How To Write a Book

Or At Least, How I Wrote My Book

We made the Sunday Times bestseller list! Thanks to all of you who pre-ordered the British edition.

Catch-up service:
Podcast: James Marriott on Britain’s Elites
Nine Principles For Success In the Age of AI
What ‘Adolescence Doesn’t Tell Us About Boys’
Did John Lennon Think He Was Jesus?
Why It’s Hard To Stop AIs Lying
The Hipster-Military-Industrial Complex

John & Paul is now published in the UK and US! I’m slightly sad that the era of nagging you to pre-order is over, but it’s very exciting to have it out there, actually being read. I’ve loved hearing what readers have to say about it.

If you are a ‘Founding Member’ paid subscriber, i.e. if you pay £90 or equivalent per year, you can now exercise your right to request a signed copy of J&P from me. Just click on the title of this post, hit reply, and tell me the address you want it sent to, along with any dedication.

If you’re a free or paid subscriber who wishes to upgrade to Founding membership, please be my guest, and make my day. Make sure you’re logged in (https://substack.com/sign-in), go to Settings, scroll down to your Subscriptions, click on The Ruffian and hit the Change button in the Subscription box. You can give a Gift subscription that way too. If you’re a free subscriber, click this green button or the free trial one below.

Paid subscribers make The Ruffian possible, indeed you make all my writing possible, by affording me the time to, er, write.

Quick J&P round-up:

• This week John & Paul was one of eight new books picked as an Editors’ Choice by the New York Times.

• Matthew D’Ancona has written a truly beautiful piece, inspired by the book (and our podcast conversation), about masculinity and The Beatles.

• I was very happy to be a returning guest on one of my favourite podcasts, EconTalk with Russ Roberts, this was a great conversation.

• I talked through some significant J&P songs with Phil Riley on Boom Radio UK.

• This week I’ll be talking J&P in St Andrews, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. Come along if you can!

The Ruffian will shortly revert to normal service, Rattle Bags and all, but this week I have a longer-than-usual piece, for paid subscribers only, on how I came to write John & Paul. I hope it’s both interesting in itself and useful for anyone who has ever considered writing their own book, or indeed embarking on any major creative project.

How To Write a Book (Or At Least, How I Wrote My Book)

John & Paul would not have been possible without The Ruffian. During the lockdowns of 2020, Paul McCartney announced that he had a new album coming out at the end of the year: McCartney III, the third in what would now be a trilogy of experimental solo albums released at the turn of decades (McCartney came out in 1970; McCartney II was released in 1980). I was struck by his sheer creative longevity. McCartney had been writing new songs since 1956. So that was 64 years of making songs, including a song which had made the number 64 famous.

I now had a hook, however contrived, for a piece that had been simmering away in my mind for years: a piece arguing that we still underrate Paul McCartney. It would draw together what I admired about him as a musician, artist and person, and explain why we hadn’t yet seen him straight. I had plenty of notes but now I had some time on my hands, and a framing device. I also had a format: the list. I had a lot to say, and a conventional essay might feel unwieldy or ponderous. I wanted it to snap along like a playlist but to have thematic and narrative coherence.

64 Reasons To Celebrate Paul McCartney turned out to be longer than I’d anticipated: ten thousand words! It could have been longer, however, because I had to cut material about McCartney’s relationship with Lennon. I felt, even then, that the Lennon-McCartney relationship was a whole piece by itself, and maybe even a book.

Having said that, I didn’t think that writing a Beatles book was a realistic prospect for me.