Today, a little something different. Look at the graphic below. It includes the names of 16 writers I admire. Can you classify them into four groups of four? In true New York Times Connections style, there are maddening overlaps, on purpose. I’ve embedded the code for this below — if it works, you can play…
When you’re writing a book for multiple reviewers, it’s a minefield. One false step and all your work can get blown up. Right now, I’m ghostwriting a book in a process that includes four reviewers (including the author) and a publisher. Any one of them could make my life miserable by saying “No, no, this…
How to do your work perfectly and why that matters, plus why mobile phones aren’t destroying our youth’s mental health, why centrism isn’t really neopopulism, three people to follow, and three books to read. Why perfection matters — to authors and all creative workers Authors get maybe one chance every couple of years to put…
In her article “Everyone’s a sellout now,” Vox’s Rebecca Jennings laments the poor, sad situation of authors who’ve found that only by selling out and promoting themselves can they generate books sales. Some notable excerpts: The internet has made it so that no matter who you are or what you do — from nine-to-five middle…
If you are writing a nonfiction book in a corporate setting, it’s likely you’ll have multiple reviewers for everything you write. This applies regardless of whether you’re the author or a ghost writer. And if it’s not managed carefully, this situation has the potential to significantly multiply the workload, reduce your final quality, and blow…
So often, authors waste time early in the process of creating a nonfiction book. It breaks my heart to see people writing extensive material that will almost certainly be useless, or trying to line up an agent without a solid idea. At best, such tasks are an inefficient way to make progress. At worst, they’ll…
I recently wrote about how to negotiate with your publisher. But the publisher-author dance is remarkably subtle, and if you don’t know the steps, you might inadvertently make the relationship awkward. The key for authors is to know when to go first . . . and when to expect the publisher to go first. The…
If you’ve considered writing a book, you have a choice to make. You can get to work on the book, or you can put it off — perhaps forever. Writing a book will potentially establish you as a leading thinker in your space, and get your ideas out in the space of public discussion where…
Special note: All of us are in a very raw state because of the devastating events taking place abroad. Business as usual is anything but usual right now. If reading about business books takes your mind off of things for a moment, I offer these insights for you. If not, I’ll catch you later. Newsletter…