Whole words, whole sight

There are a zillion-and-a-half kinds of writers in this world. If you’re any of the following kinds, this blog is meant for you:

• Experts in one field or another looking for help on writing not just adequate but exceptional articles, book proposals, book manuscripts, etc.
• Anyone who is already a skilled non-fiction author, and who is interested not just in cranking out copy, but in bettering their craft.
• Anyone with a keen interest in memoirs or personal essays, two genres I’m beginning to explore more thoroughly myself.

I’m Randy Burgess, and craft means a lot to me. I practice and teach it in nearly all nonfiction genres - the only sizeable exception is advertising writing, and hey, I’ve done a little of that, too.

You can call me a book doctor - a developmental editor - or a writing coach. Suffice to say that I get my kicks by helping professionals and experts in various fields translate their knowledge into clear, appealing prose for articles, books, or the Web, for both general and professional audiences. I also teach writing at New York University’s School of Professional and Continuing Studies.

Beyond helping others, I keep my own chops up by writing plenty of books & articles myself: In recent years I’ve authored or co-authored 3 books on poker, a book on stock investing, numerous magazine articles, and blog posts on topics in writing and psychology. Oh yes, and I write lots of marketing materials for nonprofits. Other stuff about me is in my bio.

For questions and inquiries, email me at this address:

Extra! Extra! Writing guides now available!

Please do check out the Writing guides page. I’ve posted the first of what will be a series of downloadable guides based on my teaching methods. The first two guides concern (a) a better way to outline, and (b) how experts can use to learn “road maps” to successfully write for lay readers.