Monday, October 06, 2008

Donald Maass's The Career Novelist -- for free

About a year or so ago, I wrote to Donald Maass thanking him for writing such interesting books, in particular The Career Novelist. I had had trouble getting hold of it but Anne Macallister came to my rescue and sent me a copy. The book made me feel far more comfortable about what I wanted to do with my career and where I wanted to go.
Mr Maass in his gracious reply said that there were no plans to update the book, but there were plans to put it on as a free download. The free download has FINALLY become available. Many thanks to Nina Harrington (Ray Anne) for alerting me to it. Even though, some bits are slightly out of date, it is a solid primer on the business of publishing, the way certain agents act, and where the money is made.
I would urge every author who desires to know more about publishing and writing novels for a career to read it. It has advice for all stages of the career -- from just starting out, to mid career and beyond. His advice on PR has so far proved spot on.
Here is hoping that the book he was writing at the time -- something about Fire in Your Belly also comes to print soon. His books are ALWAYS worth reading.
Donald Maass's advice is second to none. He is also on my dream list of agents to query -- whenever the great agent hunt begins. But I have to write and complete my single title before that happens. A career is not built overnight but slowly.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thank you both. Look forward to reading it!