Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st-Century Writer

(Paperback)

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Description

The world has changed, and with it the craft of writing. In addition to the difficulties of putting pen to paper, authors must now contend with a slew of new media. This has forever altered the relationship between writers and their readers, their publishers, and their work. In an era when authors are expected to do more and more to promote their own work, Booklife steers readers through the bewildering options:
-What should authors avoid doing on the Internet
-How does the new paradigm affect authors, readers, and the fundamentals of book publication
-Whats the difference between letting Internet tools use you and having a strategic plan
-How do authors protect their creativity while still advancing their careers
-How do you filter out white noise and find the peace of mind to do good work
Award-winning author, editor, and Web-entrepreneur Jeff VanderMeer shares his twenty-five years of experience to reveal how writers can go about:
-Using new media: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, podcasts, and IM
-Effectively networking in the modern era (why its not all about you)
-Understanding the lifecycle of a book and your role in the publication process
-Finding balance between your public and private lives and personas
-Creating a brand and identity tied to your strengths and your writing
-Working with your publisher: editors, publicists, marketing, and sales
-Taking the long view: establishing short- and long-term professional goals
-Getting through rejection and understanding the importance of persistence
-Enjoying and enhancing your creative process and more

Reviews

"I've long marveled at Jeff's mad alchemist-like techniques of creation, promotion, and artistic survival through his artful navigation of brambly networks of writers, artists, musicians, historians, hatmakers, bloggers, booksellers, reviewers, and fans. To steal a line from an Eddie Izzard stand-up act, 'No one can live at that speed.'"
Leslie Ann Henkel, publicist, Berkley/New American Library

Jeff VanderMeer has written a fascinating book on managing a writing career.... Recommended for anyone who writes, wants to write, or has written and now wonders what to do next."
Nancy Kress, author of the best-selling Write Great Fiction

Absolutely invaluable...a guide to the 21st century for a writer more up to date and accurate than any other book I've seen on the market."
Tor.com

If you're at all interested in writing, especially an eventual career in writing (which nowadays requires considerable skill in self-management and strategic use of promotional tools), Booklife should be on your bookshelf."
Brad Moon, Wired

Booklife is an ambitious and successful attempt at a comprehensive guide to maintaining your sanity while chasing your dreams."
Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

Many books tell us how to write, but Jeff VanderMeer's Booklife tells us how to be an author....VanderMeer made me think, question my own path, and make plans for a more focused move forward."
Mur Lafferty, host and creator of the podcast Geek Fu Action Grip

Who better than VanderMeer, master of the blogosphere and online innovator, to guide us through the burgeoning, oft-breathtaking realm of new media...."
Joseph Mallozzi, executive producer, Stargate SG-1

VanderMeer has struck a new sort of balance with the Internet: charming his dedicated fan base on the Web, creating multimedia promotional tools for his books, and actively seeking out new readers like me in the digital crowds."
The Publishing Spot

Jeff VanderMeer has written a smart practical jungle-guidebook for the wilds of 21st-century publishingits incredible pressures, joys, poisons, and, most importantly, the dangers of a false sense of control.... Floaty creative typesprepare to be taken to task."
Julianna Baggott, author of Girl Talk

Booklife serves as a much-needed corrective to the sad market your book like a carnival huckster' approach too often found in books of advice for writers these days."
Michael A. Arnzen, Gorelets

Booklife is to authors in today's publishing climate what Writer's Market was fifteen years ago: essential."
Michelle Richmond, New York Times best-selling author of The Year of Fog

Excellent advice on building a sustainable writing career."
Sacramento Book Review

Author Bio

Jeff VanderMeer has been involved in the publishing industry for more than twenty-five years and in many capacities. His award-winning novels have been published in fifteen languages and his nonfiction has appeared in the Washington Post, the Barnes & Noble Review, and the Huffington Post. He is a regular contributor to Amazons book blog Omnivorous and his short fiction has appeared in Wired. He is an editor of anthologies for Bantam, Pan Macmillan, and Tachyon (The New Weird, Steampunk). He has conducted master-classes and given workshops all over the world including at the Brisbane Arts Center in Australia and the University of California at San Diego. VanderMeer is also a frequent guest at such multi-media venues as Utopiales in France, the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida.