Resources

The feedback from our recent radio show was tremendous: Thank you for listening. On Thursday, June 8, Jacky and Jessica were guests of Helen Coronato on her show, A Novel Idea: Books to Motivate Your Muse (www.homegrownradionj.com). The show (episode: “The Write Way”) was a focused discussion on the business of publishing from our perspective, featuring tips on writers’ conferences, books to read, organizations to check out, and suggestions for developing platforms, with an emphasis on the essentials of marketing. Following is a list of some of the books, Web sites, and organizations we discussed during the show.

Suggested books . . .

For reading on the craft of writing and writing inspiration:
Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Natlaie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones
Besty Lerner, The Forest for the Trees
Stephen King, On Writing

For learning more about what literary agents do:
Richard Curtis, How to Be Your Own Literary Agent (Though we recommend against being your own literary agent, this is a terrific resource for educating yourself as to what to expect from your literary agent)

For finding a literary agent:
Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents (updated yearly)

For marketing and publicity:
Jacqueline Deval, Publicize Your Book!

For fun:
Dee Power and Brian Hill, The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories from Authors and the Editors, Agents, and Booksellers Behind Them


Suggested Web sites:

www.publishersmarketplace.com
An essential Web site for tracking deals, sales, reviews, agents, editors, and publishing news

www.mediabistro.com
Filled with great information on careers and community for media professionals

www.shawguides.com
Wonderful for finding writers’ conferences


BookEnds is a member of the following writing organizations, which are all well worth checking out:

www.aar-online.org/mc/page.do
A not-for-profit organization of independent literary and dramatic agents, featuring
a database of member agents

/www.mysterywriters.org
Mystery Writers of America

www.rwanational.org
Romance Writers of America

www.sistersincrime.org
Sisters in Crime


This is by no means an exhaustive list of resources for writers, but merely a few of the resources we were able to cover in an hour-long show. If you know of a valuable resource you’d like to recommend, please feel free to send us an e-mail and we’ll check it out too.