Author Mindset

A business book that reads like an annual report will be forgotten by Thursday. Here's how to take thirty years of hard-won business experience and turn it into a book people actually want to read.

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.
Not every author needs a book proposal. Some need one desperately and don't know it. Here's the definitive guide to what a proposal is, who needs it, and exactly what goes inside.

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.
A Createcation is a destination writing retreat designed for the humans who think best when they leave their ordinary life behind. Here's what it is, how it works, and why some books only get written when you go somewhere to write them.

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.
Book coaching is an unregulated industry. Anyone can call themselves one. Here are the 7 questions that separate the coaches who finish books from the ones who don't.

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.
Your story involves other people. Here's how to tell it honestly, protect yourself legally, and write the people in your life with the care and precision they deserve.

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.
Best Way to Publish in 2026

Traditional vs. Self-Publishing vs. Hybrid: Which Is Right for You in 2026?

You Googled "how to publish a book" and now you're more confused than when you started. Traditional. Self. Hybrid. Vanity. Assisted. Partner. The terminology alone is enough to close the tab and go back to not writing the book. After thirty years as a publishing strategist and ghostwriter, here's the clearest, most honest breakdown of the three real options — and the one question that makes the choice obvious.
A luxury hotelier. An IP lawyer. A leader who survived apartheid and an abusive marriage. Three books. Three completely different lives on the other side. These are the stories of what happened after.

What Happened After the Book: Three Stories From Word Magic Authors

People ask me all the time whether writing a book is worth it. I never answer that question in the abstract, because the abstract doesn't tell you anything useful. What tells you something is the specific. The hotelier who had been trying to write his book for five years, who doubled his speaking fees within months of publication. The lawyer who wanted to be the foremost authority in her field — and became exactly that. The leader who came to write one book and discovered she needed to write a completely different one — the one she'd kept off the table her entire life. These are their stories.
Crystal Adair-Benning

How Long Does It Take to Write a Book? (And How to Do It in 90 Days)

Most people believe writing a book takes years. Some spend a decade on the same half-finished manuscript, convinced that more time is what they need. My clients finish their complete draft manuscripts in 90 days. The difference isn't talent, discipline, or a magic productivity system. It's strategy — and it starts long before anyone sits down to write.
Copywriting blog topics

More topics you’ll love: