The Author Training Manual: A Comprehensive Guide to Writing Books That Sell

by Nina Amir, James Scott Bell (Foreword by)

Overview

If you want to write a book that's going to sell to both publishers and readers, you need to know how to produce a marketable work and help it become successful. It starts the moment you have an idea. That's when you begin thinking about the first elements of the business plan that will make your project the best it can be.

The reality is that you don't want to spend time and energy writing a book that will never get read. The way to avoid that is to create a business plan for your book, and evaluate it (and yourself) through the same lens that an agent or acquisitions editor would. The Author Training Manual will show you how to get more creative and start looking at your work with those high standards in mind.

Whether you're writing fiction or non-fiction, or intend to publish traditionally or self-publish, author Nina Amir will teach you how to conduct an effective competitive analysis for your work and do a better job at delivering the goods to readers than similar books that are already on the shelf.

Packed with step-by-step instructions, idea evaluations, sample business plans, editor and agent commentaries, and much more, The Author Training Manual provides the information you need to transform from aspiring writer to career author.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781599631455
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/18/2014
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Nina Amir is the author of the best-selling How to Blog a Book: How to Write, Publish, and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time, as well as a nonfiction developmental editor, proposal consultant, and author/book coach with more than thirty-five years of experience in the publishing field. Amir lives in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Los Gatos, California.

Table of Contents

Foreword James Scott Bell 1

Introduction 3

Manual

Author Attitude: The Essential Characteristic Necessary for Publishing Success 5

How to Begin: Evaluate Yourself and Your Book for Success 15

Step #1 Develop an "Author Attitude" and Plan Your Success 24

Step #2 Know What Your Book Is About and Why Someone Would Want to Read (Buy) It 40

Step #3 Analyze How Many People Really Might Buy Your Book 59

Step #4 Compare the Competition and Discover If Your Idea Is Unique and Necessary 72

Step #5 Examine the Structure of Your Book 85

Step #6 Decide If Your Book's Content Matches Your Initial Vision 95

Step #7 Discover Ways to Brand Yourself and Earn More Money 106

Step #8 Weigh Whether You Are the Best Person to Write This Book … Now 121

Step #9 Gauge If You Make a Good Publishing Partner or Indie Publisher 133

The Final Steps: From Aspiring to Published Author 146

Samples

Sample #1 168

Sample #2 175

Sample #3 183

Sample #4 189

Training Exercises

Step #1 197

Step #2 207

Step #3 213

Step #4 216

Step #5 221

Step #6 225

Step #7 229

Step #8 232

Step #9 238

Index 243

Editorial Reviews

"In The Author's Training Manual, Amir offers aspiring authors a sure-fire way to evaluate themselves and their book ideas to increase their odds of producing books that attract both publishers and readers. She offers them a process by which they can tell if they have an idea that will stand up against the thousands of other books published every year—and if they, as authors, can stand up against the other authors willing to do whatever it takes to get their books out in front of readers in their market. In the competitive publishing world, aspiring authors need an edge. This book and the process it offers, provide just that." - Dan Poynter, author of The Self-Publishing Manual and 132 other books

"If you're aspiring to success in writing and publishing, Nina's guide should help hugely in developing an approach that's both realistic and professional." - Aaron Shepard, author of The Business of Writing for Children and From Word to Kindle

The Author Training Manual lifts the fog of confusion around getting published and illuminates every nonfiction and fiction writer's need to create a plan, keep on track, navigate all publishing options, tackle promotion, open possibilities for sales and, plain and simple, succeed as an author. This is the book I've been waiting for to recommend to all editing clients and writers." - Elizabeth Lyon, author of Nonfiction Book Proposals Anybody Can Write and Crafting Titles

"An extraordinarily helpful guide for writers who want to take control of their own career and destiny. This book is full of simple tips everyone writing a book can use." - Chuck Sambuchino, author, and editor of Guide To Literary Agents

Becoming a successfully published author requires a lot more than simply writing a book. The Author Training Manual provides the specific steps necessary for both fiction and non-fiction writers alike in an upbeat and empowering style." - Martha Alderson, author of The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master

"If you are serious about getting published, you will stand out from your competition by using all of the resources at your disposal to set yourself apart in the most positive way. Nina Amir's approach taps into your natural creativity and applies it to the important business considerations that will help get your book in the marketplace." - Sheree Bykofsky, Literary Agent and co-author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Published, 5th Edition

"Finally a book that offers indie publishers a tool for becoming savvy business people. Fiction and nonfiction authors alike will benefit from The Author Training Manual, which shows them how to create a business plan for a book that can succeed in the marketplace. A good idea is great; a marketable one is better." - Jim Kukral, author of Attention! This Book Will Make You Money and founder of The Author Marketing Club

"One of the most important things an author can do for themselves is to prepare to become published and to succeed in this role, which takes more than just writing a good book. It takes a solid plan. If you want the tools to succeed no matter what or how you plan to publish, this is the book you want to read." - Penny C Sansevieri, CEO of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., adjunct professor NYU and author of Red Hot Internet Publicity

From the Publisher