Heinrichs’ Thank You For Arguing (now in its 4th edition) is a classic backlist book in the craft of using language and rhetoric to persuade others. He is now is writing his next major book, using the same techniques to show readers how to persuade the person it’s often hardest to persuade into action—themselves.

THE BOSS OF YOU
The Art of Self-Persuasion, Tapping the Wisdom of Aristotle, Ben Franklin, and Dolly Parton
by Jay Heinrichs
Crown, January 2025
(via DeFiore and Company)

THE BOSS OF YOU will be filled with the same humorous stories and techniques that made Thank You For Arguing such a success. And once again, he will fill the book with tips on self-persuasion not only from the ancients, but from contemporary and historical iconic figures. The book will be anchored by him telling the story about how he used these techniques to convince himself to do something he had thought impossible: training his out-of-shape body to achieve an athletic feat difficult for even much younger men.

This book will find a readership among the over half-million buyers of Thank You For Arguing, as well as the market for books like Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit and Daniel Pink’s Drive—books that help readers find ways to motivate themselves to action.

Jay Heinrichs spent twenty-six years as a writer, editor, and magazine-publishing executive before becoming a full-time advocate for the lost art of rhetoric. He is Professor of the Practice of Rhetoric and Oratory at Middlebury College and lectures frequently on argument and persuasion, speaking to audiences ranging from Ivy League business students to NASA scientists to Southwest Airlines executives. He lives near Middlebury, Vermont.