How to Get Happily Published

by Appelbaum, Judith

• ISBN13: 9780062735096
• ISBN10: 0062735098
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-01-08
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

The classic, bestselling guide to getting published In the 20 years since it first appeared, hundreds of thousands of writers'professionals as well as beginners--have read, followed and benefited from How to Get Happily Published. This new edition adds material on making deals with publishers (and what's important), working with small publishers (and when that's preferable), capitalizing on contacts (and where to make them), deciding whether to self-publish (and how much that costs), using new electronic media (to publish; to get information, publicity, promotion and sales; and to connect with enthusiastic readers), and making your work sell better (whoever the publisher is).Plus hundreds of new resources--books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, groups, experts and Internet sites covering every step of the publishing process.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi	(2)
Connections, or Welcome to the 20th-Anniversary Edition	xiii
Initiation	1	(10)
Penetrating the publishing mystique
The friendly editor format
Who wants you
Mistakes editors make
Who needs them?
Perfecting your follow-through
The pleasure principle
Getting the Words Right	11	(30)
What the Pros Know	11	(13)
Reading like a writer
Where to get story ideas
Overcoming fear of failure
The procrastination problem
Revising, or getting it right
Criticism, or getting it read
Buying Advice and Assistance	24	(17)
The rip-off factor
Learning by doing: the classroom experience
Developing manuscripts by mail
Evaluating evaluations
Help from software and hard copy
A Foot in the Door	41	(70)
The Plain Truth About Agents	41	(12)
Rundown on a risky business
The small submissions circle
Cash and contract negotiations
Partnership patterns
Targeting agents
The agency contract
When your agent isn't working out
Who Do You Know?	53	(9)
Editors' insecurities
Building an acquaintanceship chain
Free admission: writers as sponsors, people in publishing and getting a publishing job
Alliances for progress
Shaping Subject Matter	62	(12)
What editors want
The caring criterion
What readers want
Translations from the technical
Sharing the wealth of experience
Local datelines
Crystal balls
The small-is-seminal syndrome
Guidelines for manuscript development
Openings, or Where to Submit Your Manuscript	74	(16)
Size places: the pros and cons of larger and smaller publishers
New light on the steppingstone theory
Bonds of affection
Finding the firm that fits you
Keys to timing
Easy-access markets
Perils of the vanity press
Procedures, or How to Submit Your Manuscript	90	(17)
Thinking like an editor
Queries, or this way out of the slush pile
Going one-on-one
Book proposals, or sell it now write it later
Poets' ploys
On writing for children
Covering-letter content
The multiple-submissions route
More moves
A Note on Improving Your Vision	107	(4)
The Sale and Its Sequels	111	(52)
Getting What's Coming to You	111	(17)
The outbreak of hostilities
Judging publishers
Doing the contract quadrille: agents, lawyers, the Authors Guild and going it alone
Payment foul-ups and fixes
Fringe benefits
Power plays for beginners
Editing, Copy-editing, Design, Production and Part-and-Parcel Advertising	128	(12)
How to pre-edit now and avoid trouble later
Understanding editorialese
Conflict management
The anti-snafu checklist and the index oversight
Free-play period
Introduction to marketing maneuvers
Why and How to Be Your Own Best Sales Force	140	(23)
Small expectations and the bigbook bind
Increasing your influence
Spreading the word
Sales strategies
The dignity trap
Comebacks: coping with orphaned manuscripts and other par-for-the-course crises
The Self-Publishing Option	163	(50)
The Case for Doing It Yourself	163	(13)
Home truths about a writer's real choice
Natural candidates
Facts about fiction
The self-publisher personality profile
Creation Processes: From Editing to Entity	176	(14)
What to watch out for
Legal rights and obligations
The cover story
Design, production and hired help
Print runs and pricing
Managing Sales	190	(23)
The tri-part head start
Endorsements, reviews and other print publicity
Bookstores
Better stores
Straighter routes to readers
The rights stuff
Money	213	(26)
Finding Funding	213	(10)
Grants
Room, board and solitude: What writers colonies offer
Field expedients and tax tactics
The salary solution
Institutional angels
Spin-offs	223	(16)
Metamorphoses
Excerpt opportunities
Ghosting
Packaging
Publishing
Talking and teaching
Never Say Die department
Endnote	239	(5)
Righting the Scales of Success	239	(5)
The silent treatment
Behind the bestseller lists
Achievement Awards checklist #1
Resources	244	(1)
A Comprehensive Roundup	244	(1)
This way to the best: Books
Magazines
Internet sites
Newsletters
Information centers
Schools
Organizations
Advisers and experts
Getting the Words Right Resources	245	(31)
A Foot in the Door Resources	276	(19)
The Sale and Its Sequels Resources	295	(25)
The Self-Publishing Option Resources	320	(34)
Money Resources	354	(15)
Index	369