I’ve seen a lot of messes that were supposed to become books. I learned that fixing messes is neither cheap nor fast, and the results are rarely great. A mess before you start writing is manageable; afterwards, not so much. What is a mess? Authors that build books haphazardly create messes. What is a mess?…
Publishers know all about publishing. Authors know less. This asymmetry means that authors are often at a disadvantage when negotiating with publishers — everything from advances to rights to manuscript edits to marketing. I’d like to fix that. If you’re negotiating with a traditional publisher, here are some tips on what you can reasonably negotiate…
I am very selective about ghostwriting clients and very open to a broad range of editing clients. Part of the reason is that a ghostwriting commitment means living in your skin for six or nine months, while an editing commitment means living in your manuscript for two or three weeks. But it’s not just the…
“How much will it cost for you to help me with my book?” you ask. “It depends,” I answer. I know that’s frustrating. Here’s what affects that cost — and how you can work cost-effectively. Why talent costs vary I price by the job, not by the hour. But behind the scenes, I am estimating…
When are you most productive as a writer? I’m best from about 8 to 11 am, or 1 to 4 pm. If I’m writing something important, I try to time it for those periods, when my blood sugar and writing flow are typically at their best, and when I can block out distractions and concentrate….
I’ve made a hell of a lot of mistakes while working on 42 nonfiction books. I learned from them. And although my clients may not realize it, that is why they pay to me work with them. I show them how to do it right, and how not to do it wrong, based on all…
If I’m writing a document for you, you probably want to tell me what you thought of my draft. You could edit it with markup software. You could write me a note about it. You could forget to turn on the markup and just edit — don’t worry, I have tools that allow me to…
At my last company, the job of “editor” was sort of a big deal. The editor was typically the supervisor of the analyst writing the research reports. That meant the editor had two jobs: First, to provide content and language guidance to the analyst. And second, to cajole and nag the analyst into producing something…
It’s time to revise a previous draft — of a blog post, a report, a book chapter, or any factual content. You’re dealing with feedback from others, or maybe just your own better insights into what you wanted to say. Should you tinker with words — self-editing — or rewrite from scratch? How cognitive biases…