Browse by writer
Most Authors Pick a Topic Before They've Earned a Point of View
A topic is where you start. A position is what readers remember. Here is how to tell the difference before you write another chapter.
Marguerite Okonkwo · Sep 21, 2026
Writer's Block Is Almost Always a Structure Problem Wearing a Costume
I lost fourteen months to a novel I couldn't finish. It wasn't my talent, my mood, or my muse. It was chapter nine.
Desmond Rourke · Sep 18, 2026
Metadata Is the Highest-ROI Hour You'll Ever Spend on Your Book
In a catalog of 900 titles, the books that fixed their categories and keywords gained a median 34% in monthly units. Nothing about the books changed.
Priya Raghunathan · Sep 16, 2026
Authors Sign Away Decades to Save a Week of Reading
A client once traded worldwide audio rights, in perpetuity, for an advance that would not cover a family holiday. She had read the contract. She had not understood the calendar.
Rafael Ibarra-Mendez · Sep 14, 2026
Launch Week Is a Lagging Indicator of the Twelve Months Before It
I ran eleven author launches. The three that worked had one thing in common, and it happened long before the preorder link existed.
Kenji Arakawa · Sep 11, 2026
Productivity Culture Has Made Writers Afraid of Their Own Slowness
I kept notebooks through forty years, two bereavements and a decade of night shifts. The pages are uneven. The career is not.
Eleanor Vance-Whitcombe · Sep 8, 2026
Our writers
Six voices, six very different opinions
Every piece on this journal comes from a writer with a real point of view, a specific beat, and a track record worth arguing with.
Marguerite Okonkwo
Editor-at-Large — Author Strategy
Author brand & positioning
Your book is not a product. It's a position.
Desmond Rourke
Contributing Writer — Craft & Drafting
Writing craft, drafting discipline
Nobody feels like writing. Write anyway.
Priya Raghunathan
Senior Analyst — Publishing Data
Metadata, retail data, sales mechanics
Show me the categories and I'll show you the ceiling.
Rafael Ibarra-Mendez
Columnist — Legacy & Intellectual Property
IP, rights, long-term asset building
Write the thing your grandchildren can license.
Kenji Arakawa
Growth Writer — Audience & Launches
Marketing, social, launch campaigns
Build the audience while you build the book.
Eleanor Vance-Whitcombe
Resident Essayist — The Writing Life
Creative endurance, voice, meaning
A long career is made of survivable days.