Author(s): Sharlene Martin and Anthony Flacco
Genre': How to
Publishing Platform: Traditional: Writer's Digest Books
Media Type(s): eBook (digital), Paper (softbound)
Description:"Publish Your Nonfiction Book" goes beyond query letter and proposal basics to give readers a broader insider understanding of what the publishing industry is really like and how to navigate it successfully in order to ensure a long-term career. To this end, the book explores:
how to determine if you have the skills, background, and unique 'it' factor necessary to successfully write and sell a nonfiction book;
how to target your audience;
how to start building your platform (and when to begin);
how to decide if you need an agent to get published (why/why not);
how an agent sells a nonfiction book;
how an editor sells a nonfiction book to his/her publishing house;
what a contract encompasses;
the author/agent, author/editor, author/agent/editor relationships;
what happens after the contract is signed (the writing and development process);
how books get on store shelves and what you can do once it does;
and, the next book (when to start, etc.).
Review or Recommendation:
The path to publishing is a miserable hike. Writing the first draft, attending literary conferences, creating the dreaded proposal, attempting to build a "platform" and sending the crackerjack query letter. Each step seems more formidable than the last. Scratch the surface of a "yet to be published" author and you will uncover an assorted bundle of resentment and jealousy for authors whose published books they deem less worthy and a modicum of encouragement from tales of those who were finally published after receiving hundreds of rejections. There are many, many good "how to get published" books on the market including Judith Applebaum's, "How to Get Happily Published," Jason Shinder's, "Get Your First Book Published," Paul Brown's "Publishing Confidential," and of course Michael Larsen's, "How To Write a Book Proposal." However "Publish Your Nonfiction Book," by Sharlene Martin and Anthony Flacco gives the best advice about landing a mainstream publisher. They also cover the essential basics but offer an additional element about the realities of sending out a query letter or book proposal. The reader gets to be inside the head and behind the desk of a literary agent. It's quite the ride. While other guides to publication only offer advice on the basics, Martin and Flacco entertain its readers with genuine examples of truly wacky queries and real life examples of effective letters and proposals that sold both the agent and the publisher. Where this book takes a major turn in differentiating from the others is in Chapter 1 under "Psychological Preparation." Martin and Flacco extract and examine the crucial element of rejection. In the highly competitive world of getting published, rejection is the chief annihilator of first time authors. If one can learn to deal with rejection that comes from agents as well as publishers, they may feel less victimized. As well, by heeding the advice in this book, the would-be author may well survive emotionally as well as achieve success. The self-inflicted damage from real or imagined disrespect will affect not only how a writer perceives his or her work, but quite possibly result in a damaging response to potential agents or publishers. Another incandescent piece of advice is a dose of reality and the power of patience. Understanding what goes on in the agent's world and putting that professional advice to work will take a prospective author a long way towards dealing with rejection as well as a much better relationship with a literary agency. The book also does a good job of delineating the legal literary issues of rights, the many different forms of nonfiction, preparing the book proposal and creating the crucial platform or the credentials by which the author is known in the market for which the book is written. I highly recommend this book to any writer of nonfiction. There is much more information here that is useful than others. | ||||
Link to bookseller: The Writer's Digest Shop
Posts
