How To Be A Writer: The definitive guide to getting published and making a living from writing

by Sally O'Reilly, Fay Weldon (Introduction)

How To Be a Writer is a comprehensive guide to the career of writing from experienced writer and creative writing tutor Sally O'Reilly.
The book will cover questions such If you want to be a writer, should you invest in a creative writing course? If so, which one? Are writing groups a good thing? What grants, awards and prizes are available to the aspiring writer? How should you plan your career in the long term?
It will also feature an introduction from Fay Weldon - 'Why I wish I'd read this book when I was 25' - and will include comments and case studies from other established authors, agents and industry experts.
How To Be a Writer will include everything that a writer needs to know about running their own career, from choosing an agent to café scribbling, and from filing a tax return to flirting with the literati and will be an essential reference book for any author who takes their work seriously.

Genres: Writing

254 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2011

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Sally O'Reilly has received numerous citations for her fiction, which has been shortlisted for the Ian St James Short Story Prize and the Cosmopolitan Short Story Award. A former Cosmopolitan New Journalist of the Year, her work has appeared in The Guardian, The Sunday Times, the Evening Standard, and the New Scientist. She teaches creative writing at the Open University and the University of Portsmouth in England. Dark Aemilia is her U.S. debut.

Reviews

[Philippa · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly valuable book for writers who are just getting started - this is not "how to write", this is how to negotiate all the tricky bits of being a newly published writer which no one ever seems to talk about. I wish I had known about it a few years ago! Highly recommended.

[Olwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredibly valuable book - and so well written! Well worth accessing if you are an aspiring writer or even already published.

[Biblio Bushra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book itself is written with the purpose of ensuring aspiring writers don’t stop at just the publishing deal – it walks you through the writing process, negotiating a publishing deal, dealing with the boring bits of admin and finances as well as the possibility of finding other avenues for work through writing beyond book royalties. Writers need to go through a soul-searching journey of establishing what they want and the path they want to take as there are some gritty realities with being a writer, including the fact that it may sometimes be maximum input for very minimal output and reward. However, that reward may suit the personality of a writer who simply wants to write all day and get by. Doing a job you enjoy in this economy is becoming increasingly difficult but Sally O’Reilly’s advice is rooted in a realistic enthusiasm as opposed to pessimism.

There are some chapters where the book drags, particularly when it comes to dealing with finances and book-keeping. I also wasn’t too interested in the chapters about awards but then again, I’m hardly the target audience of the book!

I was more enthralled with the idea that the success of a book and a writer lies in the hands of the readers. As tempting as it may be to dream of holding someone else’s fate in my hands, How To Be A Writer has made me more conscious of the books I choose to read and ensuring I keep my purchases varied beyond the more popular titles. If anything, it fills me with a sense of responsibility towards writers.

While I chose this book very unintentionally for non-fiction November, it’s a useful source of information towards my reading journey where I can be more cognisant of what I read and not to get too swept up by mass appeal because of the work and effort that goes from turning writers into known authors. Among some of the popular titles that I’ve read this year, I’ve discovered that they don’t always deserve to be as highly acclaimed as they have been and some great books tend to get sidelined as a result of this.

For aspiring writers, I highly recommend they read How To Be A Writer for its no-nonsense, straightforward, yet motivating approach to establishing a writing profession for life. For the rest of us, it may seem like a niche book to read but I found it mostly engaging and enlightening to learn about the book-writing journey.

You can read the rest of my review on my blog: http://www.bibliobushra.com/how-to-be...

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative read. The list of additions resources was really useful, and I'll be keeping a record of those for future Also, the personal anecdotes helped to lead a bit more credence to the overall work. A useful guide for the budding writer to understand the industry, even though physical book sales are now doing better than the time of publication.

[Robin Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad little book but the info is very generalised. There were a few bits of info that were interesting to know but if you're already used to writing there's not much in here about publishing or about the process of writing a book.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very comprehensive, helpful, insightful and thoughtfully written.

[Anna Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

More about how to be a writer, rather than how to write or how publishing works.
It's a good in between book.

[Ms_prue · Rating 4 out of 5]

UK-centric, mind you, if you are reading it from outside the UK. Commonwealth countries such as mine still would benefit from the insiders' view into the UK publishing world ;)

[Astrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

The insider's tip - the perfect balance between the money business and the art of writing.

[Julia Ibbotson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful, full of information; good to keep.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good tips. Even if you don't live in the UK you will find this book useful.