Sara Paretsky’s Writing in an Age of Silence is a touching and well-written memoir.  Paretsky points to her early home life as well as books and authors as influences for her future as a writer.  She explains how working on the south side of Chicago during the Civil Rights movement influenced the creation of her series character, VI Warshawski.  She exposes the prejudice against women writers that lead to the creation of Sisters in Crime and the continuing struggle women face for equality.  She discuesses the erosion of American’s rights.  Readers may not always agree with Paretsky’s point of view on the issues, but she presents her arguments in a well written way that’s sure to provoke discussion.  Paretsky ties in how each part of her life has affected her writing career.  Writing in an Age of Silence isn’t a writing guide.  Paretsky reminds readers that writers are influenced by the lives they lead, the things they read, and the issues that matter to them.

 David Morrell opens The Successful Novelist with the most important question a writer will ever answer.  “Why Do You Want to be a Writer?”  He pushes the reader to go deep into his/her emotional state to answer the question.  The rest of the book is filled with examples from Morrell’s life that illustrate the importance of knowing the emotional reason a writer writes.  Interweaved is practical writing advice and look inside the mind of the man who created Rambo.  The Successful Novelist also delves into the writing world, the publishing industry, and the movie industry.  Whether you’ve just written your first novel or your thirtieth novel, you’re likely to find something inspiring, informative, and entertaining in the pages of The Successful Novelist.

If you’ve ever wished for the opportunity to interview the top literary agents in America, read Making the Perfect Pitch. Katharine Sands compiled a book of essays by as well as interviews with agents.  While some essays and interviews are better than others, each one will provide information about the agent helping you decide whether or not to approach the agent for possible representation.  Sometimes as I was reading, I could sense that an agent wouldn’t be the right one for me just from an attitude, a statement, or a point of view.  This isn’t a criticism of the agent, I just knew my personality wouldn’t mesh with the person.  That creates a time savings for a writer looking for an agent.  On the other hand, there were many agents whose essay/interview made me take notice.  With titles like How Much is a Black Dress?, How I Learned to Sell Sex, Dean and Rock ‘n’ Roll, and In the Singles Bar of the Literary Persuasion, to name a few, these essays are certain to intrigue, inform, and , dare I say, entertain.  Making the Perfect Pitch is a valuable read for anyone searching for a literary agent.

I found King’s memoir on the craft of writing On Writing more inspirational than instructional (a good thing) though he does spend quite a bit of time addressing the deadly overuse of the adverb (ah, there’s one now) in beginning writer’s work.  Reading about King’s struggles to write and to publish amidst his struggles to live serve to remind writers that we can overcome the challenges we face in life and use them to inform our writing.  King fans interested in how writers work, find motivation, and especially in King’s life will find On Writing interesting.  King doesn’t try to pretend his life – the good and the bad – is anything other than what it is.  His honesty is disarming.  Enough so it may capture some new fans for King’s fiction.  Writers and readers a lot can get something from On Writing.

Michael Larsen shares some interesting point of view on the process of finding an agent and an entertaining look inside a good day and a bad day in an agent’s life.  He attempts to solve the mystery of the agent – author – publisher triangle in How to Get a Literary Agent.  It’s an interesting book but I would caution, as with any advice, to apply common sense.  If something doesn’t feel right for you, don’t do it just because you read it in an expert’s book.  Always remember an agent’s stated guidelines trump anything you read in a book.

In Intent to Sell, Jeffrey marks provides realistic advice for authors marketing their books.  Authors new to book marketing and publicity will appreciate Intent to Sell as a guide to the process; however, veteran books marketers may only find a few helpful ideas they have yet to try.

While not an exciting read, Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript provides a fundamental resource for preparing your manuscript for submission.  It’s filled with instructions on how to submit various items a writer many wish to submit for consideration for publication including articles, short stories, poetry, and novels.  In addition, the book includes examples of correctly and incorrectly prepared submission.  Some of the incorrectly prepared submissions are quite funny.  Laufenberg provides an instructional manual that helps the writer with the mundane chore of preparing submissions.  Let’s face it manuscript submission preparation isn’t nearly as fun as writing!  Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript guides writers to create professional submissions thereby increasing chances of publication.

An unusual occurrence happened when I saw the cover of Plug Your Book.  I smiled.  Book covers don’t usually have much affect on me, but this one is fun, especially for a marketing book.  Weber’s writing style blends the serious points of the book with just the right dose of lightness so the book never stalls.  Plug Your Book is packed full of information for authors beginning their first book marketing campaign, but seasoned book marketers are likely to find a nugget or two of helpful information as well.  The explanations and descriptions of the various techniques discussed in Plug Your Book are easy to understand and devoid of confusing hype.  While Weber clearly finds some techniques more beneficial than others, he encourages writers to make informed decisions tailored to their needs for their books.

The Complete Guide to Book Publicity explains not only what needs to be done to publicize a book but also how to do those things including writing press releases, putting together a press kit, approaching media outlets, and building a campaign in an efficient and cost conscious manner.  Blanco also includes a chapter on deciding whether to hire a publicist or or publicize your book yourself.  This book is a “must have” for the library of any author performing any or all of his/her publicity

Whether you’re an author pursuing a deal with a major publisher or trying to decide if self-publishing is for you, This Business of Publishing is essential to understanding how the publishing world works.  Curtis examines everything from the method used to sell books to the effects of mergers on editors, writers and agents as well as publishers and bookstores to the effects of technology on all aspects of the industry.  This Business of Publishing will aid established authors, aspiring writers, and self-published authors in understanding the business of the book industry therefore helping them plan their career strategy.

Jump Start Your Book Sales is a terrific resource for increasing book sales.  It’s not only filled with useful suggestions but websites to utilize and media contact addresses.  The Rosses cover publicity, advertising, and other marketing strategies as well as dealing with bookstores and the media.  Jump Start Your Book Sales is an essential book to any author wanting to sell more books.

Guerrilla Marketing for Writers is filled with ideas for marketing your books.  The ideas are broken down to help with budgeting.  The authors helpfully label the ideas using titles such as “expensive”, “low cost”, “free”, and “you get paid”.  While not all the ideas are appropriate for every book, the authors provide plenty of information to aid in deciding which ideas work best for varying types of books and which budget.  Guerrilla Marketing is a great starting point for any book publicity/marketing plan