Book Proposals, Writing Non-Fiction, And Supercommunicators With Charles Duhigg

The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers

Joanna Penn

Self-improvement, Arts, Books, Entrepreneurship, Business, Education

4.8 • 745 Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2024

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How can you write a book proposal that will make a publisher want to buy your book? How can you write a successful non-fiction book that both interests you and attracts a lot of readers? How can you improve your communication in person and online? Charles Duhigg gives his thoughts.

In the intro, HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray on audiobooks and AI [TechCrunch]; OpenAI's 12 days including Sora and o1; Google Notebook LM expansion; How Creatives Might Survive and Thrive in a Post-Productivity World [Monica Leonelle]. Plus, How to Write Non-Fiction, Second Edition.

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to www.draft2digital.com to get started.

This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn

Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, a reporter at The New Yorker Magazine, and a multi-award-winning author whose book, The Power of Habit, spent three years on the New York Times list. His latest New York Times bestselling book is Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.

Show Notes

* How the writing process differs between books and magazines

* Balancing what readers want to read and what you want to write

* Research that comes before and after a book proposal

* Tips for conducting successful research interviews

* The process of organizing research for a nonfiction book

* Improving the art of written communication

* Dealing with the fear of miscommunication and judgement

* The importance of connection in communication

You can find Charles at CharlesDuhigg.com.

Transcript of Interview with Charles Duhigg

Joanna: Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, a reporter at The New Yorker Magazine, and a multi-award-winning author whose book, The Power of Habit,

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Creative Pen podcast. I'm Joanna Penn, thriller author and creative entrepreneur,
0:08.0	bringing you interviews, inspiration and information on writing craft and creative business.
0:14.7	You can find the episode show notes, your free author blueprint, and lots more at thecreativepen.com.
0:22.5	And that's Penn with a double N. And here's the show.
0:26.8	Hello, creatives. I'm Joanna Penn. And this is episode number 785 of the podcast, and it is
0:34.0	Saturday the 14th of December, 24 as I record this.
0:38.9	In today's show, I talk to Pulitzer Prize winning writer Charles Duhigg about his book
0:44.8	Super Communicators.
0:46.7	And he gives some really interesting insights into his book proposal and his writing process,
0:52.4	as well as how to deal with the fear of being cancelled,
0:56.1	plus his advice if you want to make money with your books. So that's coming up in the interview
1:01.4	section. In writing and publishing things, TechCrunch reports on a talk by Harper Collins CEO Brian Murray,
1:13.7	given at a media and communications conference.
1:17.3	Murray said that audiobooks continue to outsell e-books
1:21.4	in terms of total revenues and are helping to offset declines from lagging e-book sales.
1:28.7	So I think this is really fascinating, and I had two thoughts on this.
1:32.7	One is that audiobook revenue, and they said revenue, not numbers sold,
1:37.9	because revenue can still be higher for a smaller volume,
1:41.5	as audiobooks can be more profitable.
1:44.0	I also think, secondarily, that this is
1:47.5	going to go the way of e-books because I think part of that decline, or he said lagging e-book sales,
1:54.6	part of that is because so many more e-books are being borrowed as part of unlimited programs rather than sold.
	...

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