Authors Access

A Book Every Author Should Have On Their Desk

Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers
BY: Irene Watson, Tyler R. Tichelaar & Victor R. Volkman
PUBLISHED BY: Modern History Press
PUBLISHED IN: 2009
ISBN: 978-1-932690-98-9
Pages: 220
Reviewed by Billy Burgess

Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers is a wonderful handbook for any writer. It is a compilation of podcasts from the internet radio show called Authors Access.

The authors share great tips about the craft and myths of writing. You learn about writing about romance, mystery and other genres. Being a writer myself, I found the book interesting. I enjoyed the chapters on children's books and the article "Exploring Ghostwriting, co-Authoring, and Collaborating" by Ami Hendrickson. This is the first time I have read anything on ghostwriting. It was a joy to read.

There is a lot of information on promoting your book by the use of the internet. In "Book Marketing on MySpace," you learn how to set up a successful myspace profile, and learn how an author can use it to promote their work effectively.

Every author needs to know how to use Amazon.com to sale their books. In "Amazon Adventures: Staring Down Earth's Largest Bookstore," you learn how to use advantage and associate programs.

There are four wonderful articles about book reviews and how to use them to your advantage. My favorite was, "Negative Book Reviews: How to Avoid Them, and How to Use Them to Your Advantage."

One of the downfalls of the book is that it concentrates too much on self-publishing. I would've liked to have read more article on traditional publishing in magazines and big publishing houses. Overall I found Authors Access to be a great reference tool that every author should have on their desk.

Making book promotion easier.

Authors Access is a great book filled with tons of helpful advice from authors and publishers.

Inside I found heaps of useful articles on the different genres, editing, marketing, and using the Internet to promote and help sales.

I found many of the articles beneficial to me personally: "Five Tips on Writing Romance" by Sylvia Hubbard, "Publishing a Children's Book? Better Get a Child's Opinion First" by Tyler R. Tichelaar, and "Elements of a Quality Book Review" by Tyler R. Tichelaar were three of the most worthwhile for me.

Many of the authors were known to me, a few of them I had to look up. This was made easier by the inclusion of websites for the authors at the end of their articles. The addition of the bibliography at the end has led me to many more useful books that have found a place on my bookshelf.

Authors Access has shown me how to establish an effective MySpace page and in "Promoting your Book with Social Media and Web 2.0 there is a very good list of sites for book promotion.

I found Authors Access to be an immense source of help when it comes to knowledge about promotion, dealing with 'writer's block', and publishing.

An excellent reference tool for writers

Did you ever wish you could sit in a café with an experienced writer, editor, publisher, or marketing guru and pick their brain? Wouldn't it be great if you could sip your favourite brew as they revealed their success secrets to you? Well, in many ways, reading Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers is just like that. It is composed of interviews, reports, and lessons learned from the writing industry's most experienced veterans who took part in podcasts at www.authorsaccess.com.

It's a great book for writers to study as the advice and useful information can help them succeed before, during and after writing a book. Its large format makes it easy to read and to highlight text or post notes. It is divided into nine sections and readers can quickly scan through the table of contents and find the topic that interests them most and read it first. The chapters need not be read in chronological order but as a whole they give the reader a better understanding of the undertaking of book writing, publishing and marketing. In addition, included after each article is the original podcast URL as well as the author's website(s) allowing for further research and, thus, access to more resources.

Although a more experienced writer may know some of the information, it can easily serve as good reminders. I learned many new things reading this book. As a published author and writer, I particularly enjoyed reading Chapter 8 - Marketing Your Work, Chapter 9 - Making the Most of Technology, Chapter 1 - The Craft of Writing, and Chapter 4- Editing Your Work. These chapters alone make the book very worthwhile. The chapter on book reviews is especially eye-opening, both for the author and the reviewer! If you are looking to self-publish, most of the advice in this book is for you. It can prevent you from making serious mistakes and teaches the basics of being a professional writer.

The only information I thought missing was that related to submitting to a traditional publisher, such as elements of a good book proposals, what agents look for in manuscripts, and how to write query letters. The back cover promises book proposals as one of the success secrets revealed, however, according to the index, book proposals is only mentioned twice and in passing. It's not a topic discussed per se. So mentioning it as one of the book's secrets can be misleading for the buyer.

Perhaps, because the authors had extensive experience in self-publishing, they chose to focus mainly on this as many writers today are choosing this avenue of publishing that is becoming more and more popular. And, because of the many podcasts on www.authorsaccess.com that were not covered in this book but that do contain such information for the traditional route, it wouldn't surprise me if a second, anticipated book followed this one.

This book is an excellent reference tool that should be read more than once to fully absorb all the success secrets it reveals, and I'd like to thank the authors for sending it to me. I will be referring to it many times, as I place it next to my many indispensable writer resource books on my bookshelf.

Authors Access Indeed

Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers features a cover photo of the planet earth. Per editor Victor R, Volkman, the image was selected because the book imparts a "world of information." I agree; it does.

Authors Access is a writer how-to book so jam-packed with info that you have to read it in small increments. Basically, the text is a compilation of podcasts from Authors Access, the internet radio show of the same name, which broadcasts live every Thursday on Internet Voices Radio.

I've read my fair share of similar books. By that, I mean books populated by the thoughts and wisdom of those who have found success in publishing. Authors Access confidently stands among them, thanks to its timely and targeted info. But its little something extra is the inclusion of links to the corresponding podcasts. ??It's an effective double whammy. Readers can absorb the podcast, getting a real feel for the author's experiences. They can then whip out a highlighter and tuck into the chapter. And as the author website links also are included, readers have yet a third avenue for obtaining additional information.

The nine chapters of Authors Access run the gamut from editing tips to building buzz with book reviewers. Each chapter includes at least two articles per the chosen topic. So in the "Genre" chapter, for example, readers find tips on writing romances, crime novels, even regional fiction. In the "Craft of Writing" chapter, they're reminded to use the Rule of Three (Thank you very much, Goldilocks!), while cautioned to trim the padding and to always show, not tell. They also learn that writer's block is due to one simple factor: fear of surrender. I know I'll personally be musing on that nugget for a while!

And then there's the delightful "Children's Books" chapter. Here the manuscript directives are to 1) kill off any pesky parents, 2) add frequent cliffhangers, and 3) hand the draft over to children reviewers before even daring to dangle the manuscript before a publisher. That's great advice. I wonder if more authors would quickly secure contracts if they did so -- instead of relying on the praise of their friends and mothers?

As I had familiarity with much of the above content, I spent most of my time dwelling on the chapters titled "Marketing Your Work" and "Making the Most of Technology." One article in particular, "Promoting Your Book with Social Media and Web 2.0," was especially helpful. Because it's becoming crystal clear to me that writers must quickly get up to speed on both if they want to market their books effectively.

So, where is my review copy now? In my office. Sharing space on the bookshelf I've labeled my "Smart Writer Resources." That about sums up the value I give to Authors Access.

An invaluable guide to the world of publishing

Authors Access is an internet radio show that is broadcast live every Thursday on Internet Voices Radio. Begun in 2006, it is the brainchild of publishing entrepreneurs Irene Watson, Tyler R. Tichelaar, and Victor R. Volkman and features industry experts offering advice on all aspects of the publishing world for both first time and seasoned authors and publishers. Now, some of the best of those interviews are available in one easy to read book, Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers.

Authors Access is arranged in nine easy to read chapters, organized to follow a book's progress from inception to publishing and marketing. Opening with a chapter on "The Craft of Writing," the book next delves into "Genre Writing," followed by writing "Children's Books." Other chapters cover editing, book design, building buzz, marketing, and using technology to sell books. In essence, Authors Access covers all the areas that need to be addressed to successfully produce and promote a book.

Within each chapter are several articles, extracted from the internet radio show, addressing that chapter's topic. At the end of each chapter is a brief biography on the author as well as a small chart that lists the original podcast airdate, its URL, as well as the author's website(s).

There are innumerable books on the market offering advice to authors and publishers. What makes Authors Access rise above the crowd is that instead of giving vague suggestions on what to do, the book presents specific advice and examples. In the writing sections, examples of poor sentence structure are presented, as well as suggestions to fix the problems so that those sentences grab the reader. In the editing section, the author carefully explains the editing process, what an editor will do, how a "dispassionate eye" is needed to pick up mistakes such as "the balance between action, description and dialogue; giving each character a unique voice; and using concrete, vivid, sensory language to show emotion rather than telling the reader from the outside."

Interested in garnering more reviews for your book? There is an excellent article on "Building Buzz with Book Reviews" that discusses all aspects of the review process. Wonder why your book didn't get any reviews? This article will tell you what might have been missing from your submission packet. It also discusses how to get a review, recognize scam reviewers, and something many authors forget - what to do after you get a review.

Perhaps one of the most interesting sections of Authors Access is the segment on marketing. With so many books being published each year, you must get your title seen and these articles will tell you how. There's an article listing 21 mistakes to avoid when promoting your book; an in-depth discussion of selling your book online, as well as how to use social media and Web 2.0 to get your book into the hands of buyers.

Quill says: An invaluable guide to the often confusion world of publishing.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.