This book is essential reading for anyone who hopes to build a career as a full-time writer. It demonstrates how writers can now use digital technology to avoid the bitter disappointments which were often the lot of previous generations.
Michael Allen can draw on over fifty years of experience as a writer and publisher. Based on that experience, his overall conclusion is that anyone who thinks they can plan a career in publishing in the same way that their friends might plan a career in teaching, or medicine, or the law, is seriously deluded.
But don't despair. Modern technology means that writers can now reach readers without the frustrations of dealing with agents and publishers.
The specific aims of this book are as follows:
(i) To describe the traditional way for writers to find readers. Until about 2000, this meant finding a commercial publisher who would accept your book for publication.
(ii) To compare and contrast the old way of working with the new opportunities for writers which have become available through advances in digital technology.
(iii) To suggest a number of ways in which modern writers can seize at least partial control of their careers, and thus avoid many of the frustrations and disappointments of the past.
A Writer's Guide to Career Planning is the seventh in Michael Allen's series of practical, down-to-earth guides for writers; the previous ones deal with emotion, viewpoint, style, success, traditional publishing, and literary agents.
Michael Allen's first novel was published over fifty years ago (1963). He is the author of numerous other novels and short stories (some written under pen-names) which have variously been published in hardback, paperback, and ebook editions, in the UK, USA, France, and Denmark. He has also run two small publishing companies.
Michael Allen can draw on over fifty years of experience as a writer and publisher. Based on that experience, his overall conclusion is that anyone who thinks they can plan a career in publishing in the same way that their friends might plan a career in teaching, or medicine, or the law, is seriously deluded.
But don't despair. Modern technology means that writers can now reach readers without the frustrations of dealing with agents and publishers.
The specific aims of this book are as follows:
(i) To describe the traditional way for writers to find readers. Until about 2000, this meant finding a commercial publisher who would accept your book for publication.
(ii) To compare and contrast the old way of working with the new opportunities for writers which have become available through advances in digital technology.
(iii) To suggest a number of ways in which modern writers can seize at least partial control of their careers, and thus avoid many of the frustrations and disappointments of the past.
A Writer's Guide to Career Planning is the seventh in Michael Allen's series of practical, down-to-earth guides for writers; the previous ones deal with emotion, viewpoint, style, success, traditional publishing, and literary agents.
Michael Allen's first novel was published over fifty years ago (1963). He is the author of numerous other novels and short stories (some written under pen-names) which have variously been published in hardback, paperback, and ebook editions, in the UK, USA, France, and Denmark. He has also run two small publishing companies.
Used availability for Michael Allen's A Writer's Guide to Career Planning