An Author's Guide to Publishing

by Michael Legat

In the years since this standard work was last revised, many changes have taken place in the publishing world, not least the abandonment of the Net Book Agreement and the developments in electronic publishing. For this new edition of his invaluable guide, Michael Legat has rewritten the text extensively, not only to bring the book up to date, but also to present a clearer and more comprehensive coverage of the many aspects of its subject.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference

254 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Michael Legat was born on 24 March 1923 in London, England, UK. He began writing at a very early age. He devoted his career to publishing and also wrote a book for authors. After a long and successful career as Editorial Director of Corgi Books and later of Cassell during 35 years, in 1978 he decided to leave the trade and take up writing full time. In 1980 his first novel, Mario's Vineyard was published and this was followed by a series of other novels and highly-acclaimed how-to books for writers, that its sales currently stand at over 200,000 copies.

Michael Legat remaid heavily involved in the publishing industry, has served on various committees, was the president of two writers' circles and was a associate vice-presidents of the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Michael passed away on 15 August 2011 in Sussex, England.

Reviews

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am sure this was useful back in the day. This is in no way a modern book, even aside from the typewriter on front; we find large dense blocks of text and formal legalese, as though the author just came from university literature class.
Queries addressed include, the rejected typescript, subsidiary rights, my proof corrections have been ignored, and the title has been changed without my approval.
I believe there is an updated edition.

Publish on Kindle.
This is an unbiased review.

[Han Adcock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really helped me to understand some of the twists and turns of manuscript submissions, contracts, and the publishing process. However, as it was written back when most people were still using typewriters, I'm not sure which bits still apply today and which bits have changed, so I will find a similar book that was written in the 00's just for comparison. Michael Legat's voice in this book is both friendly and straightforward, and also rather witty.