I recently attended a monthly meeting with Ally Machate, who runs The Writers Ally, a book editing, publishing, and marketing firm. People ask her anything related to the book publishing and editing worlds. One guy asked about artificial intelligence, and in listening to Ally’s reply, something dawned on me about large language models, or LLMs.…
When somebody agrees to work with me and I send out a contract, what happens next is always a crapshoot. Sometimes, the person signs the contract, no questions asked. Sometimes, her or she will want to negotiate particular sections, paragraphs, or clauses. I’m always willing to listen to their concerns, and I usually accommodate them…
I recently wrote about how a ghostwriter can make an income of at least six figures. Read it here. The first point I made was to a assemble a team. I recommended including a search engine optimization (SEO) company as part of the team. I had been using a web designer friend to mange my…
When people contact me to ghostwrite their book, they sometimes tell me, “We don’t know how to do it. We need you to show us how.” Fair enough. One of the first things I tell them once they become a client is that the process is like a relationship, and in this relationship, there are…
Last week, I wrote about four different speech types: informative, how-to, persuasive, and oratorical. Read it here and learn from a speech writer in NYC. Now, I’ll cover four more types of speeches that speechwriters often compose. Motivational — Tony Robbins. Les Brown. Zig Ziglar. These are three speakers who mastered this speech type in…
One reason stories are so effective is because, when presented with conviction, enthusiasm, and clarity, they are memorable—and you need a speech to be memorable because people have short attention spans. According to Gloria Mark, a psychologist and the chancellor’s professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, attention spans have been shrinking over…
Last week, I wrote about the importance of critical thinking in book editing. Read it here. Buried in the 11th paragraph of that piece was this sentence: Are my edits removing the author’s voice? Too often, one editor takes a manuscript and butchers it in such a way that the author no longer recognizes it.…
I’m going to begin by stating something incredibly obvious: Words matter in speeches. Trust a speech writer in NYC. Duh, I hear you thinking. Fair enough, let me continue. A speech should be written concisely, meaning the speaker gets up, gets it done quickly, and gets out. That means the speaker (and by extension, the…
Scripts are out. Spontaneous is in. I recently came across a column by Ted Gioia, who calls himself The Honest Broker. He wrote that the recent presidential election showed that giving speeches from a teleprompter isn’t effective anymore and ”The word ‘scripted’ is now an insult. Plainspoken dialogue is considered more trustworthy.” Gioia then goes…
Last week, I wrote about two things a ghostwriter can do to help build a brand. Here are four more: Develop a professional website. A ghostwriter can write the copy on the website, giving prospects a solid first look at your writing ability (and, yes, I wrote my website). Not only that, but your website…
