62: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist Mei Fong Explains How to Research and Write a Nonfiction Book
Write With Impact with Glenn Leibowitz
Release Date: 10/07/2017
Write With Impact with Glenn Leibowitz
Welcome back to Write With Impact, I’m Glenn Leibowitz. I’m a writer, four-time , and founder of Write With Impact Academy, a learning community for writers hosted on Substack. Just go to and enter your email to subscribe. It’s free. I recently joined , a podcast and video program hosted by Bob Buday, founder of and author of the new book, I interviewed Bob in of Write With Impact, which I encourage you to listen to. With Bob’s permission, I’m sharing the complete episode here. In my conversation with Bob, I talk about why I believe good writing is so essential to building a...
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Jeffrey Towson is an investor, digital strategist, keynote speaker, business professor, bestselling author, podcaster, and one of the most productive and inspiring content creators I know. He’s also the founder of TechMoat Consulting, a boutique digital advisory firm. I’ve known Jeff for the past decade, since we first collaborated on one of his bestselling books, One Hour China. He’s incredibly insightful about all things digital and enormously knowledgeable about China. He’s a deep thinker, a captivating speaker, and gifted writer. I always learn something from him. In addition...
info_outlineWrite With Impact with Glenn Leibowitz
Welcome back to Write With Impact, I’m Glenn Leibowitz. I’m a writer, four-time LinkedIn Top Voice, and founder of Write With Impact Academy, a free learning community for writers hosted on Substack. Just go to and enter your email to join. Today I’m very pleased to introduce . A Yale-trained lawyer, Martha is a Visiting Lecturer at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, an Adjunct Professor of Law at New York University, and the founder of Coven Consulting. She has been writing for more than twenty-five years, in her various roles as an advisor to the President at...
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Before I introduce today’s guest, I’d like to make a special announcement about this podcast: Write With Impact is now 8 years young! Thank you to all of my guests who have shared their wisdom and experience so generously. I couldn’t have done this without you. And thank you to my listeners from around the world who have taken the time listen to one or more of the 80 episodes I’ve produced since April 2015. As you may know, since 2021 I’ve been conducting these interviews on video. So if you would like to watch these episodes head over to Write With Impact Academy, my learning...
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Robert Buday is one of the world’s most renowned experts in thought leadership publishing. Over the past 35 years, he’s helped professionals from a wide range of industries write bestselling books, publish more than 50 articles in Harvard Business Review, and author hundreds of articles for top-tier business publications. He recently codified everything he knows about thought leadership into an excellent new book, Bob joined me for an in-depth conversation where he breaks down thought leadership into its essential elements. He shares some of the frameworks and strategies he uses to help...
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In this episode of Write With Impact I spoke with Robbie Abed and Troy Sandidge. Robbie is the founder and CEO of , a content creation agency that helps busy tech entrepreneurs create engaging content on LinkedIn. Troy Sandidge is the COO of No Middle and works with Robbie to turn their clients’ ideas into shareable content on LinkedIn. Robbie and Troy gave me an incredible insider’s view of how they work with clients to create and distribute engaging content. With just a 30-minute interview, they can help a busy tech CEO create enough content they can use for several months on LinkedIn....
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If you’re currently writing a book, or you’re planning to write one, you’ll understand the complexities involved with writing, editing, designing, publishing, and marketing your book. You may have thought about getting the help of a book publishing coach or consultant to help guide you through the process. Jenn T. Grace can help: as Founder and CEO of , she and her team help aspiring authors turn their dreams into published pages that have an impact on the world. Jenn joined me recently for a Writing Masterclass, where she shared some of her best tips for writing, editing, and marketing...
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is a headhunter based in Taipei at the Paul Wright Group. We met several years ago when he was just starting to build his clientele and presence on LinkedIn. Alan joined me recently for a LinkedIn Live video session where we exchanged tips for writing articles on LinkedIn. Alan has had a lot of success recently with several viral articles that have attracted tens of thousands of views and thousands of likes and shares. I asked Alan about his writing process, how he incorporates personal stories into articles that demonstrate his expertise, and how he crafts click-worthy headlines. He also...
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This is an audio version of a post I published on about the relevance of synchronicity, a concept introduced by Carl Jung, to my book writing process. Sign-up to to start building your writing skills today.
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Andrea Wilson Woods is an entrepreneur, patient advocate, speaker, podcaster, and author. She’s the CEO and Co-founder of , a for-profit, social-impact, health-tech startup. Andrea is also the president and founder of the nonprofit Blue Faery: The Adrienne Wilson Liver Cancer Association. Her bestselling book "Better Off Bald: A Life in 147 Days" is a medical memoir about raising her younger sister Adrienne from the age of eight until she died from liver cancer at the age of 15. Her book has won numerous prestigious writing awards. In 2020, her book went on to win the Writer's Digest...
info_outlineMei Fong is a journalist with more than a decade of reporting in Asia, most recently as China correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, which is where she was working when I met her several years ago in Beijing.
Her stories on China’s transformative process in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics formed part of the package that won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, an honor she shared with her colleagues at the Journal.
Her work has also won awards from Amnesty International, New York’s Society of Professional Journalists, and the Society of Publishers in Asia.
Mei appears regularly as a China commentator on NPR, CBS, CNN, and PBS. She has taught at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism and at Shantou University in China.
And she is currently the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fellow at New America, a think-tank in Washington, DC.
Last year she published her first book, One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment. The book recounts the history and after-effects of China’s one-child policy, the country's longest-running and most radical social experiment.
Through a combination of in-depth research, on-the-ground reporting, and vivid storytelling that draws on her time as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in China, One Child explores the far-reaching social and economic impact of the policy.
In our conversation, Mei explains how she got the idea for the book, how she meticulously conducted the research that went into it, and the process she went through to pitch it to publishers, write it, and edit it.
She also shares some inspiring and very practical advice for writers, and she reveals her favorite writing craft book—which happens to be one of my favorites as well!
For more information about Mei, and to find a link to her book on Amazon, just head to writewithimpact.com/episode62. You can also learn more about Mei on her website at meifong.org.