Essays and notes on memoir, ghostwriting, and the craft of telling a life.
Most people asking about ghostwriting rates expect a number. The number varies by a factor of ten. Here is what actually drives the cost, an...
The first draft of a memoir chapter is supposed to be bad. Not sort of bad. Actually bad. The bad first draft is not a failure. It is the po...
The most common ghostwriting request I decline is the one where a client wants to interview their own parent. Here is why I decline, and how...
Traditional publishing has a rhythm: hardcover, then paperback, then e-book. Self-publishing lets you choose. Here is the order that works f...
A month before I write anything, I listen. I follow the client through their week. I meet the people who know them. This is what the month l...
Most memoirs are not lost for lack of material. They are lost in the first hour, when the wrong questions get asked. Here is what the first...
Founder memoirs fail when they read like company brochures. The fix is not more humility. The fix is a real antagonist. Here is what a good...
Every family has a person whose story deserves to be a book. Usually only one person in the family knows they need to commission it before i...
The founder book has become a category of its own. Done well, it defines a career. Done alone, it usually never gets finished. Here is why.