The Marshall Plan for Getting Your Novel Published: 90 Strategies and Techniques for Selling Your Fiction

by Evan Marshall

This volume teaches writers how to: improve dialogue, tension and pace; edit for clarity, concision and correctness; approach agents and editors; evaluate their relationships with editors and publishers; successfully promote their novel; and outline the steps for a dream career path.

Genres: Writing, Reference

250 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2003

About the author

Evan Marshall is president of The Evan Marshall Agency and author of The Marshall Plan For Novel Writing (Writer’s Digest, 1998), an international bestseller on novel writing now in its 20th anniversary edition. He is the author of 10 commercially published mysteries, Manhattan Mysteries Series and Jane & Winky Series which was named “Miss Marple Lite” by Kirkus Reviews. His books appeal to fans of Janet Evanovich, Lilian Jackson Braun, Agatha Christie and Alexander McCall Smith. You can reach him at evan@evanmarshallagency.com.

Reviews

[Brentman99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Marshall Plan for Getting Your Novel Published, a companion to The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, has a lot of good tips for writing and publishing a novel. As a literary agent, Evan Marshall has a good eye for what he is looking for in a book. As he is in the business, the points presented seem to make sense.

The book was a fairly quick read and seems helpful. I'm almost ready to start my writing journey and reading this book and several others was part of my preparation. We will see if the tips pay off in the end.

Overall, it seems to have been worth the time spent reading it.

[Barbara A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2003 so it's understandably dated in regards to the submission process, but this book has some great tips and how-tos that are still relevant. I especially liked the forms Marshall provides for writers to copy.

[Tanya Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again the book was packed full of incredibly useful information and when I have my next book ready to send to the publishers and agents on my list, I will refer back to it often. However, I also found the writing models and suggestions to be rigid and the selections of books chosen to make his points were usually my least favorite parts of the books I had read. As an example, when discussing description Marshall used a section of Anne Rice’s “Queen of the Damned” to make his point. The part he selected is a Baby Jenks description of arriving at the coven house that had been destroyed. Baby Jenks was one of my least favorite parts of the book, because she pulled away from the focus characters and to me was superfluous. Lestat never meets her and who she meets could have interacted with another character which we already knew as well. Another of his choices for description was a passage from Jaws, which has some descriptive passages that marvelously described the normal and lace the scene with malice waiting just off frame. However, he pick a bland, vanilla, flan part of the book.

The book left me confused about my writing style and at turns angered because if this is what agents are looking for I might really have a hard time with my next book getting published, because I need to tell more than it appears the agents are looking for in a story. I want my books to be for someone who feasts on a novel and expects to be full to the point of being overstuffed when they have finished. I am not sure I can write for those who only want a fast food meal that they will not remember eating. So, read this if you are confident in your style and are sure of your ability to entertain all readers. Otherwise, I would recommend this for someone who is struggling with being rejected continuously, and needs help with getting the rejection letters to stop arriving in the mail. For the first time author, it can be a bit of a 'wind-in-your-sails' killer.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a little dated but I thought this book was very helpful. I'm going to look into buying a copy for my personal library so I can always refer back to it. I'd highly recommend for aspiring authors who want to get published.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Straightforward, clear, useful information. I will definitely be referring back to this book every step of the way when the time comes for me to start sending my book out.

[Mellanie C]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12883867