A response to Maris Kreizman: publishing runs on gig workers — just like any creative industry

A response to Maris Kreizman: publishing runs on gig workers — just like any creative industry

A recent piece by Maris Kreizman in LitHub bemoans the rise of “gig work” in publishing — and in particular the freelancer-driven model being pursued by the new publishing venture Author’s Equity. What naive and misguided claptrap. What’s Kreizman’s objection? In an essay titled “Publishing Models That Rely on Gig Workers Are Bad For Everybody,”…

The thread
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The thread

I never write anything without the thread in mind. What is the thread? It is the throughline of any blog post, essay, or book chapter. Start with the end in mind. What is the point? Write the title and the lede based on that. Then, the setup. What is the problem? What is have I…

The muscular middle; princess photo foulup; uncanny cerebral valley: Newsletter 13 March 2024
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The muscular middle; princess photo foulup; uncanny cerebral valley: Newsletter 13 March 2024

A new politics arises from the ashes of the American disaster, AI proponents and doomsayers wrestle, books as chatbots, plus three people to follow, three books to read, and a chance to see me debate at Berkeley. The inspirational rise of the muscular middle I’ve freakin’ had it with the American political system. It’s time…

If you can’t write, plan. If you can’t plan, write.

If you can’t write, plan. If you can’t plan, write.

I frequently advise nonfiction authors to be planners, not pantsers (that is, seat-of-the-pants writers). Unfortunately, that doesn’t always work. True, some people have a conception of the whole book in their heads. This allows them to set down a table of contents and, after doing research, create a fat outline before writing each chapter. But…

The novelty trap; Amazon counterfeits; OpenAI calls foul: Newsletter 28 February 2024
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The novelty trap; Amazon counterfeits; OpenAI calls foul: Newsletter 28 February 2024

Newsletter 33: How to be suspicious of shiny objects, self-publishing bestseller pirated, China skews the Hugos, plus three people to follow and three brand-new books to read. The curse of the new We live in a world where newness generates attention. I learned this emphatically and repeatedly in two decades as a technology analyst. Every…

Pyramidal ideas; ASSes and PEONs, book bans; AI crushes everything: Newsletter 21 February 2024
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Pyramidal ideas; ASSes and PEONs, book bans; AI crushes everything: Newsletter 21 February 2024

Newsletter week 32. How to think about ideas, book bans, AI killing everything, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Full-stack idea development: don’t be an ASS or a PEON Authors have ideas. Authors have expertise. But unless those ideas and expertise reinforce each other properly, you can’t build a good book…

Why you should love your tough developmental editor

Why you should love your tough developmental editor

Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, editorial director of the publisher Berrett-Koehler, recently wrote that if you love your editor, they’re probably not doing a good job. This contradicts my experience. Great writers love great editors — and hate them at the same time. It’s a strange relationship. An analogy Imagine that you are working with a personal trainer…