Working notes from a professional ghostwriter — on the craft of writing, the business of publishing, the psychology of authors, and the changing landscape of books in the AI era.
These articles come out of 113+ books authored and 54+ ghostwritten. They cover what's actually working in publishing right now, what isn't, how AI is changing the work for both writers and readers, what executives and founders get wrong when they try to write their own book, and what they get right when they bring in help.
No SEO listicles. No content-marketer fluff. Just observations from inside the work — written for people who care about books and the craft behind them.
FictionPlot armor is the invisible rig that keeps a protagonist alive, lucky and competent because the story needs them. Here are the four kinds readers spot, from wounds that don't count to choices that never cost anything, and how to…
BusinessA publisher offers a modest advance for worldwide, lifetime rights to books you already self-published. The advance is probably all you'll ever see, and getting the rights back can take 35 years. Here's when it makes sense, and what to…
Artificial IntelligenceAn illustrator admitted using AI to make a headstone image for a friend's father, and the replies called him a hack and a thief. Shaming artists doesn't stop them using AI. It teaches them to lie about it.
Artificial IntelligencePlatforms now stamp AI labels on posts automatically, and they're catching human artwork, sofa pillows and writing. Here's why the labels misfire, why the appeals seem to be decided by machines, and what authors can do about it.
Artificial IntelligenceA fan artist found her painting of two DC superheroes copied with AI. Here is what copyright protects in fan art, why a lawsuit rarely works, and how the thread turned on the one person who disagreed.
GhostwritingWhen a book uses real names, everyone who helped publish it can be sued, from the author to the ghostwriter to the publisher. Here is how the dead, the living and celebrity estates differ, and how to settle the risk…
FictionNovelists joke that their characters took over the plot, and the joke is accurate. A character who rejects a planned scene is telling you the outline was written before you knew her.
Artificial IntelligenceThe favorite argument against AI writing is that it has no soul. A one-prompt book has none, but plenty of human writing doesn't either. The soul in writing is the little human parts the author puts on the page.
Artificial IntelligenceA writer admitted his AI-assisted pen-name books outsold his own work, and a writing group told him he was no author, had no ethics and would have his name spread offline. Authorship belongs to whoever owns the book, whatever tools…
Artificial IntelligenceAsking whether AI has a soul misses the point, because art itself has no soul. The soul lives in the mind that made the work and the mind receiving it, and Game of Thrones showed how fast an audience feels…
Book MarketingA Buy My Books flowchart works because it says the ask out loud and lets readers laugh with you. Here is mine, what has sold my books over the years, and how to build your own.
WritingA chapter is as long as one complete thought, and a thousand words is plenty when the thought is finished. Keep with next and real heading styles stop a manuscript from fighting you through every revision.
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Professional ghostwriting for executives, founders, coaches, and authors who want to get the book done right. 113+ books authored. 54+ ghostwritten for clients.
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