How to Write & Sell Your First Novel [Paperback]

Oscar Collier (Author), Frances Spatz Leighton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 1997

Even the most famous novelists had to start somewhere. Now you can make your start - successfully - with this book.

Literary agent Oscar Collier and successful freelance writer Frances Spatz Leighton team up to give you practical, specific advice on how to write your first novel and get it published. You'll find 100 expert tips, including:

Solid Writing Instruction

• choose the kind of novel you want to write
  
  
• make characters, dialogue and plot work together to keep your reader (and prospective editor) turning the pages
  
  
• determine how many characters your story needs
  
  
• establish a daily writing routine that works for you - and gets your novel finished
  
  
• revise, edit and prepare your manuscript for submission

Expert Marketing Advice

• the pros and cons of using an agent - and how to represent yourself if you so choose
  
  
• contract negotiations
  
  
• publicity and self-promotion basics

Actual Case Histories

• Conversations with Five New Novelists, a chapter dedicated to enlightening and inspiring interviews with newly published authors
  
  
• valuable insight into the working methods, attitudes and specific strategies superstar novelists used to get published - to help you start building your own success

"This book should inspire many yearners to start writing and stop talking about doing so. It is rich with tactical, down-to-earth information on how to write novels and content with agents and publishers."


-Howard Cady, former editor-in-chief of Little, Brown; Putnam's; and Holt, Rhinehart & Winston

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

For years, Writer’s Digest Books has been the go-to brand for providing writers with everything they need to know to write well and get published. The Writer’s Digest Classics series is made up of carefully selected best-selling books, each of which presents timeless information that continues to resonate with writers.

About the Author

Oscar Collier was a successful literary agent, writer, and former editor. Frances Spatz Leighton is the author of over thirty books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books; 3 Revised edition (July 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898797705
• ISBN-13: 978-0898797701
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #219,601 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most helpful, practical book I've read on writing a novel., July 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Write & Sell Your First Novel (Paperback)

I've read more than a few good books on writing; several are quite inspirational. The difference here is that this book is practical. I wrote my first novel following the guidelines set forth in Collier and Leighton's book, and I sold it to a major publishing company. Inspiration is great; inspiration plus methodology is better.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some irrelevant information, June 25, 2000

By 

Duaa Anwar "Dressage rider/ Author" (Cairo, Egypt) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Write & Sell Your First Novel (Paperback)

The book started out extremely well, the first chapter was inspirational and very informative. The second chapter explained the different genres of fiction, i.e. mainstream, romance, mystery, etc. Further along the book, I found the book was most practical in its advice on preparing your final draft and submitting it to publishers.

The second part of the book is basically a biography covering the lives of several authors. Some were quite interesting as they were compressed into two or three pages, such as the careers of John Grisham, Stephen King, and Mary Higgins Clark. I do admit those were very inspirational as well.

The disappointment was in the long, extensive, and detailed biographies of George O'Toole, Steven Linakis and a few others. I believe this was hardly relevant to the subject; one may think they were included in the book for inspiration to the reader, but the amount of detail that is put in there about the authors' lives may tend to leave you wondering, "He (Oscar) could've said that in a page, why'd he use up 8 pages?"

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some Areas Helpful - Others Dated, January 5, 2001

By 

FictionAddiction.NET - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Write & Sell Your First Novel (Paperback)

The publishing world is changing so fast. The advent of E-Publishers and Print-on-Demand has also changed the industry.

Even though this book has a 1997 publishing date, some of the info is already dated. Don't get me wrong, there are sections that are very helpful. I've had the book three years and find myself flipping through it as a back-up to my other information.

Honestly, though, you can probably find more accurate info on the Internet than this book can really offer now.