channel called The Contrarian: Not Owned By Anybody. To me, this looks like the start of a rush towards the exits for popular newspaper writers and what will be an increasingly…
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…
A.I. is hotter than hot. If you have a unique point of view, by all means write an article about it. But I don’t care how much you know, this is no time to write a book about it. Five kinds of A.I. books and why you shouldn’t write them There are more than 20,000…
John Taylor “Ike” Williams was my agent and publishing lawyer. He died on December 26, 2024 at the age of 86. Ike was a commanding presence at his literary agency, Kneerim & Williams, and law firm, Sennott & Williams. Six-foot-six and good-looking, he had a unique combination of unshakable Boston Brahmin confidence and good humor….
Newsletter 77. Toxic growth, journal editors resign, business novellas, three people to follow and three books to read. Bigger’s not better, for companies or countries Companies pursue size. If Donald Trump has his way, so will the United States of America. Observe what happens when companies get bigger and there are some relevant lessons. The…
Two of my clients gave me unsolicited bonuses in 2024. Should I feel good about myself and my work? Or should I rethink how I work and how much I charge? Fundamental (and wrong) truths about freelancing Here’s what everyone tells freelancers: I reject all of that. Every bit of it. I don’t want to…
There may come a point in your life when you have an epiphany. You look at yourself and your own behavior and realize you’ve misjudged or mistreated people for decades. I’m talking about generally shitty behavior. But I’m also talking about casual race prejudice, homophobia, fatphobia, sexism, piggish behavior, elitism, and preconceptions about people with…
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…