There’s a scene in the movie A Beautiful Mind, when the John Nash character explains the best way for he and his colleagues to get laid. A blonde walks into the bar with a group of brunette friends. Nash’s colleagues start ogling her and making stupid comments. HANSEN Have you remembered nothing? Recall the lessons of Adam Smith, father of modern economics. ALL In competition, individual ambition serves the common good. AINSLEY Every man for himself gentleman. BENDER Those who strike out are stuck with her friends.   Nash stares at the blonde and Hollywood jumps in with voiceovers and…

Last month I attended the man of the year ceremony hosted by the Optimist Club of Passaic, New Jersey. As the man of the year (also my husband’s cousin) stood up to speak, I was struck by the 400+ people in the room who’d shown up for the event. The cousin didn’t have a web site. He didn’t have a product to sell. He didn’t market himself via social media. Instead, he got out into the community and volunteered. He’s a teacher who has coached football, headed the school’s ski club, worked with special education kids, raised money for scholarships, opened…

My last few posts have focused on the importance of growing your own platform (“Common Sense” and “Should Writers Be Paid For Everything?“). Now for an example, via Joanna Penn, a.k.a. The Creative Penn. If you visit Joanna’s site, you’ll learn something new. That’s a promise—and a personal experience. She’s always teaching and thus I’m always learning when I step into her world. She’s honest with her experiences, clear with her voice, and generous with her knowledge. The site itself is organized and deep (in both quantity and quality of content)—the product of YEARS of work. One of the things…

I received a question following my last post (“Common Sense“), which is tied to writers being paid for their work, and I’m still thinking about the question, and my answer, almost two weeks later. Here’s the question: You argue that writers shouldn’t work for free, but isn’t that exactly what they are doing when they spend time on social media? What about their blogs? I see both as examples of writing as marketing, and no one is paying them. Doesn’t that go against your point? Here’s my answer: On your question, I approach it as I do my yard. If…

I started off 2017 digging into two publishing rabbit holes. The first one is related to a guy named Paine. He wrote a pamphlet that went viral a few hundred years ago and is still being read today. Not long after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Thomas Paine hit U.S. soil. He worked, got political at pubs, and wrote. Paine toiled away on a series of letters to be run in local newspapers. After finding himself way over word count for letters, he decided to publish a pamphlet instead, titled “Common Sense.” Here’s what your high school teacher didn’t…

Bruce Springsteen has a memoir out — and interviews have followed its release like B pursuing A. During an interview for PBS’s “Newshour,” Jeffrey Brown brought up Springsteen’s voice. Jeffrey Brown: You write about your voice. You say, about my voice, “First of all, I don’t have much of one.”

(Though this post first ran March 2, 2012, I find I’m still saying the same thing to authors today. What have you done for yourself lately? ~Callie) Dear Author, What have you done for yourself lately? You’ve written a book? Not enough. You’ve had it accepted and printed by a publisher? Not enough. You met with your publisher and came up with a marketing plan. Not enough. What have you done to ensure your book reaches all the people you know will love it? What have you done for yourself lately? You want radio. You want TV. You want print.…

We’ve discussed pitch content in previous articles. But what about presentation and sending? How should they look and how should they be sent? Presentation In his free Skillshare class, MailChimp’s Fabio Carneiro reminds viewers that research has shown “people delete ugly e-mails.” He makes a good point using design that speaks to specific types of customers, too. “If you know your audience is mostly developers, you could make your content more technical. You could generally make your design much simpler as well, so that it’s the textual information that stands out. For designers on the other hand, they might appreciate…

“Knowing how something originated often is the best clue to how it works.” — Terrence Deacon The good news: IQ levels are higher today than they were 100 years ago—and continue to increase. The bad news: Higher IQs aren’t making us smarter. In a recent interview with the BBC, James Flynn said, “the major intellectual thing that disturbs me is that young people . . . are reading less history and less serious novels than [they] used to.” From Flynn’s perspective, this lack of reading makes us ripe for an Orwellian dystopia. “All you need are ‘ahistorical’ people who then live…

Mark McGuinness has a new book out. He’s giving it away for free. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m suggesting you check it out. Why? Trust. I know I’ll respect whatever Mark produces. That’s Not How This Works Last week a pitch letter from a stranger arrived. The stranger has a book idea and wants to obtain a signed author contract with a publishing house before he writes his book. In order to achieve this goal, the stranger explained that he is requesting support from established authors. He wants the established authors to provide an endorsement for his book…