The Marshall Plan for Getting Your Novel Published: 90 Strategies and Techniques for Selling Your Fiction [Hardcover]

Evan Marshall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2003

In this, the third book in the popular Marshall Plan series, noted author and agent Evan Marshall focuses readers on making a good novel better and taking the next step of sending work to editors and agents - all with an insider's knowledge. He teaches them how to: - Improve dialogue, tension and pace - Edit for clarity, concision and correctness - Approach agents and editors the right way - Evaluate their relationships with editors and publishers - Successfully promote their novel - Outline the steps for a dream career path In all, readers will find 87 no-nonsense tips for writing professional quality fiction, plus detailed advice on submitting their work, selecting - and working with - a publisher, and promoting their finished novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The third entry in the eponymous series by author and agent Marshall covers everything from writing good dialogue to finding an agent to promoting the published book. Faced with more submissions than ever, Marshall says, editors and agents are looking for reasons to say no-they try to find the "telltale signs that a writer doesn't write well or isn't professional, or doesn't have a fresh idea." First, Marshall offers basic (and very specific) rules on how to produce writing that's saleable: "Rather than simply telling us how a place looks, work that description into the fabric of the story"; "If you're describing something that is actually made up of a number of separate elements (a crowd, a flower garden, a city street), name the object first, then focus on a telling detail or two." He discusses how to use a few, effective particulars to describe a character; how to write a synopsis and query letter that will spark an agent's interest; the usefulness of writers' conferences and contests; and ways to tell a good publishing offer from a bad one. These tips from an experienced publishing hand will be indispensable to those trying to enter from afar the intense competition to have a novel published. Those with highly literary tastes may want to find another how-to-publish volume, however, as Marshall uses Jackie Collins, David Baldacci and other popular authors to illustrate various aspects of good fiction, and his "Plotting Made Easy" section seems best suited to genre fiction.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Evan Marshall is a successful literary agent and author with nearly 30 years of publishing experience. A true industry insider, he's written The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing and The Marshall Plan Workbook, as well as several mysteries.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 246 pages
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books (May 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158297196X
• ISBN-13: 978-1582971964
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,344,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Evan Marshall is an internationally recognized expert on fiction writing and author of the "Hidden Manhattan" and "Jane Stuart and Winky" mystery series. A former book editor, for 27 years he has been a leading literary agent specializing in fiction. His Marshall Plan® Novel Writing Software, written with Martha Jewett, is an adaptation of his bestselling Marshall Plan® series.

Marshall Plan® blogs:
http://www.WriteANovelFast.com
http://www.WriteYourMemoir.com

Psychology Today - The Literary Life:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-literary-life

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/TheMarshallPlanet

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/MarshallPlanet

Evan Marshall's mysteries:
http://www.evan-marshall.com

Evan's LinkedIn Profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/themarshallplanet

E-mail: [e-mail]

6 Tristam Place
Pine Brook, NJ 07058

T 973.882.1122

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wealth of practical, "real world" advice, November 16, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Marshall Plan for Getting Your Novel Published: 90 Strategies and Techniques for Selling Your Fiction (Hardcover)

In The Marshall Plan For Getting Your Novel Published: 90 Strategies And Techniques For Selling Your Fiction, successful literary agent Evan Marshall draws upon his more than of 30 years' publishing experience and expertise to offer a wealth of practical, "real world" advice to penning professional quality fiction, including different writing modes to reflect action, dialogue, summary, background, or feelings, as well as the principles to keep in mind when submitting one's work, telling a good publishing offer from a bad one, taking full advantage of the services of an editor, and more. Highly recommended for beginning writers seeking to have their novels and short story collections profitably published, The Marshall Plan For Getting Your Novel Published should be in the Writing & Publishing reference collections of all university and community libraries.