I’ve been working with designers for many decades. I have no graphical talent, and counterintuitively, that’s one reason why I’ve been successful in getting some amazing designs. Great designs emerge from a graphical mind; your job, as the client, is to provide the inspiration, not pick colors or icons. When you’re working with a good designer on an…
You should write shorter. You should read Roy Peter Clark‘s book “How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times” to learn how. The biggest problem with how people write now is that they are out of touch with how people read now. People read online, and the average article gets 20 seconds of attention….
Some nonfiction books just seem to flow naturally from idea to idea. Others seem repetitive — as if the author is just hitting the same idea again and again. An Idea Map can help you visualize your concepts and organize them to avoid repetition. I’m nearing completion on my manuscript for Writing Without Bullshit, and I wanted…
I have coauthored three books, so I know: writing together is the intellectual equivalent of marrying someone — it is that intimate, getting it right is just as rewarding, and getting it wrong is just as painful. Here’s how to collaborate on a shared writing project. Decide on your shared objectives It’s hard to share the work if…
I had a lot of fun with this interview with J.S. Leonard for his Bleeding Ink podcast, which serves indie authors. We got to talk about how I got where I am now and what I’m passionate about. If you’d like to hear a fun conversation about an hour, give a listen or download it to your phone…
If you want a great book launch, your focus after completing the manuscript should be on promotion and relationships. Great books sell, but they don’t sell themselves. The traditional publishing process has three stages. In the first stage, you create a proposal and pitch the book to publishers. In the second stage, you complete your research and…
Rohit Bhargava had an idea. After writing a few great books, he decided to become a publisher-partner for authors. Rohit’s Ideapress Publishing venture is closer to self-publishing, with some costs for authors, but with great upside and the benefits of partnership. His company has now published seven books, including his own bestseller Non-Obvious. Rohit’s got great insights…
In 2009, Ted Schadler and I had a problem. The back half of our book Empowered wasn’t working. This is how we fixed it. We were nearing the manuscript deadline for Empowered, Ted’s and my book about strategies to deal with empowered consumers and workers. The front half of the book, about consumers (and marketing), was holding together pretty…
BenBella Books occupies a unique position in the publishing business. Rather than pay high advances, BenBella offers a collaborative process with more upside for the author. It’s an attractive alternative to the publishing options I’ve showcased before. Here’s an interview with BenBella’s CEO and publisher, Glenn Yeffeth. What sets BenBella Books apart from other publishers? BenBella…