5 Things to Do When You Finish the First Draft of Your Business Book
You finished your first draft. That’s great, but it’s only the start. The bad news is that you’ve got to do a lot more work to whip that first draft into shape. The good news is that your book is as bad as it will ever be. Before you move ahead, analyze the manuscript...
What to do when your friends say you should write a book
Your friends think you’re pretty smart. They know you’re a hard worker and that you achieve your goals. They’re impressed with your ideas. They think you should write a book. That feels really good, and you may be tempted to jump right in and start writing. But before...
If you want to write better, learn to focus better
Consistent writers tend to be the most productive writers. My experience and the experience of working with clients for 25 years send the same message. You will produce more and better writing if you’re consistent. One way to achieve that is to make the beginning of...
Why you lose when you let AI write for you.
Leonard Tompkins was a great mentor. I had a ton to learn when I worked for him, and he taught me well, even though he made it hard on me. He’d give me an assignment. “Get permits for the oversize load we’ve got to move through six states.” I would say, “What should I...
How my clients stayed consistent all the way to the end of their book project
Writing a book is a lot like running an endurance race. In the beginning, there’s a lot of excitement. Friends and family encourage you. They tell you what a great idea you have. They urge you to write the book or run the race. There’s a lot of excitement at the end,...
When I was in school, I learned that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. The truth is more nuanced and more interesting.
By June of 1776, the Continental Congress had been wrangling with England for years over issues usually called “taxation without representation.” On June 7, 1776, Light Horse Harry Lee proposed the following resolution for consideration by Congress. We can consider it...
Writing Your First Book: How Do You Know if the Juice Is Worth the Squeeze?
If you’re writing your first business book, you don’t know what you don’t know. I sure didn’t when I got started. I was a complete rookie. I had written articles that caught the eye of the acquisitions editor, but I’d never tackled anything as long or complex as a...
From Train Wreck to Bestseller: The Beyond Burnout Story
Suzi McAlpine lives in New Zealand. I live in the United States. We connected for the first time via social media. That was a full two years before she began working on her book, Beyond Burnout. Like many of my clients, Suzi had a successful business and wanted to...
Writing a Book is Not Like Writing a Very Long Post
When I got the contract to write my first book, I had already written several successful business articles. I assumed that writing a book would be the same as writing a very long article. Boy, was I wrong! Many of my coaching clients today show up with the same...
How to Write Books Readers Actually Finish
We say that we judge a book by its cover, but that’s only part of the story. We use the book’s cover to decide whether to buy it, but we judge it based on what’s inside. The evidence suggests we don’t think much of what we find in business books. One reader analytics...