Several years back a colleague recommended Chris Guillebeau’s The Art of Nonconformity, which was a real eye-opener to me. The book challenges readers to think about unconventional ways of doing life and making a living, and honestly I’ve never been the same. I can draw a straight line from his book to the creation of Book Proposal Academy, […]
As editorial director for a major trade publisher, I regularly receive questions like the following: How big a platform is big enough? Am I out of luck if I don’t have much of a platform? What should I do if my platform is still smallish? Do I really have to be a superstar to get […]
Recently our family was getting settled around the dinner table when our seven-year-old son halted all his usual bounciness and pointed. “What’s that?” he asked, staring out the back door. We all looked to discover a young hawk perched on one of our deck chairs. I grabbed my phone and snapped this picture: We were floored. What was […]
I’ll be closing registration for Book Proposal Academy at 9:00 Eastern tomorrow, Thursday, July 24. I’m really looking forward to helping a community of people work on their book projects. Bonus Courses I’m excited to let you know that some friends of mine are kicking in their own courses for free to students in Book Proposal […]
A few years ago the Baker Books acquisitions assistant at the time recommended Chris Guillebeau’s The Art of Non-Conformity to me. I loved the book. In it Chris points out that we don’t have to do life as it is almost always prescribed to us. We don’t have to earn a degree, get a job, and […]
Thank you so much for the supportive and generous response to my last post. When I started this blog a year and a half ago, I never dreamed I’d meet so many cool people. So again, thank you. Here we go: I hereby officially announce the Jump4Haiti campaign! It’s really happening! I asked a friend, […]
Man you could act. I was absolutely transfixed by your Truman Capote, and terrified by your villain in Mission Impossible. You made me weep in The Savages, and I hated you with everything in me in Doubt. And now you’re gone. Mr. Hoffman, what happened? What was the darkness that you couldn’t push back?
I want to know more about you. Why? (1) I want to make this blog more useful to you, and (2) I would love your input on some product ideas. Would you please take a few minutes to fill out this reader survey? If you do, you could win your choice between The War of […]
How do you make it onto a bestsellers list? In this guest post at Author Media I discuss the key elements to writing a bestselling book, including a little known secret that can have a significant effect on book sales. Want to know more? Click here…
How do busy people write books? Realistically, how does that happen? In my last post I wrote about coming up with a concept and an outline. Once these are in place, it’s time to begin writing using what I call the four rhythms of mastery. Write Using the Four Rhythms of Mastery I use the […]
