Category: Business

  • Ways to use generative AI text in marketing

    You are probably not old enough to remember the introduction of pocket calculators in the 1960s/70s. The widely shared worry was that people and especially children would forget how to multiply and perform other basic mathematical operations. Instead, what happened was that people forgot the drudgery of long division and operations on larger numbers (“seven…

  • Beyond perfect

    “Perfect is the enemy of the good,” attributed to Voltaire, is a bit of wisdom about diminishing returns. Seeking perfection by improving something that is adequately good for the task at hand is a fool’s goal. We can all identify with losing hours, weeks, or years in pursuit of some imagined but elusive standard of…

  • Q & AI

    Q & AI

    As a freelance financial writer, I was curious about the threat of my imminent obsolescence with the arrival of ChatGPT and similar generative AI chatbots. In an informal experiment, I asked ChatGPT a few questions that are typical of the kind of questions I answer in my freelance assignments, which consist largely of topics in…

  • Imitation is the sincerest form of larceny

    Imitation is the sincerest form of larceny

    So I’ve been writing for the YMCA of Greater New York for a little over five years, helping them with fundraising in particular. I used to write for the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, but I haven’t done so in several years. Recently I noticed a few “echoes” — headlines or themes I had created for New…

  • When you’re looking for a ghostwriter

    When you’re looking for a ghostwriter

    For complex topics with intricately intermediated audiences, one of the most difficult things you can do is to write a compelling book. My four books I have ghostwritten four books for three different organizations with widely divergent needs. All four books feature subjects of extraordinary technical complexity, and are intended for highly intermediated audiences. The…

  • How to write a book — four steps for organizations

    How to write a book — four steps for organizations

    There are plenty of ways to write a book. Here are four steps for an organization. 1. Identify the effect you want to have: “What do we want this book to do? And to or for whom?” Before a word is written or a title is chosen or a launch date is picked, know first…