Based on the 23,000 people who viewed and shared it, you liked my post on writing tips and psychology. But those in academia were displeased. A typical comment: I can only hope that the college students whose papers I have to read do not see this. Academically, this could be titled, “How to Fail a Research Paper”. How…
Basic surveys are easy to learn and field. Learn to use them and your writing — and research — will be a whole lot better. I learned surveys on the job. One year into my tenure at Forrester, the company decided to start a consumer survey business. In a previous project for the company, I’d…
I’ve now seen AI panels at two events. They were disappointing and meandering; I didn’t learn much. It’s pretty clear why this happens. The event organizer figures out (or gets told) that there has to be an AI panel, because AI is hot right now, but they don’t know much about it. So they create…
I hear it so often, it’s almost a cliché. “Wow, writing a book was way more work than I expected it to be.” I’ve almost given up on explaining why this is. Almost . . . but not quite. So if you want to know what unexpected work you really should have expected — and…
Here’s what I learned as an analyst: research broadly and do not stop at one idea. The job of an analyst is write about what is not known. This requires primary research — that is, talking to people in the market you’re involved in, or collecting data about it. It also requires analysis, which is…
Writing books is hard. Collaborating without an effective plan can make it much harder. It’s okay to argue about ideas, structure, terminology, tone, case studies, or audience. Those arguments are productive. It’s not okay to argue about who’s editing which version when — that’s just a stupid waste of time. Even so, I see so…
Many of you are about to make a resolution to write a book next year. And like all people who make New Year’s resolutions, most of you will fail. It takes more than the will to write a book to be successful (just as it takes more than the will to lose weight, exercise more,…
Writers often complain about the painful process of drafting substantial content, like reports, white papers, or book chapters. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Your could be creating great content rapidly and enjoying every moment of it. You just need two things: Planning. And writing time. Writing in flow versus endlessly struggling, typing,…
This article was originally published in Ragan’s PR Daily. Will AI tools like ChatGPT write your copy and take your job? Or will they just make you more productive? I recently tapped social media to connect with some of the world’s most effective business writers: authors of successful business books. They shared tips on how…