Get Your First Book Published: And Make It a Success

Editorial Review:

The official resource used by the AWP (Associated Writing Program) and the YMCA National Writer's Voice, Get Your First Book Published goes beyond the conventional advice for writers. The book includes hundreds of awards and publishers that are exclusively in the market for first-time authors or favorable to unpublished authors. Each award listing is complete with deadlines, names of previous award winners, advice from directors, and much more. Each publisher's listing represents large and small houses most interested in publishing first books, along with statistical information, previous first-time authors, and useful advice. The book also features the first-ever comprehensive national directory for chapbooks.

Inspirational as well as practical, Get Your First Book Published includes contributions from many of our most distinguished contemporary writers on how they got their first books published and the insights they've gained.

The book features ways to make your first book a success, and reveals the opportunities and resources available to writers to promote their work.

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 2.5 / 5.0

Misleading Title, Disjointed Facts, and Questionable Advice:

"Get Your First Book Published" is perhaps the most frustratingly unhelpful book on writing that I have ever encountered. So many deficiencies exist that picking one to start with would be maddening were it not for the title itself.

A better title for this book would have been "Middling Information on Entering Your Poem in Writing Contests from Authors You've Never Heard Of".

The book is loaded with info. The worth of that info is in question, though. Do a couple sections on famous writers of yesteryear... more info

If you see this book....:

If you see this book, don't just don't buy it. Make the sign of the cross. Get out a silver dagger. Find a chain of garlic.

Although this book is nicely written and well organized, following its principles are certain death for writers. I will only say that I personally was a very successful writer of books (well, by some measures, I was earning 6 figures writing all day
then I started reading one of the authors' books and even hiring them for their professional services. Following these instructions... more info

great resource!:

This book is a wonderful resource for new writers and those who've been around quite a while. Despite what a few crabapples say, it is easy to find what you're looking for, and nicely written, too. I highly recommend it.

Worth reading, but fraught with peril:

This book contains a lot of useful information. The list of contests available to unpublished writers is especially helpful. The essay by Terry McMillan on publicizing a first novel is both sobering and inspiring. Nonetheless, the book is marred by slopping editing and proofreading. The addresses and even names of many of the contests mentioned in the early chapters are marred by typographical errors. For example, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund is referred to as the "Barbara Denting" fund in the book.... more info

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