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Q: How can I hire you to give a speech? What subjects to you speak on?
All that information can be found under the Speaking tab on this website. Any questions, just let us know. Happy to help.
Q: Where are you going to be speaking and signing your next book?
You can find all my book tour stops listed on The Gales of November page.
Q: Can I get my book signed?
A: Always happy to do so. Writing books is really hard, but signing them is really easy.
The best way to do this is to meet me at one of our book tour events nationwide. Odds are good we’ll be visiting a city near you, and if you’re in the state of Michigan, several. The schedule is posted on The Gales of November page of this website.
The second best way is to ask before you buy the book, by calling up Schuler Books or Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor. You buy it over the phone, and leave your signing instructions, then I stop by and sign every week or two, and they ship it right to you. Easy.
The third way is to mail it to us at P.O. Box 7326, Ann Arbor, MI, 48107, with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. I sign and return.
Q: Can I get a signed book to donate to a non-profit cause?
A: Please send your request via the contact form on the website.
Q: I’d like to write a book. How do I go about it?
A: I admire anyone who has the ambition to write a book. It’s not easy, it will take at least a few drafts, and of course the business is brutal these days, so it requires some real determination and faith. So, good for you!
My first tip is a big one, and sadly usually offered too late: if you’re hoping to write a non-fiction book, do not write the book first. Write the book proposal. Few agents or publishers will read a non-fiction manuscript. You need to write the proposal first, and you do that by reading two books prior:
How to Write a Book Proposal, by Michael Larsen
78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published, and 14 Why it Just Might, by Pat Walsh
Both are short, smart, and funny, and will answer 95-percent of the questions you might have about how to pitch an agent or publisher.
Then, when you’re ready to send out, find books that are similar to yours, see which agent they thank in the acknowledgments, then find the agent in this book, and pitch to them:
Guide to Literary Agents, by Robert Lee Brewer
If you’re writing fiction, the rules are different. You need to write the novel, then send out to the agent or the publisher. Of course, I know much less about that world, so you’re probably smart to seek advice from a novelist.
If you’re really determined to write your book, write it anyway. You might not get it published, but if it’s your life story, or your family history, you’ll be glad you did, as will the generations that follow.
Q: Are you still teaching? How can I get in your class?
A: I taught at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism for six summers, for one semester as a visiting professor at Miami (Ohio), and at the University of Michigan from 2006 to 2019, but thanks to Covid, the demands of writing five books in five years, and a sharp increase in public speaking nationwide thanks to Let Them Lead: Unexpected Lessons in Leadership from America’s Worst High School Hockey Team (2021), which came out of my U-M class on leadership, I haven’t taught since. But both my original course, The History of College Athletics, and my new course, Leading by Coaching, are now being taught by Greg Dooley at Michigan’s School of Education.
Q: What does the “U” stand for?
My middle name.