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Steven Pressfield

Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: And Other Tough-Love Truths to Make You a Better Writer Paperback – April 25, 2016

by Steven Pressfield (Author), Shawn Coyne (Editor)

4.6 1,147 ratings

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There's a mantra that real writers know but wannabe writers don’t. And the secret phrase is this:

NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T.

Recognizing this painful truth is the first step in the writer's transformation from amateur to professional.

“When you understand that nobody wants to read your shit, you develop empathy. You acquire the skill that is indispensable to all artists and entrepreneurs—the ability to switch back and forth in your imagination from your own point of view as writer/painter/seller to the point of view of your reader/gallery-goer/customer. You learn to ask yourself with every sentence and every phrase: Is this interesting? Is it fun or challenging or inventive? Am I giving the reader enough? Is she bored? Is she following where I want to lead her?"

Print length

208 pages
Language

English
Publication date

April 25, 2016
Dimensions

5 x 0.52 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

1936891492
ISBN-13

978-1936891498
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Black irish Entertainment LLC (April 25, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1936891492
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1936891498
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.1 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.52 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #123,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #430 in Creativity (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 1,147 ratings

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Steven Pressfield

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Steven Pressfield is the author of The War of Art which has sold over a millions copies globally and been translated into multiple languages. He is a master of historical fiction with Gates of Fire being on the required reading list at West Point and the the recommended reading list of the Joint Chiefs. His other books include A Man at Arms, Turning Pro, Do the Work, The Artist's Journey, Tides of War, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Last of the Amazons, Virtues of War, The Afghan Campaign, Killing Rommel, The Profession, The Lion's Gate, The Warrior Ethos, The Authentic Swing, An American Jew, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t, and The Knowledge.

His debut novel, The Legend of Bagger Vance was over 30 years in the making. He hasn't stopped writing since.

Steve lives and writes in California. You can following him on IG @steven_pressfield. Sign up for his weekly writing newsletter at stevenpressfield.com

"It is one thing to study war, and another to live the warrior's life."

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

1,147 global ratings

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4 star		17%
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1 star		2%

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loyal customer Bill

Are black ink and white paper more expensive?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 5, 2023

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This will be the same review for 2 books by Steven Pressfield: The War of Art (c 2002) and Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t (c 2016). Both easily merit 5 stars for content, mostly about writing, but creativity in general. They are heavily, but with relevance, autobiographical. I assume other reviews have confirmed this opinion. BUT: I am writing this review because, except for teenagers with perfect memories and 20-20 vision, they are unnecessarily difficult to read for reasons all too common in modern printing: cream-colored paper and gray print. MUCH slower reading than bright white paper and pure black ink. Worse, both lack a table of contents and an index. Each has numerous very short “chapters” on very good topics, but when I want to review for particular topics, endless flipping pages is necessary. Bottom line: excellent content, but Pressfield, his editors, or his printers make life unnecessarily difficult for readers. Thus, only 4 stars. I was tempted to give 3.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Great for new writers and veterans

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 7, 2017

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Great book and an excellent follow-up to Mr. Pressfield's The War of Art. These are not how-to books for aspiring writers; those are a dime-a-dozen on Amazon. What Pressfield does in Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh"t is take what you already know to the next level. He shows you what gives your work texture, and what separates it from the others who are grinding away with the proverbial inciting incident, 3-act structure, and hero's journey stuff. For example, on p. 34 of the paperback, he gives a 2-page summation of how series creator Vince Gilligan told us what Breaking Bad was about in a small speech main character Walter White gives to class. (It's about transformation, if you need to know.)

I should note here that the book is for anyone dabbling in novels, screenplays, and even non-fiction. His thoughts on theme and just what your story is about are especially helpful, especially in this day of "structure is everything" where these issues are given short shrift. It is helpful that he illustrates how he came across these revelations for himself over the course of a career that spans advertising, novels, and screenplays (including a brief anecdote about an important lesson learned while rewriting a porn flick)

While The War of Art was a motivational treatise on what separates the pros from the wannabes in terms of attitude and personal approach, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh"t is more about what separates the pros from the wannabes when it comes to the rules of writing we already know. I guarantee you'll find something -- maybe not a lot, but something -- important that will justify the cost.

By the way, Pressfield gives due credit to his buddy Shawn Coyne (The Story Grid). Mr. Coyne's work is highly recommended as well.

I say this as one who has made a career of writing, including stints as a newspaper reporter, PR guy, and freelancer. I also have a produced play and a non-fiction book to my credit, and am now working on a novel. It isn't much, but it's a living (barely at times). I'm not Stephen King, but at least I can say I'm a veteran published writer. So take my word for what it's worth when I say that after 35 years on the job, I'm still learning, and Mr. Pressfield is helping.

149 people found this helpful

Helpful

Curt Simmons

I approach this material from what many may consider an ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 21, 2016

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I approach this material from what many may consider an unusual angle. I’m sure that authors who have achieved significant success will likely not find much new in Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t. It is not an all-inclusive and defining work and I don’t think it’s intended to be. But those struggling to be published, or follow up that first successful novel, and especially self-publishers will find gold nuggets and inspiration in Steven Pressfield’s work.

I am not an author, but I narrate audiobooks. So my job is to translate the written word into the spoken word and tell a story that is hopefully enthralling to the listener. That means more than simply reading sentences and paragraphs into a microphone. Not that the writing process is entirely alien to me, but I found this book very helpful in my work as I endeavor to faithfully interpret what is written for the eye into a pleasing and entertaining experience for the ear. In fact, before accepting an offer to narrate, my first question for any unfamiliar author whose book I’ve not yet read will be, “What’s the concept of your novel and what is the theme.” Moving forward depends upon the answer.

Thank you, Steven for your entertaining and enlightening story about how to write. I do hear your voice.

32 people found this helpful

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Marwan Elnakeeb

A Masterclass in Writing

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 15, 2021

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This is the ultimate masterclass in writing that anyone who wants to be an author or writer of any sort should read and study. It's very short, very on point and it observes the application of the very lessons in the book to its very own material. Steven Pressfield is well known for the War of Art, that I have not read just yet, and it's being discussed through a behind the scenes look at how it came to be and how it was put together. I believe anyone who wants to learn to write well, should read everything Pressfield has ever written on the tools of his craft.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Steve Curtin

Inspirational read. Highly recommend!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 5, 2020

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This is my second attempt to write a review for this book. Amazon denied my first review because it violated community guidelines by containing profane language. All I did was reference the title of Mr. Pressfield’s book! C’est la vie... Anyway, the book was excellent. Pressfield is a writer’s writer and tells it like it is. All of us writers have an unavoidable learning curve that is influenced by our education, experience, and other forces. One of those other forces is the knowledge generously shared by Mr. Pressfield. I feel more confident in my approach to tomorrow’s writing assignment having read this book. So much so that I’ve already ordered two more of his books, The War of Art (read it; loved it), and Turning Pro. Highly recommend.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

John L

Big Fan

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 10, 2022

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Not as great as War on Art, but in the same vein. Clear, concise, motivational.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Orit Nevo

The best book on writing I read so far

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 24, 2022

Verified Purchase

Steven Pressfield so walks his talk in this book, he is so clear, direct, honest and “for the reader” that by his closing chapter, of the white wail, I was crying from inspiration.
Thank you! One of those books that once you start reading is very hard to put down and when it ends you wish it didn’t.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

E Griffin

Excellent as ever

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 26, 2021

Verified Purchase

Another writing/creativity get-up-and-do-it how-to book from Pressfield, this time focused on lessons learned along the way as a novelist, screenwriter, as an advertising creative, and as a motivational writer. The most important lesson is in the book's title: others focus on the twin imperatives of theme and story to any form of writing. Excellent as ever: the trick is to now go and do it, of course.

V_subramaniam80

Great read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 8, 2016

Verified Purchase

Excellent book. Read it in one sitting. Short and punchy, many things to learn. In summary, I would say its message is - keep at it, always learning & moving forward, don't care so much for the odds of success but care a great deal for the craft. Act, try, fail, learn, act, try, fail, learn, repeat again and again till you die. Oh, and if you are lucky enough to succeed, continue with the act, try theme anyway. That is life, or more like, that is the fun in life.

6 people found this helpful

The Amputee Swimmer

I've enjoyed reading this book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 25, 2017

Verified Purchase

I've enjoyed reading this book, it's given me some great pointers on how to go about constructing my own text. Whether thats for short social media pieces or longer blog posts. I like the way it has been written too, easy to pick up and learn.

4 people found this helpful

HA

Poor print quality

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 13, 2022

Verified Purchase

Great book but poor print-on-demand quality from Amazon. What a shame! I have Pressfield's 'The War of Art' (also Amazon print-on-demand) and the text there is MUCH darker and sharper. C'mon Amazon!

Hpaget

Good

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 27, 2021

Verified Purchase

Great insight into writing, I enjoyed Stevens section on authority, it's all well and good writing self help but if you haven't got authority no one will listen, and you won't do well.

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