As promised yesterday when I was presenting at The Big Read, here’s a list of resources every writer should consult. Please also go to my older blog posts and look up my February 22 post, as I have a list of books there to help you with publicity.
Note that I haven’t organized these–I simply pulled everything off my top shelf and started typing. In that respect, it represents a snapshot of the resources I have used most frequently in the two years since I sent out into the marketplace with my manuscript, which became Paper, Scissors, Death.
Some books are on how to find a literary agent. The keyword to know when looking is actually an acronym: AAR, which is Association of Authors Agents. That means the agent belongs to an organization with industry-respected standards. What I don’t have on my list is a current copy of Writers Market. It’s a great resource, but it’s not inexpensive and since it’s updated every year, you should get your hands on the most recent copy.
Here’s the group:
* Sell Your Book on Amazon by Brent Sampson
* Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel by Hallie Ephron
* Electronic Publishing : The Definitive Guide by Karen S. Weisner
* Mastering Online Marketing by Meyerson
* Seven Strategies in Every Best-Seller by Tam Mossman –This provides a good way to check your manuscript against the books it might be competing with BEFORE you try to sell it.
* Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass — See above remark.
* Guide to Literary Agents by Kathryn S. Brogan (also check out Jeff Herman’s book on agents. It was interested to cross-reference these two books and see who was in both.)
* Your Novel Proposal from Creation to Contract by Camenson & Cook — Invaluable for how to deal with agents DURING the submission process.
* Plug Your Book! by Steve Weber
* The Self-Publishing Manual by Dan Poynter
* The Shortest Distance Between You and a Published Book: 20 Steps to Succeed by Susan Page
* 12 Keys to Writing Books That Sell by Kathleen Krull
* Take the Mystery Out of Promoting Your Book by p.m. terrell — I can’t say enough good stuff about Patricia. She’s a whiz.
* Non-Fiction Book Proposals Anybody Can Write by Elizabeth Lyon
These books are definitely worth your time and attention.
If you are in this for the long haul, you need to educate yourself.
