“Can you help me write a bestseller?” Not every prospective client asks me that out loud. But anyone who writes a book wants it to be a bestseller. What are the odds? Not very good. Depending on who’s counting there are 600,000 to 1,000,000 books published in the US in a year. Only a vanishingly small fraction makes » Read More
Category: Writing A Book
Should You Write a Book?
I’m an author and book writing coach. When people at social events find out what I do, they often itch to tell me the great idea they have for a book. All they need is someone to write it for them. Other people have a simpler question: “Does everyone really have a book in them?” If you can read a book, you can » Read More
4 Reasons It’s Hard to Write a Book
According to one writer, 97 percent of the people who start a book never finish that book. I don’t know if that precise number is correct, but I do think the proportion’s about right. I spend my days working with mid-career businesspeople who are writing a book. They’re doing it to improve their reputation and » Read More
Learning While Writing a Book
Jeff Senne and I wrote two of the first books about how businesses could use the internet. Jeff liked to say writing a book was like getting a PhD. That’s certainly not true. In fact, if you get a PhD, you also write a book called a dissertation. But even if writing a book is not like getting a PhD, it is a time when you » Read More
Writing a Book: It’s Not Magic to the Magician
It was our first weekend at the beach since before COVID. Even though the weather was overcast and wet, the company was great. We spent most of Saturday afternoon sitting on the porch and talking about all kinds of things. Then, my host said, “I could never do what you do.” I’ve heard that song before. Lots of people » Read More