Customer Reviews

How to Write & Sell Your First Novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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?"

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.

I have been dabbling at writing a novel for some time now, but my motivation always lagged halfway through because of a lack of verifiable information on how to actually write and sell a novel. This book has been an inspiration to me and has kept me on the straight and narrow as I write my novel. Hopefully it will be on Amazon.com sometime soon!

This is not the best writing book for those who have already read such books and for those who are already somewhat expiereinced at writing; That, however, is not who it is targeted at or who it is best for (as the title suggests). It is for people who are interested inwriting but have probably not started--or just not been at it long--who are new to writing books. It is great at providing the basic and practical advice every writer needs in the beginning, and it provides a very important asset for the beginner: motivation.

I have read Gardner's monsterpiece as well as Forster's and have come to the conclusion that this book is preferable to both. Why? It's written by an editor, not a writer, so it is vastly more objective than anything an author of fiction could produce. Unromantic to a fault, it is packed with good, old, common sense advice on how to write a publishable book.

This book is disappointing! I had it on my shelf for years and finally got around to opening it up and diving in. I was let down because it tries to do too much with too little.

It is split into two parts, the first comprising a rundown of writing tips, and the second being a series of author success stories. In my view, the first part is a complete waste of time. And resources. The writing tips read hollow and pithy; it is obvious an agent or publisher wrote them -- not a writer. So if you're looking for a good, in-depth book on novel writing, definitely look elsewhere.

For as much as I was ready to toss this tome, the second half is its saving grace. Part Two contains real-life accounts about the dedication, determination, and perseverence that it took for several famous (and not-so-famous) authors to get published. Even though the book is somewhat dated (1986), I believe it still provides relevant insights into the challenges involved and the strategies necessary for getting published in today's market.

I have read Gardner's monsterpiece as well as Forster's and have come to the conclusion that this book is preferable to both. Why? It's written by an editor, not a writer, so it is vastly more objective than anything an author of fiction could produce. Unromantic to a fault, it is packed with good ol', common sense advice on how to write a publishable book.

I really found this book to be very helpful. Great tips from people who obviously know the score.

I found this book interesting and helpful. The first part goes over briefly the steps of writing a novel and getting published. The second part shares the experiences of other writers. If you are not interested in the second part, purchase a different how to book. Although part one was helpful, it is only a quick view of what you need to know. Of the whole book, I did find Chapter 4 inspiring. You are basically walked through the four steps of what you need to know about your book before you begin writing. This book is worth the read, just don't rely on it to take you all the way to the publisher's desk. Of course this is only one writer's opinion. I have seen here that others found this book extremely helpful.