Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century Writer (Paperback)

~ Jeff VanderMeer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Author and blogger VanderMeer (Finch) outlines ways for writers to harness both the emerging power of the Internet and their own creativity in this informative guide. VanderMeer differentiates between a Public Booklife (marketing the book and the writer) and a Private Booklife (strategies to help get words on the page) and suggests that one's ideal Booklife is a dynamic balance of the two. Even though the Web's landscape is constantly shifting, his hints about ways to maximize a writer's exposure—including weighing the pros and cons of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter—can certainly be applied to future social networking sites and blogs. The tips for creating a flourishing Public Booklife will appeal to a wide variety of writers, from those just starting out to those trying to navigate the changing world of book publishing, while the Private Booklife section seems more tailored to new authors. With anecdotes from VanderMeer's own life as a writer, reviewer and blogger, as well as input from agents, editors and publicists, this guide will surely help writers traverse the often difficult journey from first draft to finished product. (Oct. 15)
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Review

"This guide will surely help writers traverse the often difficult journey from first draft to finished product."  —Publishers Weekly

"Well-organized masterclass in understanding how to fit both writing and a writing career into your life."  —Cory Doctorow, Boingboing.net

"Jeff VanderMeer is an extraordinary writer . . . passionate, beautiful, complex, terrifying."  —Tamar Yellin, author, The Genizah at the House of Shepher

"One of the things that sets VanderMeer apart is his embrace of technology and media. His online presence is considerable and includes a number of web sites, frequent blogging, a short film adaptation . . . his Alien Baby photo project and even a project involving animation via Sony Playstation."  —Wired.com

"A brilliant writer!"  —Peter Straub, author, Lost Boy Lost Girl

"I've long marveled at Jeff's mad alchemist-like techniques of creation, promotion, and artistic survival through his artful navigation of brambly networks of writers, artists, musicians, historians, hatmakers, bloggers, booksellers, reviewers, and fans. To steal a line from an Eddie Izzard stand-up act, 'No one can live at that speed.'" —Leslie Ann Henkel, publicist, Berkley/New American Library

"One of the most literary fantasy writers or fantastic literary writers we've got working these days, take your pick."  —Ron Hogan, Mediabistro's GalleyCat

"VanderMeer has struck a new sort of balance with the internet: charming his dedicated fan base on the web, creating multimedia promotional tools for his books, and actively seeking out new readers . . . in the digital crowds. One of my favorite writers."  —Publishing Spot

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Tachyon Publications; 1st edition (October 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892391902
• ISBN-13: 978-1892391902
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,153 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You need this book, October 15, 2009

By	James Patrick Kelly "Hugo and Nebula award wi... (Nottingham, NH) - See all my reviews

This is the first time I have ever reviewed a book on Amazon. I have been teaching writing for almost twenty years and have been collecting books about writing for much, much longer. Booklife has easily leapt into my top five and is probably one of my top two recommendations for writing books. Some of what you will read here is advice I myself have given in the past, the rest is stuff I wish I'd had the perspicacity to say. But I don't need to now. I'll just tell people to buy Jeff VanderMeer's new book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Writers, October 19, 2009

By	Aidan Doyle (Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've read lots of books on writing and this is one of the best.
There are lots of books that cover the techniques of writing, but this is one of the few books I've encountered that deals with both the professional and personal sides of the writing life itself.
The sections dealing with goal setting and with new media (blogging, Twitter, YouTube) are particularly useful.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thinking Outside the Book, October 22, 2009

By	Michael Arnzen "gorelets.com" (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

BOOKLIFE serves as a much-needed corrective to the sad "market your book like a carnival huckster" approach too often found in books of advice for writers these days. Instead, it challenges you to treat the long view of your career with reverence, to write AND market with honesty, and to commit yourself to the literary culture (whether in genre fiction or beyond) in which you hope to exist. The book is savvy about Web2.0 marketing and the way that the book business and freelancers need to understand all things in the trade as well as online, true -- and that may very well be its selling point as a "survival guide" -- but even more, it's a testimony to the commitment that Vandermeer has to what he has been doing for over twenty years as an author: writing with conviction and refusing to dumb down for the sake of the lowest common denominator that sometimes, unfortunately, drives the mass market. No matter what genre you write for, if you are a freelance writer who is in it for the long haul -- rather than putting all your eggs into a one-book-wonder-basket -- then this book belongs on your shelf, nestled between Bruce Holland Rogers' WORD WORK and David Morrell's LESSONS IN A LIFETIME OF WRITING. And make sure that shelf is an arm's length away from your keyboard. For life.