There seems to be something in my eye. Maybe watching this video will explain.
I’m not crying. You are crying.
(If you can’t see the video in your newsletter, please click through to watch on the site.)
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Jenga Books
Jenga is a game invented over 50 years ago, consisting of 54 small wooden blocks stacked in a tower. Players take turns removing blocks from the stack and placing them on top, making the tower increasingly unstable. When someone causes the tower to fall, they lose. The trick is to place a block in a precarious position, so the next player has no option but to make the stack collapse. Personally, …
The Worst Proofreading Error of All Time
Take a close look at the picture above. Read verse 14 out loud. The word “not” is missing. As in “Thou shalt ___ commit adultery.” It is from an edition of the Bible published in 1631, now affectionately known as “The Sinners Bible” or “The Wicked Bible.” Adulterers of the realm celebrated! (Just kidding.) The Royal Printers in London, Robert Barker …
Fun Friday – October 17, 2025 – The ISBN Turns 60!
This coming weekend, a milestone will be reached. The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) system turns 60 years old. That seemingly simple group of digits has had a lasting impact on our industry. Book nerds of the world unite. Let’s celebrate sixty years of the ISBN! (Party balloons are floating and party horns are sounding.) Below is an edited version of something the International …
Dialogue in Your Novel
Dialogue is one of the most powerful tools in a writer’s toolbox. A single exchange between characters can reveal more about their motives, personalities, and relationships than pages of exposition—and trust me, readers prefer dialogue to exposition. Done well, dialogue pulls readers into the story, making them feel like they’re actually part of the conversation. If it feels forced or stalls the …
A Few Misused Words and Phrases
I’ve written about this topic before, but thought it good to revisit it. There are some troublesome words regularly misused in emails or book proposals. Penultimate This term is often used carelessly to mean “the best” or “the greatest.” Penultimate means next to the last in a series or sequence. Not the best of the best. When used to mean “the best,” the …
Fun Fridays – October 10, 2025
Today’s video is a bit of a history lesson taught by a couple of archaeologists. They found what is believed to be the oldest full sentence written in the Canaanite language, 3,700 years old. To put this in historical context, this would be around 1,700 B.C., the biblical time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To best understand this video, I recommend enabling closed-captioning (click the …
How Self-Publishing Alters Authors
Anyone who regularly reviews book proposals can easily see the influence of self-publishing on authors’ thinking, especially in the following areas. Calendar “I’d like this book out for Christmas.” To which I reply, “What year?” This is the most stark reminder of the differences in the models. The length of time to market for a book is measured in weeks or months for the author-controlled process …
Anthropic Lawsuit Information for Authors
What follows is not legal advice. It is merely observations made by reading various sources on the issue. As many authors have heard, there has been a settlement on a lawsuit over the Anthropic AI company’s use of books to train their AI (artificial intelligence) engine. The understanding is that the books had been pirated by others, but Anthropic used that content. They used 7 million books that …
Fun Fridays – October 3, 2025
A fun barbershop quartet video today. It should make you smile. Then think of the choreography, planning, and rehearsal necessary to pull this off! [If you can’t see this in your email newsletter, please click through to watch it on the website.]