How to Build Your Author Platform Before Your Book Is Written
The single most common reason traditionally published books get rejected isn’t the writing. It isn’t the idea. It’s the platform — or the absence of one. Publishers in 2026 expect authors to arrive with an audience already built. But platform building doesn’t have to wait for a publishing deal, and it doesn’t require a massive following. It requires the right strategy, started at the right time. That time is now.
Is Ghostwriting Ethical? The Truth About Who Actually Writes Bestsellers
Ghostwriting is one of publishing’s worst-kept secrets and most misunderstood practices. The moral panic around it resurfaces every few years — usually when a public figure’s book gets attributed to a ghost. Here’s what thirty years inside the industry has taught me about the ethics, the reality, and why the question itself is based on a misunderstanding of what authorship actually is.
What Makes a New York Times Bestseller — And Does It Actually Matter?
I’ve helped create four New York Times bestselling books. I can tell you exactly what it takes to hit the list — and I can also tell you that for most business authors, thought leaders, and experts, the NYT list is the wrong goal. Not because it doesn’t matter. Because there’s something that matters more, and confusing the two is one of the most expensive mistakes in publishing.
How to Turn Your Business Into a Book (Without It Reading Like a Case Study)
The most common mistake I see business leaders make when writing a book is trying to document their business instead of telling their story. Documentation produces case studies. Story produces books that change things. Here’s the difference — and how to write a business book that captures your expertise without losing the human being behind it.
The Storykeeper’s Book Proposal: Do You Need One — And What Goes In It?
The book proposal is one of the most misunderstood documents in publishing. Some authors spend months writing one they never needed. Others query agents for years without one and wonder why no one bites. If you are a nonfiction author — a founder, a leader, a coach, a consultant, a person with a story and a methodology — the question of whether you need a proposal, and what should be in it, is one of the most important questions you will answer before your book reaches readers. This is the guide.
What Is a Createcation — And Could One Change Your Book?
Some books don’t get written at your desk. They get written somewhere the light is different, the pace is slower, and the noise of ordinary life is far enough away that the real story can finally surface. A Createcation is a destination writing retreat designed for exactly that — the point in your book journey where immersion unlocks what structure alone can’t. Here’s how it works and why it might be the thing your book has been waiting for.
How to Choose a Book Coach: The 7 Questions to Ask Before You Hire Anyone
Book coaching is one of the most unregulated spaces in publishing. There are no qualifications required, no industry board, no certification that guarantees competence. Anyone can put up a website and call themselves a book coach — and thousands of people do. Which means that the difference between a transformative experience and an expensive disappointment comes down entirely to the questions you ask before you sign anything. These are the seven questions that matter.
How to Write a Book When You Have No Time
The book isn’t waiting for a gap in your calendar. It’s waiting for the right structure. Here’s how busy founders, executives, and experts write books — without clearing their schedules.
How Long Does It Take to Write a Book? The Honest Answer for Experts
The most honest answer to “how long does it take to write a book?” is the one nobody in publishing actually wants to give you. Here it is anyway — with the real timelines, the variables that actually matter, and why the answer for most experts is probably much shorter than you’ve been told.
Book Coach vs Ghostwriter: Which One Do You Actually Need?
Everyone has an opinion on how you should write your book. Hire a ghostwriter. Get a book coach. Just start writing and see what happens. Here’s what nobody tells you: the choice between a book coach and a ghostwriter is actually dead simple — once you stop letting the internet confuse you about what each one actually does.
How to Write a Book as a Keynote Speaker (Without Losing Your Voice or Your Mind)
You’ve been stopping rooms for years. Your stories land every time. So why does the blank page feel nothing like the podium? Here’s what nobody tells speakers who want to become authors: the problem isn’t that you can’t write. It’s that you’re trying to write like a writer instead of a speaker.
How to Write About Real People in Your Book: The Complete Guide for Memoir and Nonfiction Authors
Every memoir, every leadership book, every story drawn from real life runs into the same wall: the people in your story are real. Your ex-partner. Your difficult parent. The colleague who betrayed you. The mentor who changed your life. The client who became a friend. Writing about them is not optional — they are the story. But writing about them carelessly can create legal exposure, damage relationships that matter, and produce a book that feels like a score-settling exercise rather than a genuine piece of work. Here is everything I know, after thirty years, about how to do it right.