Customer Reviews

How to Publish Your Nonfiction Book (Square One Writer's Guide)

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I'll begin my review of this book with a confession of my personal bias. Rudy Shur was my mentor. When I had a vague idea of a book I wanted to write, I sent a proposal to him, and he got back to me in 3 days. Even though he was the busy CEO of health publishing leader Avery Press, he spent very literally hundreds of hours helping me over two years, mostly evenings and weekends, by email and phone. With consummate patience he taught me how to define my audience, empathize with my readers, and distinguish my book from the competition. He gave me an editor who made every sentence clear, and then a designer who made my words fit the page. But the most important thing the author of this book taught me was how to write a book with a picture of every page in my mind as I composed it. I have since written (and sold) six more books, and it's largely due to Rudy Shur that I can live comfortably and do what I love to do.

What you will find in this book is a step-by-step, practical approach to placing your book. This book contains comprehensive sections on finding the right place for your book, understanding the economics of your book and treating your potential publisher like a human being, and making your deal. As an author who's written enough books to have more than a few things go wrong, I can only say that every contingency I've experienced or heard of is covered in this book. For writers who have limited time to read, the book is laid out to include summaries of key points:

Questions about where your book fits in: Hardback? Soft cover? Trade? Mass market? Which publisher.

A section that could have been titled "Ten Kisses of Death for a Submission Package"

Warning signs of a contract that won't work

and

a checklist to make doubly sure that the publisher to whom you are entrusting years of your life is the right publisher for you, as well as many others.

The book also presents the Square One system, which is the publisher's view of what made over 1,000 sucessful books successful.

If you want a step-by-step, comprehensive, encouraging guide to getting published, you just can't do better that How to Publish Your Nonfiction Book. No first-time author should be without it.

Granted I went about things the unusual way to get my two non-fiction books published (was lucky enough to find a great agent), but I wanted to see how things were supposed to work. I'm happy to report that the author knows what he's talking about! My agent taught me much of what he writes, but if you don't have an agent (or don't need one), this is the fastest and most painless way to figure out how to avoid the "slush" pile(where most unsolicited manuscripts go). He provides the format for the 5-6 pages of material you need to send (do NOT send the whole book) and explains the most common mistakes that just about anyone would make if they didn't read this kind of book first. Extremely useful, well laid out and easy to follow.

This is the best author's guide to getting published that I've seen in nearly 30 years in the business. It's well written, reader-friendly, entertaining, informative and gives you easy-to-follow steps on getting published. What more could you want in one book?

Exceptionally pragmatic guidelines are cleverly presented in nifty features such as 8 Basic Rules, 8 Steps to submission, and 10 Common submission errors. You also get some very practical sample cover letters and tons of helpful hints in the margins. You'll no doubt find the glossary of publishing jargon and the resource directory to be very helpful as well. The "SquareOne" book classification system is a remarkably clear and simple guide to the taxonomy of nonfiction books. Essential knowledge for getting publishers to understand, and accept, your work; it should be read before you actually begin to write.

I'm particularly impressed with Shur's chapter 7:The Deal (on the publishing contract) and chapter 8:When It Doesn't Happen (on what to do when you don't get a contract).

This extremely valuable how-to author's guide is so complete as to be just as useful to published authors as well as first-time writers. And, thanks to Shur's motivating encouragement to would-be authors, I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever said "someday, I'm gonna write a book."

If you are writing a non-fiction book or you write non-fiction I recommend you pick up a copy of How To Publish Your Nonfiction Book" today. I am sure you will find it a very helpful and useful guide to publishing your non-fiction book.


This book guides you, step-by-step, through the publishing process. Author, Rudy Shur, will tell you how to choose the right publisher, how to prepare your submission package, how to negotiate a deal, and much more. In addition, he gives an easy-to-use glossary, resource list, and index at the end of the book. You will refer back repeatedly to this one book.

My book, the "PICTORIAL GUIDE TO SILVERED MERCURY GLASS," (Collector Books - 2005) and available right here on AMAZON, may have not been published if it weren't for the brilliant "Square One System" which describes the step-by-step process to get your book published.
I read this book from cover to cover, and virtually over and over, often re-reading key chapters again and again. I followed the exact steps for submission as outlined by Mr. Shur, and the editor at Collector Books agreed to publish my work!
Rudy Shur is himself an acquisitions editor, and understands the nuances of proper presentation. My earlier attempts at submitting manuscripts failed, but after strict adherence to the processes explained in this book, I am now a published author!
In a format that reads like advice from a "friend in the business," this easy to follow book will really help you, as it did me!

Recommended to all who are serious-minded about publishing their non-fiction work!

Diane Lytwyn

This is a commonsensical and practical approach to getting your nonfiction book to the market. You won't need another book--great for its systematic overview of the industry, and how to approach it.

Book came sooner than expected and it was in great shape! I would buy again from this seller.

I bought this essential guide to the world of publishing in 2001 and I've bought copies for friends every few months since. Rudy Shur offers a simple explanation of how publishers, such as himself, work in the real world, and what you really need to know to satisfy them (hint: treat publishers like people). I was a dabbler in non-fiction writing before I've read this book, and although there's no doubt following Mr. Shur's suggestions are a lot of work, I've managed to get contracts for four books with New York publishers since then, selling a total of 180,000 copies. You can tell from this review that a brilliant writer I'm not--but maybe you aren't either, and your message is exactly what some publisher who has his or her own editorial staff is looking for. Your chances of success are greatly enhanced if you take this book's clear and actionable advice to heart.

I bought this - fortunately secondhand and cheap- based on the reviews here. It is not worth it. The copy I received had 'discard' stamped on the second page!! Good advice. Most of the info here you can find on the Net. Its biggest problem is that this is a book that was written long ago and then 'sort of' updated.... badly - ironic in a book that is giving non-fiction authors advice about how to get published!! It contains the lines 'if you have typewriter or computer handy', a section titled 'E-queries - a High-Tech approach to book proposals' and blatantly bad advice in suggesting that you send your sample chapters as email attachments. With so many viruses these days, it would go in the trash unread.
There's a few things useful to absolute newbies, but for advice to budding NF authors look elsewhere.

Book publishing is one of the most competitive markets there are. The downturn in the national economy has compounded the difficulty for first time authors getting published. This is especially true when dealing with non-fiction subject matter. In "How To Publish Your Nonfiction Book", veteran publisher Rudy Shur (currently head of the editorial program of Square on Publishers) draws upon his extensive experience and expertise to compile a 233-page compendium covering every aspect of publishing a non-fiction title. Novice authors in particular will appreciate the descriptions of how publishing actual works, how to maximize chances of acceptance when submitting a manuscript for publication, evaluating publisher contracts, dealing with common publication problems and pitfalls, potential resources available to authors seeking publication, and so much more. Enhanced with the inclusion of a glossary, an extensive resource list, and a comprehensive index, "How To Publish Your Nonfiction Book" is thoroughly 'user friendly', informed, informative, and strongly recommended for anyone seeking to turn their ideas and researches into a published non-fiction title that will prove to be successful for library acquisitions, academia, as well as the general reading public.