Book Report: Publishing Strategies, Writing Tips, and 101 Literary Ideas for Aspiring Authors and Poets

Book Report: Publishing Strategies, Writing Tips, And 101 Literary Ideas For Aspiring Authors And Poets is a solid collection of nicely presented writing tips and publishing strategies for aspiring writers and poets seeking publication. Presenting the "ten golden rules of publishing", including "write a story you are passionate about - one that is marketable"; "take notice - rejection is not part of a writer's vocabulary"; and "you are what you write - protect yourself"; Book Report is a timely, welcome, and thoroughly "user friendly" advice guide which is very highly recommended reading for aspiring authors and novice poets wanting the kind of readership audience that only being published can achieve.

This how-to book, written by a writer for writers,speaks in a voice I can relate to. The step-by-stepprocess is easy to understand and inspiring.

Book Report is a very useful guide that I turned to again and again while crafting my book proposal. I was impressed by the author's ability to not only cover the nuts and bolts of writing a proposal, but also to succinctly convey what makes a quality proposal. Particularly useful were the parenthetical tips the author inserted throughout samples in the appendix. With Mark Shaw's style and ability to anticipate writers' questions and omissions, I felt like I had a mentor by my side leading me through what had been a daunting process.

An excellent source of information and help for the unpublished and struggling new writer. It gives you help in every aspect of writing - creating an outline, writing a first draft, making revisions and (most importantly of all!) writing a proposal and sending it out to potential agents. Some elements of the book I already knew - it has a list of "ten commandments" to writing a book, I knew about half of them going in, but even so - they were very informative. The biggest strength of the book lies in the appendix where examples of proposals are and where Mr. Shaw gives you step by step instructions in preparing your own. I would strongly recommend this book to any new author trying to find an agent and ultimately a publisher - definitely a good investment.

I've read most of the how-to books and magazines over the past 15 years, and this is the only one to inspire me to stop reading and start writing. The book lays out 10 basic rules for success, and helps new writers understand they are about to embark on an endeavor that's as much about the publishing business as it is creativity. Is it useful? Let me say this: It's right next to my keyboard as I'm developing my new novel proposal.