When I meet with my business advisor, I update him on how things are going with my outsider clients or prospects. Instead of mentioning them by name (because he can’t keep track), I tend to use occupational or identification shorthand: therapist, Bronx Brother, sex worker, surfer, crypto guy, schoolteacher, Realtor, police brutality victim, impostor, guy…
I am close to completing a nonfiction manuscript about two brothers from the Bronx, the younger one who joined a gang and the older one who didn’t, and the lives they led as a result of that one fundamental choice. It’s violent, coarse, graphic, and it’s filled with the foul language they used on the…
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…
As I’ve written previously, the ghostwriting default is anonymity. But that doesn’t mean a ghostwriter always has to remain behind the scenes. More and more, authors that use ghostwriters are crediting them. When you see a celebrity memoir, you might see the celebrity’s name and a different, less-familiar name. That name is often the credited…
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…
Every once in a while, I get a prospect who asks me if I edit. I always respond, “Yes, but not if I’m your ghostwriter.” Similarly, every once in a while, I get a client who wants me to edit the manuscript I have completed after working on it for more than a year. I…
Many people make new-year resolutions and set goals. Common ones include paying off debt, creating a rainy-day fund, sticking to a budget, boosting retirement savings, investing more or better, improving credit scores, and updating insurance coverages. The one I want to address is increasing income. If your 2026 goal is to make a six-figure income…
Ninth in an occasional series about stories and ideas worth telling. You likely have never heard of Kane Phelps, and since he isn’t a celebrity, you likely never will. But Phelps has a story that is as compelling as any I’ve ever encountered, and it’s definitely worth my time. I almost didn’t get to work…
I recently attended a webinar given by Lisa Bloom, a corporate storyteller who calls herself “Story Coach.” Her webinar was partly about seven stories that sell. She applied these to business writing—the kind I used to do when I was a copywriter: email campaigns, website copy, marketing and promotional materials, and the like. Before she…
