Writing to Sell - A Practical Guide to Creating and Marketing your Writing, By One of the Country's Most Successful Literary Agents [Hardcover]

Scott Meredith (Author), Arthur C. Clarke (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1987

With this guide, writers can learn how to create good fiction and publish profitably, guided by the timeless advice of the man who built the legendary literary agency that still bears his name. Includes information on creating characters, plotting a novel, formatting the manuscript, deciphering a publishing contract, and more.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 227 pages
• Publisher: Harper Collins; 3 Rev Sub edition (April 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060156376
• ISBN-13: 978-0060156374
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,101,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is my Bible, September 2, 2002

By 

Matthew Woodring Stover - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing to Sell (Hardcover)

When I was given this book, I had never been paid for my fiction. Now I make a living at it; in fact, since I started applying these principles to my fiction, I've never FAILED to sell a novel. I've sold nine so far.

This book contains everything you need to know.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on the market for the first-time writer, March 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Writing to Sell (Hardcover)

If you've ever thought that maybe you had a novel in you, then this is the book to help bring it out. This book contains the best overall look at writing a novel around. While it's far from being exhaustive in content, it does give you a good picture of all aspects of writing including the pros and cons of agents, how to write a great query letter, how to build a go-for-the-throat beginning, and how to create a leave-them-speechless ending. Don't miss the chapter: "Stuffing the Hollow Man" - an inc

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Craft-of-Novel Primer, February 27, 2003

By 

Dorion Sagan (East Coast, USA and Toronto) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Writing to Sell (Hardcover)

First appearing in 1950, and a hilarious 1974 introduction by the redoubtable Arthur C. Clarke, pioneering literary agent Scott Meredith's (I923-1993) Writing to Sell is an excellent tool for the aspiring writer. Meredith has a deep understanding of the marketplace (although some of his observations have become dated), as well as of what makes plots work (his original aspiration was to be a science fiction writer).He generalizes the successful plot as one in which an initial conflict is complicated to a climax, makes useful distinctions (e.g., between "incident" and "story") and gives many practical suggestions on novel writing and revising. (There is one chapter devoted to nonfiction.) Perhaps reflecting Meredith's financial success, there is a tendency to equate literary success entirely with sales reminiscent of Mickey Spillane's comment that what intellectuals don't understand is more people eat peanuts than caviar-or Tom Clancy's comment not to "commit art." Meredith's clients have included Norman Mailer, Ellery Queen, Robert Silverberg, and Philip K. Dick; and he was mentor to many agents and editors. With the qualification that his "just-sell-it" tonic may quash artistic originality, there is a lot to learn from his distillation of the American writing experience-which is no doubt why this book remains in print with Writer's Digest Books half a century after its initial publication. From the need to start off in a recognizable genre, to the importance of not skimping on the first draft and presenting likable characters with seemingly impossible problems, Meredith's work is a highly readable primer on the basic attributes of a salable novel. In short, although somewhat mercantile and dated,Writing to Sell is an excellent craft of writing work.