This book is the next-best-thing to a personal writing coach. Drawing upon her own extensive experience as an author and publisher, Melody Herr guides the reader through every step of the writing and publishing process: constructing a table of contents, preparing a proposal, finding a publisher, negotiating a contract, drafting the manuscript, and marketing the finished product. Throughout, she offers proven strategies for producing a book that highlights its author’s authoritative knowledge and writing skills.

Unique among writing guides, Writing and Publishing Your Book: A Guide for Experts in Every Field acknowledges the reader’s own expertise; speaks to researchers and scholars across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities; and provides information and guidance that will benefit junior authors as well as their more senior colleagues. By following these practical, step-by-step instructions, new authors will more easily liberate their own creativity while avoiding the many pitfalls that mire new writers, thereby maintaining momentum for a successful publication.

Features

• Breaks into clear, actionable steps the complex process of producing a logically organized, accessible, and useful book that has strong market potential
• Explains how to determine when a book is the appropriate publication venue for a specific project
• Describes how to form a mutually beneficial and collaborative partnership with a publisher
• Provides clear guidance for navigating peer review and interpreting a publishing contract
• Identifies effective strategies for overcoming the common struggles of every writer—advice that comes from someone who has faced all of these challenges as a writer herself