Learning to do, not to have (writer learning)
Book reviews, Book Writing

Learning to Do, Not Learning to Have

Most of the educational learning we do is theoretical and ‘nice to know’, but, according to researchers, has little adaptation to the real world. This is alarming. However, there is a lot we can do to improve our learning and skill take-up. In ‘Ultralearning‘ by Scott H Young, he gives four ways to learn directly. These are: Learn through a Project – SkillShare and Coursera courses let you do this. It works on two levels: your project aim makes for practical outcomes and your learning becomes more enjoyable and fruitful. Immersive Learning – Going to the region to learn the language works far better than learning on an app. The Flight Simulator Method – Students of a US high school found that when trying an important matter in a mock courtroom, they got way more specific, adaptive learning. Critical thinking…
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how to create a digital product to help book sales

How to Create a Digital Product to Help Book Profits

As nonfiction topic specialists, we all know that royalties aren’t quite enough, and your expertise and advice is worth a lot more than $5 per customer! So, it may be time to learn about a tool which has a way to add a simple coaching service or digital product to your book. You used to need to use a shopping cart like WooCommerce plus Woo Payments (setup time!) and connect a processor if you wanted to sell anything virtually (through WordPress). No longer! A product in this post is one that Jennifer uses herself and endorses to others – if you click on the link and go through the trial to purchase, Jennifer gets a commission. Now, you can use a main EMS platform to host each product and its payment options. Or still use a sales page in your…
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AI replace editors and writers
Book Editing

Will AI Replace Editors and Writers?

Like almost everything, the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is both good and bad. AI and machine learning is already replacing pesky jobs — like auditing a huge news site — yet it could also threaten the livelihoods of editors, journalists, and content writers. In 2019, we all didn’t believe jobs would disappear. Now, in 2024, we see that content writers are becoming editors of generated chats in a forced vocational transition.  AI programs can scan a newspaper’s back issues and by learning the style, it can write feasible news articles from releases. Some places, like Sports Illustrated, have gotten into trouble by not marking that articles were written by artificial means.  The Washington Post has a robot reporting program called Heliograf. However, The Post is using their system to not replace journalists, but to assist them and make their…
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writers who are writing coaches
Book Writing

Everybody wants Inspiration to Write, Nobody wants Perspiration

There seems to be many myths surrounding writing a book (or a paper, for that matter). Most of these centre on the idea of ‘the muse’ and waiting for inspiration to strike. We mess about all day, thinking we’re adding to our work by reading a bunch of articles, going on Quora, and then immediately forgetting what was found. I don’t want you to be that person. The one thing you might want to stop to read is a book I found years ago. It’s called ‘55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer’ by Roy Peter Clarke. In the preface, it says: “These practical tools will help to dispel your writing inhibitions, making the craft central to the way you see the world. As you add tools to your workbench, you’ll begin to see the world as a storehouse of writing ideas.…
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Gorilla Tactics Book Review
Book reviews

Gorilla Tactics by Greg Cummings – Review

Written in the style of narrative nonfiction, Gorilla Tactics (How to Save a Species) starts off with the author’s experience of trying to save Mountain Gorillas (not physically but through awareness). Instead of this plight, he and the Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund team are caught up in a horrifying war in Rwanda. (Early galley review.) After all, only a few hundred mountain gorillas remain in these high mountains of Uganda, Rwanda and Congo. I would like to know more about the town of Kigali in Rwanda, as there was no descriptions, bar the decimation of the town after looting. The same with the Virunga Volcanoes. The writing is otherwise personal, real and interesting. A gorilla-mapping mission, with Arthur C Clarke and a Space Shuttle of NASA, was supposed to be the plan for the better publicity of the mountain gorilla…
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Author interview The Decision Expedition
Book Marketing

A Journey to the Decision Expedition with Simon Hawk

Jennifer asked recent author Simon Hawk to explain how his book “The Decision Expedition” is well-placed to receive attention and get an interesting psychological viewpoint of marketing as well. Let’s talk about the theme of your book – what does it offer readers? The premise of this book is two-fold: Small business owners are experts in their own field, but also need to be experts in marketing. This is what this book is trying to help them become.When people talk about marketing, they talk about all kinds of things, like Google ads, Facebook ads, email sequencing and segmenting audiences. These are all important, but in my opinion, if you want to be a good marketer you need to start at the source – the brain.  There is one thing that is consistent with every customer you will ever have –…
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