Behavioral Science Unlocks Proven Ways to Motivate Action
Psyched to do a book signing at SXSW today. 4:45 at the SX Bookstore at the Hilton (6th floor). Using Behavioral Science in Marketing reveals surprising, proven ways to motivate action. At an earlier SX signing, I had a brush with celebrity, captured by the Austin American-Statesman . Who knows what may happen today?! And if you’re not in Texas, now is a great time to snag a copy of Using Behavioral Science in Marketing online. The reviews are in and people really love it … especially the quick takeaways, easy reading style, and real examples.
Deciding Kindle Release Timing Vs. Hardcover Launch
Self publishers. Should I release the Kindle version or wait until the hard cover has had its run? https://t.co/hHETfT3LfG https://t.co/NmWLQHybpi
Transform Your Reading: Discover, Retain, Apply Books
All I want to do is help people read more books. If you DON'T read a lot books: I want my content to help you discover life-changing books and strengthen your reading habit. If you DO read a lot of books:...
Embrace Change and Diverse Minds for a Vibrant Life
Two thoughts from Evelyn Waugh “[Change is] the only evidence of life.” “It would be a dull world if we all thought alike.”
Hyperion's Vivid Scenes Linger Long After Author's Death
Wow, I didn't know he passed. I think about Hyperion on like a daily basis. There are fictional scenes from that book that are seared into my brain.
Barry Lopez Reveals Cure for Loneliness and Life’s Three Tenets
Barry Lopez on the cure for our existential loneliness and the 3 tenets of a full life https://t.co/xiziNeKuc5
Tim Powers' Overlooked Masterpiece Merges Romantics with Vampire Horror
Apropos of the Gothic moment what with talk of Mary Shelley and the Brontes in recent months, Tim Powers' The Stress of Her Regard is about Romantic poets battling ancient vampire like entities. Won the World Fantasy Award back in...
Embracing Uncertainty Is the Courage to Love Everything
George Saunders's disarmingly wonderful meditation on the courage of uncertainty, which is the courage to love the world: https://t.co/MmkRMjpy6q
Help Choose Cities for The Incorruptible Book Tour
The Incorruptible book tour is coming together. Where should I go? Make your case ⬇️ https://t.co/8QsQYGGMnu
Poetry Saves Lives: A Powerful, Inspiring Read
Why are we not better than we are – wonderful, wonderful read on how poetry saves lives https://t.co/kV1EMCkgdY
Time to Retire Fowler’s Outdated Modern English Usage
Why it’s time to close the book on Fowler's century-old Modern English Usage, despite its many good bit. https://t.co/UFORDPIw8x
AI-Era Book Ranks with Kant, Descartes, Hume
Judged by the company you keep... 🔥Today I noticed The Borrowed Mind sitting at #9 in Epistemology on Amazon, in the company of thinkers like Kant, Descartes, Hume, and Russell. 1. Complete Works of Immanuel Kant — Immanuel Kant 2. The Art of...
Kerouac’s 30 Tenets: Embrace Experience, Language, and Knowledge
“No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge.” On Jack Kerouac's birthday today, his 30 tenets of writing and life https://t.co/8vU4F40wDh
Celebrating 40th Birthday with First LA Book Signing
A little behind the scenes from the studio these past few days. I’m endlessly grateful to everyone who’s picked up a copy of Out There and supported this small business along the way. Believe it or not, it’s this kind...
Add Conflict: The Easy Trick to Deepen Protagonists
I've read several novels recently with flat protagonists. Their lives are pretty stable, they're relatively content, no unhealed wounds. Good for them, but where's the depth? Here's one EASY but super effective way to make your protag more layered, dynamic, and human:
Use Three Transitions to Preserve Reader Capital
Every time you make a jump in the story without building a bridge, you’re spending down your earned "reader capital." Author @sethharwood describes how to build three types of transition: spatial, temporal, point of view: https://janefriedman.com/build-the-bridge-3-kinds-of-transitions/
Unearthing Queer Books Forgotten by NYT's Pamela Paul Era
So proud to be a part of this project for @literaryhub that covers some of the trans and queer books that were overlooked in the Pamela Paul era of the Times Book Review. Thank you to Sandy Allen for including...
Unlocking Words, Facts, Thoughts—Beware What You Wish
📖Guttenberg UNLOCKED WORDS. ℹ️The internet UNLOCKED FACTS. 🧠LLMs UNLOCKED THOUGHTS. 🚨Be careful what you wish for... Much more in The Borrowed Mind. https://t.co/D7TcstgnY1
Agency Client Lands on Bestseller List, Celebration!
It was so exciting yesterday to see an agency client hit the bestseller list. ❤️❤️❤️
Kerouac's 5‑Mile Tape‑Recorder Rescue: A Remarkable Tale
The night Jack Kerouac, born 104 years ago today, walked five miles with a colossal reel-to-reel tape recorder on his back to keep a young woman from taking her own life – immeasurably wonderful true story https://t.co/KxTbANQpwd
Our Price Anchors Are Fragile; New Models Rewrite Value
I love books. Always have. There was a time when the price printed on the jacket was the price of the book. If you ordered one online, you paid that price plus $19.95 shipping. That was just how books worked. Then Amazon showed...
Half Readers Finish “3 Startups, 40 Pivots” In One Sitting
50% of the people who read "3 Startups, 40 Pivots" say they've finished it in ONE sitting ❤️ @mecolalu ty Brian https://t.co/wi90g6Kit6
Never Paid for It; Laziness Beats Payola
Yep. I've placed on this list at times and have never paid for anything. No need to talk about payola when it's likely human laziness.
ACOTAR 6 Hits Bestseller List Before Release, Fans Confused
I’m really confused about ACOTAR 6 being on the USA Today Bestseller list months before pub day. I thought pre-sales counted towards first week sales?
Torturous Yet Beloved Books Now at Painted Porch
Books that tortured me while I was reading them, but loved anyway. All copies available at my bookstore, the paintedporchbookshop
Crescent City: Fun, Hot Paranormal Zootopia Adventure
“Convince me to read Crescent City before ACOTAR.” Because it’s fun. It’s like Zootopia with paranormal creatures but everyone’s hot.
Sarah Schulman on Solidarity, Error, and Narrative Craft
My Art of Nonfiction interview w/the great Sarah Schulman is in this issue of @parisreview. We talked for four years (surely a record?) about her nonfiction + novels + organizing, about real solidarity vs. fake loyalty, and the necessity of...
Books: 10% Writing, 20% Editing, 30% Publishing, 5000% Marketing
New writers should be aware that the time expenditure of writing and publishing a book is around 10% writing, 20% editing, 30% either querying/submitting to agents/publishers *or* formatting and uploading to self-pub platforms, and 5000% marketing.
Murder Reveals a City: Connelly’s Telling Details
Michael Connelly has written 40+ novels, sold ~100 million books, and is the man behind TV series like Bosch and The Lincoln Lawyer. That makes him one of the most popular crime fiction writers in the world. He says: "Every...
Harsh Comment Sections Teach Us to Listen and Grow
"The comment section in Huffington Post is notoriously harsh, and conventional wisdom says to avoid reading it. I write to understand, but I publish to be part of a larger conversation. Therefore, I want to listen—mostly—to what readers say. And,...
Transform Your Life by Rewiring Limiting Beliefs
If you can change your mind, you can change your life. Nir Eyal spent 5+ years studying the neuroscience of beliefs and how to turn limiting beliefs into liberating beliefs. Here are 10 key lessons from @nireyal's new book "Beyond Belief": https://t.co/uMe2tBIn6q
Exile, Memory, and Growth: Nature Mirrors Writing
all that grows: nature and writing by Clara Obligado.🌱 all that grows: nature and writing is the English-language translation of Todo lo que crece: naturaleza y escritura by the Argentinian author Clara Obligado. The book chronicles the author's upbringing in Argentina,...
Freeman-Shor and Levy Release New Must-Read Stock Picking Guide
Lee Freeman-Shor and Clare Flynn Levy team up to write another great book for stock pickers. Sample chapter in the post 👇👇 https://t.co/T2sOEitRVD
Steve Jobs Back Cover Photo by Doug Menuez Unveiled
Hot off the press from @Pogue . Great to see the Steve Jobs back cover image by 📸 Doug Menuez. https://t.co/5TcVubxye6 https://t.co/LhrSI8PnyH
Kafka Shows Bureaucracy Isn't Just Banal
It is a mistake to confuse the banal with bureaucracy. Try this: 1. Read "The Hunger Artist" by Franz Kafka. 2. Then, read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. "The Hunger Artist" is the far superior work, by the way.
Kids' Dictionary Drops Nature Words, Sparks Backlash
When the Oxford children's dictionary discarded dozens of nature-words—"dandelion," "fern," "starling"—as irrelevant to children's imagination and replaced them with words like "broadband" and "cut-and-paste," this inspired act of resistance was born: https://t.co/Is4zFAQqc6
Choose POV for Story, Not Sales Advantage
I'm genuinely flummoxed why 1st person vs 3rd person POV is suddenly a big issue. I've had books in both for my whole career, and there's no real sales advantage or disadvantage I can tell. The upcoming book starts off...
New Book Empowers Early‑Career Professionals Into Lucrative Real Estate
When a (smart, accomplished) friend puts in the effort to write a book, I buy the book
Data‑Driven Guide to Mastering Literary Querying
I've been working on this massive project quietly for almost two years, and I'm SO excited to finally share it. 🎉 I wrote a book with the creator of QueryTracker, the #1 tool writers use to research and track agent submissions. If...
NYT Bestseller List: Small Sales, Big Misconceptions
This is getting a lot of pub. Let's explain why the NYT bestseller is confusing... The NYT list tracks 1 week of sales (and it's subjective not entirely based on sales data.) What it takes to make that list varies based...
Night Night Fawn: A Remarkably Extraordinary New Novel
Jordy Rosenberg’s new novel Night Night Fawn is extraordinary. I wrote about it here: https://www.themarisreview.com/the-maris-review-vol-95/
Annual Review: Gratitude First, Long‑Term Growth Unlocked
My new book is available for pre-order 🎉 "Life in Perspective: The Art and Power of the Annual Life Review" comes out Nov. 3 in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook This book distills nearly two decades of practicing annual reviews into a...
LinkedIn Message Sparked $270M Exit Journey
I just published Gleamer’s $270M Acquisition, Investing as a Radiologist, and My First Exit — It All Started with a LinkedIn message ... https://t.co/uwm9lCUsdm
Podcast Guesting Supercharges Nonfiction Book Launch
Therapist and nonfiction author Oona Metz was a guest on over 50 podcasts prior to her book's launch. Here's what she learned: https://janefriedman.com/how-to-use-podcast-guesting-to-promote-your-nonfiction-book/
Live Drawing Session for My Universe-Spanning Book
Since mid-2023, I’ve been working on a book about everything—from the Big Bang to the end of the universe. I’m currently in the drawing phase and will be doing them publicly today—sharing my screen on an all-day livestream starting at...
Build Power, Position
Six years ago, I released Power Shift into the world… Six years later, the message still stands: You don’t wait for power. You build it. You don’t chase opportunity. You position yourself for it. I’m grateful for every reader who didn’t just read the...
Le Guin: Menopause Signals Rebirth, Elders Empower Society
Ursula K. Le Guin on change, menopause as rebirth, and the civilizational value of elders https://t.co/F7JRCwG833
Combine Fragments Wisely: Early Advice From Published Authors
Published authors: what’s your best piece of advice? I’m starting to enter writing contests using fragments of essays and passages I’ve written over the past couple of years. Binding them together into one cohesive essay is a challenge, but I’d love...
Memoir Hype Repeats: Publishers Skip Vetting, Celebrities Amplify
It seems like this story gets repeated every few years. Someone writes a memoir. The book publisher does no due diligence to determine the story's credibility. Oprah and other celebrities heavily promote the book. Then questions arise. https://t.co/zCywhXJble
Freedom of Movement Remains Core American Value, YIMBY Book Shows
There's actually a whole YIMBY book wrestling with this question—it's called Stuck by Yoni Appelbaum and it's fantastic—and the answer is that freedom of movement is a core value of American political life.