Publishing 101: A First-Time Author's Guide to Getting Published, Marketing and Promoting Your Book, and Building a Successful Career Paperback – December 4, 2014

Reading this book forced me to review why I was writing and why I wanted to publish. I now have a much more focused plan and I know why I’m pursuing all of this.I found Ms. Friedman while I was working on my manuscript and searching for advice about copyright issues. The article I found led me to her website where I reviewed the services she offered. When I completed the first draft of my book I decided to read her book before I setup an appointment to discuss my project with her. I'm very glad I did. I wrote several technical books many years ago which gave me some experience with traditional publishing, but I knew I had no clue what the options were for self publishing. I also wanted advice on the choice to pursue traditional versus self publishing. I'm very glad I read her book before I talked with her. I got many of my questions answered from her book which made my time talking with her much more valuable.In thinking about how best to describe why I would recommend this book, I came up with three words: relevance, brevity and clarity. This book describes what you need to understand about the way the publishing world works today, whether that lines up with your romantic visions or not. The information is very relevant to someone like me that is working on getting published for the first time in a very long time. Ms. Friedman doesn’t waste time with lots of talk, the information is delivered quickly and she makes it easy to understand. She is also very clear about what you need to know and what you need to do. If you want someone to help you prepare to really get something published, you should read this book.I want to be clear that not all of what I read was what I wanted to hear. Some of Ms. Friedman’s most specific advice required that I carefully review why I was writing and what I was trying to accomplish. I was very excited to have finished my first draft of my manuscript and I wanted to know what I needed to do next to get published. Instead, after reading this book, I realized I was not at all prepared for publishing. I needed to rethink my entire project. I also needed to create a website, something that was not at all part of my plan. You can’t get 120,000 words together without caring about your project, so it was upsetting to read that I had to take on another project to setup a website. But it was what I really needed to hear, and what I needed to do next.Here are some specific topics discussed that were useful to me, things that I encourage you to think about:Writing is not for the weak. Indeed, any creative project, especially if it will be put in front of the public, requires a strong will.Your motivation to write has to come from within. Yes, very much so. You have to want to do this, there are too many obstacles and too few rewards to getting your work published, and you have to believe in your work.What do you really want out of this process? If you don’t know what you are after, how will you know if you ever get it?Passion has become a cheap word. This is my favorite, so many people are pursuing their passion, but do they ever really get anything done, or is it really a code word for wanting to do what you want when you want until it gets difficult?Why are you in a rush? No one is waiting for my writing project to be published. This isn’t me being defeatist or my lacking passion, it is just a simple fact. Why not take the time to find persons that know more than I do about publishing in the digital world and learn what I need to do to really find and reach my audience?Don’t focus on just one book. Another simple fact, whatever I’m writing may or may not have much of an audience, and endlessly working on it may not change that. Better to see this as a process, not to publish my current project, but a process to keep producing work I care about, a process to get my work to those that are interested.Your platform should be as much of a creative exercise and project as the work you produce. Instead of looking at the need for a website, for example, as some sort of evil conspiracy forced on you by the corrupt publishing world, why not see it as another outlet for your creativity, your vision?Come up with a marketing plan that you can execute on your own. You, as the author, are the best person to find your audience, don't rely on a publisher to do this for you.Specific advice on marketing, along with this important observation, “so few authors do any of this”. Get your website established and get professional headshots to use in all your online and offline marketing efforts.I also recommend what she says in her Afterword, that at some point, we have to do what we do because we want to, not just to get published. It is easy to get lost in all the noise that surrounds any form of media. You can find all my book reviews at brianhitchcock.net and brianrhitchcock.com.

Fast delivery, great condition!

I recently completed (or so I would like to think) my very first manuscript, complemented with a pitch, query letter, and varying sizes of synopses. The road forward was dark and I really had no idea what I was getting into. Upon finishing reading Jane's book, I now have a better idea of what publishing entails, what to expect, and more importantly, what not to expect.Publishing 101 focuses heavily on identifying your target market and developing and cultivating relationships with your readership and individual people in the writing/publishing community. Social media is the vehicle by which to accomplish these things this day and age as older methods become more obscure and unintuitive. She delves into the various methods to have a presence on social media as well as drives home the importance of having a website to help market and connect with your audience. The book also discusses a myriad of other issues including summarizing copyright mumbo jumbo in layman's terms (thank you very much for setting many of my fears to rest), how to act professionally with publishers and agents, as well as examples of real people to support many of the claims Jane makes.It is important to note that Jane does not sugar-coat things - and it is to our benefit as learners. Her strategies are long-term focused and she makes it clear that expecting any short-term return on your investments in time or money on your publishing journey is not realistic. The general vibe this book gives is that there's a light at the end of the tunnel IF you can get there, with the added caveat that you won't necessarily see that light during the journey. You will need to carry your own light (your determination, hard-work, and stick-to-it-iveness) in order to get through, and you're going to invariably need a bit of luck too in terms of meeting the right people. But, that luck will be meaningless in the absence of hard work, so you can't just hope for luck and call it a day.If you believe you're your deity's gift to the world and that your writing is an undiscovered gem in a sea of garbage, this book is going to take you down a few pegs. My mentality before reading Publishing 101 was that my writing is average (at best) and that it likely has no commercial value due to a number of factors (which includes being everywhere in terms of genre, too niche, and the fact that I'm probably too stubborn to change much). My point is that I did not approach Jane's resource with delusions of grandeur regarding my writing, and I still felt humbled to some degree.To close, I found this book to be a wonderful resource. Confusion has largely been erased from my list of publishing problems. I still have grave doubts about my own work and in my ability to persevere. Some doubts have been alleviated and some have grown worse after being exposed to Jane's knowledge and experience. I don't feel bad about this. In purchasing Publishing 101, I set out to learn, and I did. It is possible that publishing is not the path for me, but I do not intend to give up until I've given it a significant effort and failed many times.

The great is that the book is true to its intent. Jane is clearly knowledgeable and passionate about publishing - and writers. As someone looking to get the lay of the publishing landscape this book and Jane's wisdom are well worth the time. It's a great place to start to get an understanding of the publishing world and your options.The downside is minor, but an irritant nonetheless. The book was assembled from Jane's blogposts, and there was not sufficient attention paid to the task. There are a number of places in the book where it suggests you click for additional information - but in a print book such a thing is not possible. It's mindboggling that someone so clearly knowledgeable and experienced in publishing would leave numerous dead links to frustrate the reader. Despite this drawback, I still highly recommend the book, the content is excellent and worth the irritation.

Normally when you read a book of this sort, you can tell that too little information has been scraped across too many pages in an effort to make a book-length product. But this is jam-packed with everything you need to know, and plenty of things you didn't know you need to know. There's also plenty of discussion about how the shift to digital has affected everything. Highly recommended.

If this is you, and you cannot or do not wish to find a publisher, or have a rejection notice or simply have been ignored? This is the book for you. She is really practical, helpful, clear. Way to go. This might help you make a publishing choice. It certainly helped me. But, really... don't read every word. Choose the bits you want or need to understand, otherwise, you might feel a little as though you have swum out of your depth. She helped me.

Good book for the lazy person, since the content can be found scattered around her site. Thanks!

There are so many pushy online marketing offers to publish, to launch, to make a living.I need to make a living, love to write, know my audience and my message, have written 50,000 words however feel stuck in the mud!!This book provides me with a way forward, an informed, no BS what to do and what not to do. The information provided will save me hours and $$.Clearly, I still have a journey ahead to get published. Let's hope I make it .Thank you Jane, such a worthwhile book for a newbie.

Very useful book.