Books on Publishing
Reviewed by: T.J. Nelson
Book Proposals That Sell:
21 Secrets to Speed Your Success
W. Terry Whalin
brief, highly readable introduction to getting your nonfiction book
accepted by a publisher. Unlike novels, almost all nonfiction books
are sold to a publisher before they are written; indeed, most editors
will automatically reject a manuscript that arrives unsolicited on
their desk. Whalin describes how to write your book proposal in clear,
unpretentious language.
Thinking Like Your Editor:
How to Write Great Serious
Nonfiction--and Get It Published
Susan Rabiner
ho says there aren't any more feminist editors? Ms. Rabiner, a former
acquisitions editor, is not ashamed to admit that her personal ideology
sometimes plays an important role in whether a book is accepted for publication.
Unlike most other books on this subject, Rabiner also gives some tips on
writing nonfiction.
While she's clearly very knowledgeable about how books get published, and
gives generally good advice, her ideology cramps her writing style: it's a
mess of screechingly inconsistent and inappropriate gender-biased pronouns
which manage to give the impression of modern editors not as defenders of
intellectual freedom, but as ideologically inbred gatekeepers, dedicated
to preserving their hold over the country's intellectual discourse. A
male aspiring writer, in particular, would be justified in wondering whether
he would receive fair treatment from Rabiner and her fellow editors. That
impression may be false, but to correct that perception, this book badly
needed an editor. Oh, wait....
See also Writing Books
Professors as Writers:
A Self-Help Guide to Productive Writing
Robert Boice
therapeutic guide to academics who are afraid to start writing
a paper. In my experience, victims of this particular phobia are
about as common as pink spotted unicorns. Writing is thinking.
If someone who has made it to "professor" is still unable to write
a paper, it means either that they haven't learned how to think or
that they are afraid to think. And they should consider the very
real possibility that this is why they have nothing to say.
The First Five Pages:
A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile
Noah Lukeman
ost fiction writers are painfully aware that 99% of all manuscripts
are rejected. As the editors see it, their job is to find a reason
to reject your manuscript. They can usually tell whether your tome is a
stinker within the first five pages. This book's strength is the examples
of truly awful paragraphs that would put your novel in the 'reject' pile.
But the advice is basic. If you're making the mistakes described in this
book, you should forget about writing and take a class in remedial English
composition.
