Customer Reviews

The Career Novelist: A Literary Agent Offers Strategies for Success

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I've read a number of books by agents, but none of them have focused on the needs, expectations, hopes, and mistakes of the fiction writer like this book does. Donald Maass is a triple publishing expert: a former editor, a published fiction author, and a successful literary agent. Reading the book, I felt like I had been introduced to my long lost uncle by marriage to my second cousin, who, upon learning of my interest in the publishing world, freely shared all his expertise. While dining at his favorite restaurant (my treat of course) he told me what really happens in the publishing world. How do publishers afford those astronomical advances I see in Publishers Weekly? How does he choose the query letters that make him want to see a manuscript? How do authors help, or more often, hurt their careers? Now I know. He also shares his formula for calculating when a published author can make the leap into full-time writing without undue fear of crashing back to earth and having to get a job at the local convenience store to meet the bills. The best non-fiction books educate while entertaining, and Maass' friendly, chatty style is the Madeira sauce on this highly satisfying, juicy slice of steak.

The down-to-earth, practical, useful advice in this book can't be had for money (or wait . . . it can be had for the price of this book . . .)

Donald Maass has been an agent for longer than I can imagine and he has been a novelist in his own right for years. The man knows the market. He knows what kinds of lies writers tell themselves and what kinds of fantasies interfere with getting the job done -- writing and selling your novel.

Far from being a commodity-centered approach to the modern market this book is a sympathetic account of how to do it and what to watch out for from a man with a lifetime's experience in writing, production, and sales.

I keep buying copies to give to friends and acquaintances who have a novel and want to market it. While some of his information can be had from other sources, his depth of knowledge and all-round market savvy is worth its weight in gold for anybody with a novel who wants to know what's next.

This is not your typical "how to become a writer" book. It is not aimed at the novice scribbler who is certain he/she will be the next J.K. Rowlings. It is for those who have already proven their skill as a writer but want to know more of the hard and sometimes depressing facts about the business end of writing.

With 50,000 titles being published every year, bookstores simply don't have the shelf space to accomodate them all. That fact results in a competitive mindset that makes a term like "back-stabbing shark" seem mild in comparison. And for a writer to enter this book-publisher/book-seller world, he/she needs to be aware of a few indisputable facts.

The competition is fierce. The struggle is difficult. The progress is slow. And the financial rewards--for most non-blockbuster writers--are depressingly small. Nevertheless, it is a world that the career writer must be aware of, accept, and learn how to cope with.

Maass explains and defines terms like "publisher's profit," "returns," "sell through," "voodoo numbers," "ship-in," "100,000-copy first printing," "the $25,000 advance," and "rate of sales," among others. These are the terms that serious writers need to know about and understand, whether they write book-length fiction or book-length non-fiction.

Maas also discusses the value of self-promotion, press kits, the publicist, book signings, advertising, media connections, etc. He also explains why "trash" usually sells and "literature" usually doesn't.

In short, this is an excellent book for any writer who wants to make a career out of novel writing, but also wants an honest, objective, realistic, and insider's view of the real world of Big Business Publishing.

Russ Heitz
Suspense Novelist
[...]

Millions of people have written a novel and want to get it published. Some of them grow frustrated with the business of commercial publishing so they self-publish and have a garage full of product that they are trying to sell--mistake in my view. Others send out their novel a few times to an agent or publisher, gather some rejection slips and put away their dream work into a desk drawer.

With the wisdom in this book, you don't have to take either step. Instead you can gain the wisdom and insight from this former book editor, novelist and successful literary agent.

As Maass writes for the final sentence of his introduction, "Solutions, strategies, knowledge, practical plans, damage control, managing success . . . in short, the path of the career novelist. That is what this book is all about."

Where you get your wisdom about novels and the business of publishing is critical in my view. Get this book. Read it once, flag pages and highlight them. Then read it again. It's worth that sort of careful study in my view. Highly recommended for the seasoned and would-be novelist.

Check out Donald Maaas' website and you'll be able to download this book as a pdf for free.

Donald Maass is not only a wonderful agent, but a terrific author as well. His book is easy to read and invaluable for any serious writer. His knowledge and experience are extraordinary, but most impressive of all is his character and integrity as an agent. Buy this book!

This is the kind of work that can serve as a writer's bible. Would-be authors would do well to read it immediately, and numerous professional authors have stated that they only wished it had been written when they were just starting out. Maass' twenty years of experience both as a fiction author, and now, as a very successful agent, serve as a wealth of practical information for planning and executing a writing career. This work addresses the writer's artistic concerns, but more importantly, delves into the numerous aspects of the "business" of writing, something that most authors would wish to ignore. Buy it now, before you write another word

Donald Maass, a very successful literary agent in New York City, is letting down one of his most important clients: himself. He should see the potential for more and bigger advances and royalties for himself by writing an update of what would otherwise be a very strong book for beginning novelists. However, this book - published in 1996 - is sadly outdated. He keeps referring to the economic status of the 1990s and how it affects the publishing business. Now, two decadeslater, that status has drastically downgraded. Further, two new and important developments in today's book business are not even mentioned: the electronic book, such as Amazon's Kindle, and self-publishing. Further, in his observations of the future, he states Disney/ABC would never cancel All My Children. Well, we know the outcome of that prediction. There is much in the book worth reading, but the final third makes me, the reader, wonder about the value of what has gone on before. If he updates it, I will buy it. You can take that to the bank, Mr. Maass. Update added 1/14/12 - Donald Maass has updated this book with his 2010 book titled "The Breakout Novelist." In fact, this book combines all of his early works. This new edition should become a bible for fiction writers.

Donald Maas, has been there, done that. For a serious look at the nuts and bolts of trying to make a living as a writer, this book is the best.

Donald Maass has a great talent in putting things into perspective. Getting an agent isn't the end of the road it is just the beginning and there are things to look out for and Mr. Maass has done an excellent job in outlining them for you. You should read this book!!! Sure he mentions the 1990's far too often which dates the book and some of his concerns are outdated but on a whole the piece tells volumes about what to expect. I think he should update this book and republish it.