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Title: Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction--and Get it Published by Susan Rabiner, Alfred Fortunato ISBN: 0393038920 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: February, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33
Rating: 3
Summary: Blah Blah Blah isn't a Dirty "Word"
Comment: Susan Rabiner could've written a 150-page book for folks interested in writing general non-fiction book proposals. Instead, she focused on her area of expertise: "serious" nonfiction. Don't be insulted if your work isn't "serious." Not everyone writes for the socially and morally conscious planet.
Nonetheless, even if you're writing The Great All-American Cookbook, please read the first 137 pages, which provide an excellent overview of how to compile a first-rate book proposal. In particular, Susan gives away the Big Five Questions that most editors have in mind when viewing a proposal:
1. What's this book about?
2. What's the book's thesis?
3. Why are you the person to write this book?
4. Why is now the time to publish this book?
5. Who makes up the core audience for this book?
Cowabunga, I'd pay big bucks just to have these questions!
Susan also invites us behind the dark curtain of publishing, and explains how book proposals are dealt with editorially. This is extremely helpful, because it allows the reader to view the psychology of a typical senior editor who is on the lookout for the Great American Book that will launch them into the publisher's suite on Fifth Avenue.
I strongly urge you to buy this book, along with Jeff Herman's Write the Perfect Book Proposal: 10 That Sold and Why. Both provide all one truly needs to generate a superior nonfiction book proposal. Susan's approach gives the reader/writer the pertinent questions to ask and answer, in long, narrative format. Jeff's gives the nuts and bolts approach, using real-world examples that include excellent formats and styles.
Neither Susan's nor Jeff's book is adequate alone. Please buy both and read them entirely. Don't be put off with Susan's using "blah blah blah" 30 times in her book. She's just cutting corners and trying to make her points without getting too detailed.
Speaking of cutting corners: Susan should be ashamed of herself for all the errors in her book. Errors of this frequency and magnitude point to an egregious laziness that one should not accept in an editor/agent.
That said, I'm still grateful for Susan's hard work and expertise, and for sharing both with us.
Ah, now for you folks who wish to write "serious" nonfiction: this is the book-proposal guide for you, even if it is in narrative format, i.e. no really good examples of style, format of book proposals. Susan does delve into the mechanics of how to write that "serious" nonfiction book, using several short examples.Unless you majored in Comparative Literature in college, you might have a little trouble getting through it, but do give it your best effort. You won't be disappointed.
If you're the type of writer who prefers the bullet-point approach to obtaining useful information, then Jeff's book is more for you, but I urge you to read Susan's, too!
If you prefer to read a narrative description of how to assemble a nonfiction book proposal, then Susan's is more your style, but I urge you to buy Jeff's, too!
SUMMARY:
-First 137 pages excellent for ALL writers of nonfiction book proposals
-Remainder of book in narrative format; good for writers of "serious" nonfiction
-Complement this useful information with Jeff Herman's book, Write the Perfect Book Proposal: 10 Books That Sold and Why
-Blah blah blah isn't a dirty "word"
Rating: 5
Summary: Blah Blah Blah isn't a Dirty "Word"
Comment: Susan Rabiner could've written a 150-page book for folks interested in writing general non-fiction book proposals. Instead, she focused on her area of expertise: "serious" nonfiction. Don't be insulted if your work isn't "serious." Not everyone writes for the socially and morally conscious planet.
Nonetheless, if even if you're writing The Great All-American Cookbook, please read the first 137 pages, which provide an excellent overview of how to compile a first-rate book proposal. In particular, Susan gives away the Big Five Questions that most editors have in mind when viewing a proposal:
1. What's this book about?
2. What's the book's thesis?
3. Why are you the person to write this book?
4. Why is now the time to publish this book?
5. Who makes up the core audience for this book?
Cowabunga, I'd pay big bucks just to have these questions!
Susan also invites us behind the dark curtain of publishing, and explains how book proposals are dealt with editorially. This is extremely helpful, because it allows the reader to view the psychology of a typical senior editor who is on the lookout for the Great American Book that will launch them into the publisher's suite on Fifth Avenue.
I strongly urge you to buy this book, along with Jeff Herman's Write the Perfect Book Proposal: 10 That Sold and Why. Both provide all one truly needs to generate a superior nonfiction book proposal. Susan's approach gives the reader/writer the pertinent questions to ask and answer, in long, narrative format. Jeff's gives the nuts and bolts approach, using real-world examples that include excellent formats and styles.
Neither Susan's nor Jeff's book is adequate alone. Please buy both and read them entirely. Don't be put off with Susan's using "blah blah blah" 30 times in her book. She's just cutting corners and trying to make her points without getting too detailed.
Speaking of cutting corners: Susan should be ashamed of herself for all the errors in her book. Errors of this frequency and magnitude point to an egregious laziness that one should not accept in an editor/agent.
That said, I'm still grateful for Susan's hard work and expertise, and for sharing both with us.
Ah, now for you folks who wish to write "serious" nonfiction: this is the book-proposal guide for you, even if it is in narrative format, i.e. no really good examples of style, format of book proposals. Susan does delve into the mechanics of how to write that "serious" nonfiction book, using several short examples.Unless you majored in Comparative Literature in college, you might have a little trouble getting through it, but do give it your best effort. You won't be disappointed.
If you're the type of writer who prefers the bullet-point approach to obtaining useful information, then Jeff's book is more for you, but I urge you to read Susan's, too!
If you prefer to read a narrative description of how to assemble a nonfiction book proposal, then Susan's is more your style, but I urge you to buy Jeff's, too!
SUMMARY:
-First 137 pages excellent for ALL writers of nonfiction book proposals
-Remainder of book in narrative format; good for writers of "serious" nonfiction
-Complement this useful information with Jeff Herman's book, Write the Perfect Book Proposal: 10 Books That Sold and Why
-Blah blah blah isn't a dirty "word"
Rating: 5
Summary: Honest and helpful
Comment: As both a professional book editor and a professional writer I found this book to be filled with good advice that I can recommend to authors I am working with -- and new insights that as a writer, I found very, very helpful. Especially helpful are the authors' advice about what to expect from the publishing business. Writers: Read this wisdom carefully. Although it may be geared to academics (not the only people capable of writing serious non-fiction) it doesn't matter: the advice applies to anyone involved in the study or practice of a subject or profession who wants to write about it. I think "Miffed" misses the point of the book. In addition, the comment Miffed makes, "Getting it placed on Amazon is marketing genius" indicates that Miffed may not know that much about the publishing business: it doesn't take genius to get "placed" on Amazon -- that's what is so great about Amazon - they list most books that are published because they want to sell them.
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