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4.0 out of 5 stars
Well, Should You Buy the Book?, December 11, 2008
This review is from: The New Writer's Handbook: Volume 2: A Practical Anthology of Best Advice for Your Craft and Career (New Writer's Handbook: A Practical Anthology of Best Advice for Your Craft & Career) (Paperback)
[Note: This review is reposted from my writing blog]
I admit to some skepticism when first contacted by the book's editor. After all, who would buy a collection of essays about writing, most of which can already be found on the Intertubes for free?
After reading the finished product, I'd have to say I'm wrong.
In an age of hyper-specialization - where niches are mercilessly targeted and "content producers" are urged to never set foot outside their Google-driven boundaries - an eclectic collection of essays about writing fires the imagination, and provides a respite from what I'll cavalierly describe as the 140-character rat race.
From the publishers:
With new contributors, ranging from bestselling "queen of medical thrillers" Tess Gerritsen to Newbery Medal winner Lois Lowry, the strength of Volume 2 lies with its eclecticism: articles move from collaborative advice to teaching writing in elementary schools -- and even includes physical stretches for those spending too much time sitting in front of a screen.
The content features a preface by Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004-06, and appearances by literary bloggers, independent publishers, agents, journalists and a writer who--believe it or not--received nearly 500 rejection notices before finally striking success.
Here's a quote from the editor:
The perfect Handbook user is the writer who wants to improve his or her writing skills, in small but practical ways. Not all at once, but in little chunks, with short readings, a couple of pages at a time.
While most is most useful to emerging writers, I picked pieces I thought would be thought-provoking, practical, and entertaining to experienced pros.
As a long-time editor of writing guides, I know that real learning happens in small bits, here and there.
Of course, every book of essays culled from the different sources would necessarily suffer a certain lack of continuity. The Writer's Handbook is no exception.
And yes - without pointing a finger - I'd say blogging's tendency to reward speed and quantity over quality sometimes rears its head in the essays found in this book, though most of the essays are excellent.
As someone who believes writing serves a purpose beyond driving SEO traffic, I think the New Writer's Handbook is excellent nightstand material. Read "Diary of a Novel" by Will Weaver at night, and you'll wake up the next morning with a stronger appreciation for what novel writers suffer for their craft. (No, I don't have a financial interest in the book, and I'm not getting paid for this review).
It's probable that young copywriters have never felt more pressure to produce words than they do today, yet an excessively narrow, nose-to-the-grindstone perspective is not a prescription for long-term survival. Widening our horizons a bit can't hurt, and reading a book like this is one good way to accomplish that.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
I'm No Writer, September 26, 2009
This review is from: The New Writer's Handbook: Volume 2: A Practical Anthology of Best Advice for Your Craft and Career (New Writer's Handbook: A Practical Anthology of Best Advice for Your Craft & Career) (Paperback)
I only ordered this book because I wanted to have read and reviewed every published work of Cynthea Liu prior to meeting her in person. As it turned out, I needn't have bothered because, "Status Queries", the article included in this book was later expanded into chapter 9 of her
Writing for Children and Teens: A Crash Course (How to Write, Revise, and Publish a Kid's or Teen Book with Children's Book Publishers), which I already owned, along with her two novels:
The Great Call of China (S.A.S.S.) and
Paris Pan Takes the Dare.
Nevertheless, I am not sorry to have purchased it because every other item was new to me and IMHO quite astonishingly useful and informative! Though I am, as I freely admit, no writer (I'm a firm believer in the adage that those who can, write; those who cannot, review.), I found this book just chock full of what struck me at least as tips useful to any kind of writer, even lowly writers of reviews like myself. Pithy and short for the most part, I believe these pieces are best perused one at a time, rather than being read straight through. Ironically most of them are available free on the Internet, but the effort to hunt them down yourself would use up time better spent writing.
Now I find myself sorely tempted to purchase the first volume:
The New Writer's Handbook 2007: A Practical Anthology of Best Advice for Your Craft and Career.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Cynthia Murphy for Breeni Books, January 26, 2009
This review is from: The New Writer's Handbook: Volume 2: A Practical Anthology of Best Advice for Your Craft and Career (New Writer's Handbook: A Practical Anthology of Best Advice for Your Craft & Career) (Paperback)
Writing is a tricky business. For many writers, striking a balance between the creative and commercial aspects of the craft is the biggest challenge of all. The New Writer's Handbook: Volume 2 offers over 60 articles filled with advice regarding both sides of the business. Philip Martin edited this volume and contributed two articles. It is a great resource for all different types of writers.
The New Writer's Handbook: Volume 2 is broken down into six sections: "Creativity and Motivation", "The Craft of Writing", "Pitching Your Work", "Internet Marketing Skills", Business Savvy", and "Last Words and Literary Thoughts". Each section features articles covering various facets of the chosen topic. The section on pitching your work should be particularly helpful for writers struggling to get their work published. Jean Ready's "Ten Ways to Land a First Assignment" demystifies the process of landing freelance work. She explains the risks for editors and what writers can do to prove they pose minimal risk. Ready even quotes a number of freelance writers throughout the article. In this article and throughout the book, the articles provide helpful, practical advice for all types of writers.
The "Internet Marketing" section will also be particularly helpful for modern writers. It focuses on blogging. There are articles about why a blog can be a great marketing tool for writers and how to make a blog successful. I also particularly enjoyed Ron McDaniel's "Evaluating Blog Results: Does Your Blog Suck or Succeed?" This article covers the different ways to measure the success of a blog. Some of the measures seemed unusual, but they worked for the author.
For all writers, the "Business Savvy" section could prove to be invaluable. A writer may be the most talented person since Ernest Hemingway, but business savvy could make all the difference in his career. This is one area that creative writing programs consistently ignore, yet business knowledge is extremely important for professional writers. It may not be the most exciting section of the book, but the "Business Savvy" section should be required reading for anyone who wants to earn a living through writing revenue.
One of my favorite aspects of this book is its variety. The articles come from all different types of writers- poets, novelists, children's authors, etc. I have to admit I was impressed by the variety of authors. One of my childhood favorites, Lois Lowry, was even included. Agent Michael Bourret contributed a very interesting piece entitled "A Day in the Life of a Literary Agent." This article provides an informative look at the other side of the writing process. It is good to know what might happen to a manuscript after it leaves the author's hands.
Overall the selection of articles provides a nice mix of information and entertainment. However, one article doesn't seem to fit. There is an article entitled "Simple Stretches for Writers" in the "Business Savvy" section. This article doesn't seem to really fit anywhere in the book. It is an interesting article that would be beneficial to anyone who sits at a computer all day, but it just doesn't fit with the rest of this section. The inclusion of this article probably would not have bothered me if the book had a looser construction. Yet, every other article seems perfectly placed, so this misstep is glaringly obvious.
The New Writer's Handbook: Volume 2 should be required reading for anyone with dreams of being a published author. It covers the creative and commercial aspects in practical terms with articles from proven authors. I learned quite a bit about the business side of writing. Philip Martin has done a masterful job of editing this "practical anthology."
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