June 2004 President's Note:
Writing is an art, and a business. These are a few of my favorite books for both published authors and writers "on the cusp," people with finished manuscripts who are about to actively market their work to publishers.
 Telling Lies for Fun and Profit
By Lawrence Block
This is good for beginners as well as on the cusp writers. It covers some practical craft details, but it also covers more philosophical issues of the working writer -- keeping your creative well filled, keeping perspective, writing for a genre. (He's a very successful and prolific mystery writer.) It's also very funny and down-to-earth.
The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers
 By Betsy Lerner
This is fantastic for those who want a behind-the-scenes look at how editors work. She has a very smooth, literary-fiction style of writing, and her chapters of descriptions of writers ("The Natural," "The Neurotic," etc.) are both funny and poignant. Odds are good you'll either recognize yourself or some writer friend at one point or another. And her description of agents & editors is very informative, without being dry.
 The Career Novelist
By Donald Maass
This book will scare the hell out of you if you're not careful, or at least depress you. But it does have some good points, especially when he talks about how packagers work, how to choose an agent, and some checklists to keep an eye on. You'll want to look for the most up-to-date version. Also, have plenty of chocolate handy.
 The Practical Writer
By Poets&Writers Magazine
This collection of essays is geared more for poets and short story writers, or literary fiction writers. Section 3: How to Work Well with Publishing Professionals is worth the price of admission, as far as I'm concerned. It talks about dealing with agents, editor etiquette, and the myth of midlist. Section 4 deals mostly with publicity and promotion, and is also very educational. Again, more geared toward published authors, but I think that it's something all writers are going to need to know at some point. Better to get your feet wet now than scramble to learn as much as you can as a pub date is bearing down on you like a train. (And believe me, it often feels like that.)
The business side of writing is never as fun as the writing itself, that's a given. But there's nothing quite like seeing your book published and in the hands of readers. That alone is worth doing a little homework for! 
First published in the June 2004 issue of the Heart of the Bay newsletter for the San Francisco Area chapter of the RWA. Check out their website at www.sfarwa.com for more information. (posted 4.01.05)
top
|
