Liberating and emboldening the beginning writer are the goals of Ted Kooser and Steve Cox in this spirited book of practical wisdom that brings to bear decades of invaluable experience in writing, teaching, editing, and publishing. Unlike “how to write” books that dwell on the angst and the agony of the trade, Writing Brave and Free is upbeat and accessible. The focus here is the work itself: how to get started and how to keep going, and never is heard a discouraging word such as “no,” “not,” or “never.” Because of the wealth of their experience, the authors can offer the sort of practical publishing advice that novices need and yet rarely find. Organized in brief, user-friendly chapters—on everything from sensory details to a work environment, from creating suspense to revising and taking criticism—the book allows aspiring (and practicing) writers to dip in anywhere and find something of value.

    You need to select and create a variety of formats that will be read on a variety of e-reader devices--and market and sell your book in a variety of ways. Before you take the plunge, get this practical guide. With clear instruction and sensible advice, it will help you navigate the often confusing, time-consuming, and costly world of self-publishing an e-book. The book gives you solid marketing tips for selling your e-book, including using blogging and social media and how to build an online platform. It also discusses key technologies you'll encounter, including Smashwords, iBooks Author, Amazon, Microsoft Word, Open Office, Calibre, WordPress, E-junkie, and others.Helps readers navigate the confusing, time-consuming, and often costly world of self-publishing an e-book Provides both technical how-tos as well solid marketing advice on how to sell your e-book using Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and other social media sites Covers essential technologies, such as Smashwords, iBooks Author, Amazon, Microsoft Word, Open Office, Calibre, WordPress, and E-junkie Explores e-book devices, including Kindle, Kobo, Sony Reader, Nook, iPad, and other tablets Delves into the nitty-gritty of e-book formats Before you self-publish your e-book, start first with Publishing eBooks For Dummies.

    It may also change the way you think about writing. Drawing on a mix of disciplines, including psychology, art, linguistics, and advertising, each chapter offers you a writing-related discussion, followed by a five-minute exercise. Whether you are a beginner writer, an experienced writer looking for new ideas, or you simply want to use writing to gain self-awareness, the book will help you to: * Access your inner self, the personal memories that reflect universal patterns of the total human narrative. * Gain fresh insight into the nature of stories and storytelling. * Recognise your own life as an inexhaustible source of story ideas. * Stimulate creative thought, including right-brain techniques for 'stepping outside the box'. * Escape writing blocks. * Establish an enjoyable writing routine. Just pick a page and begin your writer's journey.

    In a series of first-person letters, essays, manifestos, and notes to the reader, Kim Stafford shows what might happen at the creative boundary he calls "what we almost know." On the boundary's far side is our story, our poem, our song. On this side are the resonant hunches, griefs, secrets, and confusions from which our writing will emerge. Guiding us from such glimmerings through to a finished piece are a wealth of experiments, assignments, and tricks of the trade that Stafford has perfected over thirty years of classes, workshops, and other gatherings of writers.Informing The Muses Among Us are Stafford's own convictions about writing--principles to which he returns again and again. We must, Stafford says, honor the fragments, utterances, and half-discovered truths voiced around us, for their speakers are the prophets to whom writers are scribes. Such filaments of wisdom, either by themselves or alloyed with others, give rise to our poems, stories, and essays. In addition, as Stafford writes, "all pleasure in writing begins with a sense of abundance--rich knowledge and boundless curiosity." By recommending ways for students to seek beyond the self for material, Stafford demystifies the process of writing and claims for it a Whitmanesque quality of participation and community.

    Formatter to New York Times bestselling writers and indie authors alike, Henkel makes the process understandable and easy to follow for anyone.Whether you want to create an eBook for Kindle, or you want to format your manuscript as an ePub file, "Zen of eBook Formatting" is the perfect companion for the task.“Zen of eBook Formatting” covers the entire process from basic clean-up of the manuscript to basic HTML tagging, all the way to advanced features, and error-checking, teaching you the skills necessary to give your own eBooks the professional polish they deserve.Here is a look at the Table of Contents, to give you an impression of the breadth of subjects covered in the book. Table of Contents Preface Introduction 1 - The Road to Right 2 - Data Structure 3 - Cleaning Up the Manuscript 4 - From Word Processor to Programming Editor 5 - General Techniques 6 - Advanced Techniques 7 - eBook Generation 8 - eBooks Outside the Box Parting Thoughts Appendices Note:I would like to point out that the “Look Inside” preview is currently garbled and the formatting is off. Amazon is aware of the problem and working on it, hopefully rectifying the error in their previewer as soon as possible. I think it is important o point out that the formatting in the actual eBook is working correctly and does not suffer from the same flaws.

    He's launched dozens of bestselling books, many to the top of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. In fact, at one point he 5 clients on the New York Times bestseller list at the same time.He has also worked with many new authors getting their first books off the ground and helped them to successfully launch their books as well.In each of these launches, he used the same underlying framework: Sell to fans. Encourage sharing. Influencer outreach. In Book Launch Blueprint, you learn how each of these steps work and how you can apply it to your next book launch.

    In this guide John Harrison shows the reader how to get the most out of their plot, providing a complete introduction to planting and growing your own vegetables and plants.

    With inspiring wit and wisdom he will not only teach you how to be a better writer, but a more observant person and a better student in any field. You'll find yourself uncontrollably thinking deep thoughts about writing, film or anything else you are passionate about in life. Foreword by Glen Keane. "Listen to Brian, he has the unique ability to articulate what makes good writing." - Al Higgins, Writer "News Radio," "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Mike & Molly" "If you don't already have a mentor, here's one you'll love, in portable form." -- Steve Englehart novelist and writer of classic versions of dozen of comics series such as Batman and The Avengers "Brian's book is filled with insightful and useful gems for writers of any experience level. The only reason you'll want to put it down is to go start writing yourself." -- J. Elvis Weinstein writer/producer "Freaks and Geeks," "Mystery Science Theater 3000," "Cinematic Titanic" "Brian writes in clear, readily usable ways to improve your screenwriting. Like time-release story capsules they ignite and helped me over many movies and countless story bends. Give him a read, take a couple and repeat as needed." -- Ronnie del Carmen, story supervisor on UP and Finding Nemo, director and writer at Pixar Animation Studios. "I use Brian McDonald's books in my classes because I'm a student of his work. All teachers are students all the time. Brian hasn't forgotten that he occupies both a seat in the classroom and the spot in front of the classroom." -- Shawn Wong Professor, Department of English University of Washington

    A moving account of Dillard’s own experiences while writing her works, The Writing Life offers deep insight into one of the most mysterious professions.

    These include contact information, submission preferences, insider tips on what specific editors want, and--when offered--payment information.In addition to the listings, Poet's Market offers articles on the Craft of Poetry, Business of Poetry, and Promotion of Poetry--not to mention new poems from today's best and brightest poets, including Beth Copeland, Joseph Mills, Judith Skillman, Laurie Kolp, Bernadette Geyer, and more. Learn the habits of highly productive poets, the usefulness of silence, revision tricks, poetic forms, ways to promote a new book, and more.You also gain access to:Lists of conferences, workshops, organizations, and grantsA free digital download of Writer's Yearbook featuring the 100 Best Markets*Includes access to the webinar "How to Build an Audience for Your Poetry" from Robert Lee Brewer, editor of Poet's Market*

    Forster's Aspects of the Novel is an innovative and effusive treatise on a literary form that, at the time of publication, had only recently begun to enjoy serious academic consideration. This Penguin Classics edition is edited with an introduction by Oliver Stallybrass, and features a new preface by Frank Kermode.First given as a series of lectures at Cambridge University, Aspects of the Novel is Forster's analysis of this great literary form. Here he rejects the 'pseudoscholarship' of historical criticism - 'that great demon of chronology' - that considers writers in terms of the period in which they wrote and instead asks us to imagine the great novelists working together in a single room. He discusses aspects of people, plot, fantasy and rhythm, making illuminating comparisons between novelists such as Proust and James, Dickens and Thackeray, Eliot and Dostoyevsky - the features shared by their books and the ways in which they differ. Written in a wonderfully engaging and conversational manner, this penetrating work of criticism is full of Forster's habitual irreverence, wit and wisdom.In his new introduction, Frank Kermode discusses the ways in which Forster's perspective as a novelist inspired his lectures. This edition also includes the original introduction by Oliver Stallybrass, a chronology, further reading and appendices.E. M. Forster (1879-1970) was a noted English author and critic and a member of the Bloomsbury group. His first novel, Where Angels Fear To Tread appeared in 1905. The Longest Journey appeared in 1907, followed by A Room With A View (1908), based partly on the material from extended holidays in Italy with his mother. Howards End (1910) was a story that centered on an English country house and dealt with the clash between two families, one interested in art and literature, the other only in business. Maurice was revised several times during his life, and finally published posthumously in 1971.If you enjoyed Aspects of the Novel, you might like Forster's A Room with a View, also available in Penguin Classics.

    Elizabeth is forced to become estranged from her father and struggles alone to create hope and meaning for her life while serving her mother like a slave. This book is a true account of a daughter's struggle to survive a mother with paranoia, schizophrenia, and manic depression.

    Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors, by professional freelance author, editor, and proofreader Kathy Ide, is the essential go-to tool for aspiring and experienced writers and editors. This book includes all of the material from Ide's popular Polishing the PUGS book (now out of print), with added PUGS guidelines and helpful tips from multi-published authors on how to catch typos and other common mistakes. In Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors, Kathy Ide identifies the industry-standard references for books, magazines, and newspapers (which are different from the guidelines for other types of writing, such as college term papers). Using these official references, she highlights the most common mistakes writers make in the areas of punctuation, usage, grammar, and spelling (for which she uses the acronym PUGS). She also includes guidelines from The Christian Writer's Manual of Style for authors and editors who work in the inspirational market.

    The interviews include John Locke, Gordon Ferris, Stephen Carpenter, Dakota Banks, Linda Wisdom, Matthew Reilly, Loucinda McGary, David Lender, JR Rain, Jack Dann, Dale Brown, Stephanie McAfee, Andy Briggs, Kat Martin and many, many more.Some of the writers are traditional authors. Others have built careers as self-published ebook authors. All their stories are inspirational, including: John Locke, the first self published ebook author to sell a million copies of his novels.Micaela Wendell who was thirteen when she wrote the first draft of her book The Branding. Dolores Durando who wrote and published her first book when she turned ninety. And the amazing Robert J Randisi who has written over five hundred novels. All of them share tips and advice garnered from the front line as they have successfully become writers in the digital age.

    A book so raw it was banned in one small city in Iowa. If you are thinking about self-publishing or you just want to know all the juicy insider scoop this is a must read.