How To Be A Writer In The E-Age... And Keep Your E-Sanity! 2013 Edition. [Kindle Edition]

Catherine Ryan Hyde (Author), Anne R. Allen (Author), Saffina Desforges (Introduction)

Book Description

If we’d known the challenges writers would face in the 21st century, we’d have gone into a more stable profession. Maybe running an all-ayatollah drag show in downtown Tehran. Let’s face it. Aspiring writers need help. More so every day. When even seasoned publishing professionals can’t keep up, what’s the newbie to do?

HOW TO BE A WRITER IN THE E-AGE AND KEEP YOUR E-SANITY! is a collaboration between author and wildly successful publishing industry blogger Anne R. Allen (THE CAMILLA RANDALL MYSTERIES) and bestselling international author Catherine Ryan Hyde (PAY IT FORWARD and 17 other novels).

It’s a distillation of mentorship Catherine has provided over the years combined with Anne’s most popular blog advice. It’s the proverbial “What we wish we hadn’t learned the hard way.”

Ebook buyers will receive a FREE updated version every six months to ensure you always have the latest information and advice available as you pursue your writing career.

~

PRAISE FOR CATHERINE RYAN HYDE AND ANNE R. ALLEN:

"Anne Allen is an amazing author advocate and one of my favorite people. Her blogs are a treasure trove of the best information in an ever-changing paradigm, and all writers will benefit now that Anne has written THE book! Anne is one of the strong voices of the Digital Age. She is an encourager, a leader and a wonderful teacher and I am grateful to know her and learn from her. " KRISTEN LAMB, social media expert and author of WE ARE NOT ALONE.
~
"Catherine Ryan Hyde is a magnificent storyteller, an expert at plot and pacing and voice. –THE DENVER POST
~
"Hyde is a remarkable, insightful storyteller, creating full-bodied characters whose dialogue rings true, with not a word to spare. –LIBRARY JOURNAL
~
"I very much admire the work and the philosophy of Catherine Ryan Hyde, and I thank her for what she is doing, and for what she is writing." -- BILL CLINTON.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of 16 published and forthcoming books. Pay It Forward (Simon & Shuster 2000) was adapted into a major motion picture, chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than 24 languages for distribution in over 30 countries. The mass market paperback was released in October 2000 by Pocket Books and quickly became a national bestseller. It is still in print, and was rereleased in a trade paperback edition in April of 2010. She is founder and former president (2000-2009) of the Pay It Forward Foundation. As a professional public speaker she has addressed the National Conference on Education, twice spoken at Cornell University, met with Americorps members at the White House and shared a dais with Bill Clinton. Anne R. Allen is a blogger, humorist, and the author of five comic crime novels. Food of Love, The Gatsby Game, Ghostwriters in the Sky, Sherwood, Ltd and The Best Revenge, published by MWiDP. She’s on the faculty of the Central Coast Writer’s Conference. Her blog, Writing about Writing. Mostly has received kudos from publishing luminaries Janet Reid, Hope C. Clark, Nathan Bransford, and Jane Friedman. It also garnered praise from Internet marketing guru Gary Canie for “laying out a basic plan that inspires you to finally create that blog you’ve been putting off all year,” and was named “Blog of the Week” by the writing/social media team at the blog 3:17 AM. In 2011 New York Times bestselling author and former Dell and Bantam editor, Ruth Harris. Anne grew up in New England, graduated from Bryn Mawr College, and has been an actress, teacher, bookseller, antique dealer, and general office serf—as well as serving as the artistic director of the Patio Playhouse in Escondido, CA. Anne may be best known for her famous tweet, now rotated on Twitter every second Wednesday by Quotes4Writers: “I’m a novelist. Anything you say can be taken down and used against you in a work of fiction.”

Product Details

• File Size: 455 KB
• Print Length: 308 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: MWiDP (Mark Williams international Digital Publishing) (June 24, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B008EKT5UE
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,552 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read For Any Indie Writer August 10, 2012

By Stephen Leather

Format:Kindle Edition

The arrival of the eReader has transformed publishing in a way that most people could barely have imagined just a few years ago. Some writers have grasped the nettle and made a lot of money from eBooks, others have buried their heads in the sand and are seeing their incomes plummet. This book is for those writers who want to make sense of the publishing revolution. The first statement that grabbed my attention was the quote "Learning to write is hard. And earning money from writing is harder." That is so true. Few non-writers understand just how hard it is. But this book can and will make the experience easier. It's packed with information that will help any writer and aspiring ePublisher. It answers pretty much all the questions that I get asked by email, everything from basic writing techniques to blogging and the use of social media. And it is really well written, it flows without being patronising and preachy. It's as if you've sat down in Starbucks next to a couple of writers who give you the benefit of their experience over a cup of coffee. It's published by the team that took the eBook world by storm with the bestseller Sugar and Spice and includes many of the techniques they used to make that book such a success. The best few dollars that any aspiring writer can spend (and about the same cost as a coffee in Starbucks).

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars E-Sanity for the writer in each of us... July 8, 2012

By John Williamson TOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

When two established and respected writers such as Catherine Ryan Hyde & Anne R. Allen team up to write a book about the craft of writing, it's bound to be a good one, and their offering of How To Be A Writer In The E-Age... And Keep Your E-Sanity! is just that. And maybe good is an understatement, because in this 295 page Kindle edition, there is an amazing amount of food for thought.

After an upbeat introduction by the author partnership of Saffina Desforges (Sugar & Spice), we find two separate forwards, one from Catherine Ryan Hyde and the other by Anne R. Allen. This book is about helping novice writers learn the ropes on how to navigate the rapidly changing publishing business, to learn to be the best writer one can be, and above all, to keep on writing.

For those not familiar with them, Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author 18 published and forthcoming novels, including Second Hand Heart, and Jumpstart the World. Some may know her best from Pay It Forward, her book that sparked a superb film and an international movement by the same name. Anne R. Allen is a popular blogger, a humorist, and the author of five comic crime novels. She's the author of The Camilla Randall Mysteries, and also teaches blogging and social media.

There are nine parts to this book, and they pull no punches when it comes to sharing their own personal experiences as writers. Early into this book, the following passage about rejection caught my eye:

"Between the time I wrote my first novel (my critique group didn't much like it) and the time I wrote my third novel (ditto) I was unable to interest an agent in my work. Sound like anybody you know? I sent out about 25 queries with synopses and sample materials, just like they asked me to do. And I waited. And not one single one of those agents wanted to know anything more about me or my novels. They either were not accepting new clients (or claimed they were not), or were 'unable to give my work the enthusiasm it so obviously deserved.' Right, I know. It's incomprehensible. It's not just you."

She went on to explain that over the next year or so she received 122 rejections on about a dozen short stories and no acceptances, but then, and in a short time, acceptances began to roll in:

"So, a year of nothing but rejection. Followed by three story acceptances in the span of two weeks. What does this say about the pattern of acceptance and rejection? So far as I know, nothing. There's not much to be said, because there really is no pattern. A lot of it is just the luck of the draw. Getting the right story to the right editor on the right day."

There's quite a bit of useful information in these pages, and both beginning and experienced writers will find a lot to gain from reading this one. There's a lot about rejection, but it's not negative; it's more about the experiences that these authors went through and how they dealt with it. There's also the balance about successes, and how these were achieved. Towards the end we find this powerful statement from Anne Allen, and it's good food for thought:

"Just as Johannes Gutenberg took power from the ruling priestly caste and gave it to the people--who could then read the Bible and find out for themselves what it said--ebooks are taking power from the ruling publishing caste and letting the people decide for themselves what they want to read. This means more power is now in the hands of readers and writers than any time in history. Thanks to ebooks and social media marketing, writers can now go directly to readers with fresh, innovative ideas and stories."

Interestingly, the authors have noted that this book will be updated every six months, which will ensure it will always have the latest up-to-date information about the rapidly-changing publishing scene. The updated ebook version will be sent to you free of charge if you add your email address to their mailing list, and this can be done easily in the final pages of this Kindle edition.

Whether you're a neophyte to publishing, a wannabe writer, or one familiar with the ins and outs of getting you book out there in print, there's a lot of excellent info in these pages. Kudos to both authors for bringing this one to market, and even more so for making this an upgradable edition. If you're interested in pursuing the craft of writing, then this one is highly recommended. It has brought me a couple steps closer to my own writing goals.

7/8/2012

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone who's serious about self-publishing August 7, 2012

By Claude Nougat

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

All I can say is I wish I'd read this before I started to self-publish a year ago...This is full of really useful information to help newbies avoid all the usual newbie mistake (and shoot themselves in the foot, ensuring their books don't sell). Just to unveil one juicy bit of information that will give you the flavor of the whole book: Amanda Hocking is well known for her success with her Trylle trilogy - but what is not so well known is that she uploaded eight titles all together (including of course the trilogy) and at one go. Not one by one, nor year after year as newbies tend to do. And there's plenty more info of this sort that I bet you hadn't heard of...

Also it doesn't hurt to have the points of views and experience from two successful (and very different) professional writers. It makes for an enjoyable reading experience, as you go back and forth between each author. Well done and fully deserving the five stars in a market that is a little overwhelming with if anything too many guidebooks lying around...At least this one is worth the read!